"Belonging at Work empowers business leaders, change agents, visionaries, and those on their way to joining them with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to build inclusive organizations." -- Amazon
Combines research and human experiences to illuminate the psychology behind the need to belong. Provides insight and highly effective interventions on fostering belonging and connections.
Growth mindset, resilience, and belonging significantly impact student success. This book contains strategies for faculty and staff to consider to use in and outside the classroom.
Explores student sub-populations and campus environments, offering readers updated information about sense of belonging, how it develops for students, and a conceptual model for helping students belong and thrive.
Belonging is something that a group must extend to each and every member-- making a person feel welcome, that their presence matters to the group, that they would be missed if they were gone. This critical insight helps us understand why a push to “get out there!” does not always work."
Issues related to inclusive education and belonging across a range of education contexts from early childhood to tertiary education are examined and matters related to participation, policy and theory, and identity and well-being are explored.
Streamed film. AVON. 49 minutes. 2006.
Chronicles the experiences of a diverse group of college students as they probe and confront each other about such issues as underrepresentation, the limitations of multiculturalism, social equity, affirmative action, and their own responsibilities for making a difference.
DVD. Bishop Library. DVD HV 2359 .S44 2011. Upper Level.
A powerful and rare glimpse into the lives of deaf artists.
Streamed film. Kanopy. 28 minutes. Classrooms are training grounds for students to learn how to respond positively to diverse environments. Every day, they interact with people who look different, come from different places, and have different preferences. This program explores the many types of diversity and the perils of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. We also discuss ways to express curiosity in others while respecting the differences that make every person interesting, unique and valuable.
Streamed Film. 1 hour, 29 minutes. Kanopy. "IN FULL BLOOM: TRANSCENDING GENDER" follows the courageous journey of thirteen transgender and two gay actors as they transform their lives through the use of monologue, dialogue and performance art while preparing for the world premiere of the original stage play, Lovely Bouquet of Flowers: An Exploration of Non-Traditional Gender Voices.
Streamed film. Kanopy. 1 hour 12 mins.
As DJ dreams of college, he confronts the terrors of his past, society’s obstacles to inclusion and the often-paralyzing beauty of his own senses. DEEJ is a story told from the inside, not by parents or “experts”.
If you're struggling with your course work or feeling overwhelmed, you're not alone. Resources below can be of help.
Maimon, M. R. (2023). Fostering inclusivity: Exploring the impact of identity safety cues and instructor gender on students’ impressions and belonging. Teaching of Psychology, 50(2):105-111.
Students with marginalized identities can experience identity threats in higher education. Instructors can help improve student outcomes by using identity safety cues (ISCs), which signal to marginalized groups that their identities are valued. The purpose of this study was to examine whether including ISCs in course syllabi could improve students’ belonging-related outcomes and whether these outcomes differ based on instructor gender. Using an experimental design, undergraduate students viewed a syllabus that included or excluded ISCs from either a White male or female professor. Participants reported greater expected engagement and field belonging and had more positive impressions of the instructor when the syllabus included ISCs. This work demonstrates including ISCs in course syllabi can positively impact students.
Buskirk-Cohen, A. A. & Plants, A. (2019). Caring about success: Students' perceptions of professors' caring matters more than grit. International Journal of Teaching & Learning in Higher Education, 31(1):108-114.
In the current study, forty-four students at a small, teaching-focused university completed self-report measures on their academic success (performance and commitment), sense of belonging, and grit. Significant positive correlations between academic caring, the belonging subscales, and grit were found, indicating that these variables are connected with each other. Implications for prevention and intervention programs are discussed.
Freeman, T. M., Anderman, L. H., & Jensen, J. M. (2007). Sense of belonging in college freshmen at the classroom and campus levels. The Journal of Experimental Education, 75(3), 203-220.
The importance of students' sense of school belonging has been well established. In this study, the authors examined associations between undergraduate students' sense of class belonging and their academic motivation in that class, their sense of class belonging and perceptions of their instructors' characteristics, and their class and campus-level sense of belonging. They distributed questionnaires to students at a southeastern university; freshmen (N = 238) completed the questionnaire. The authors found associations between (a) students' sense of class belonging and their academic self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and task value; (b) students' sense of class-level belonging and their perceptions of instructors' warmth and openness, encouragement of student participation, and organization; and (c) students' sense of university-level belonging and their sense of social acceptance. The authors found smaller effects on students' sense of university-level belonging for faculty pedagogical caring and for class-level sense of belonging.
Belonging: Rethinking Inclusive Practices to Support Well-Being and Identity by Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides by College Belonging: How First Year and First Gen Navigate Campus Life by College Students' Sense of Belonging: A Key to Educational Success for All Students by Promoting Belonging, Growth Mindset, and Resilience to Foster Student Success by