How can a 'Sense of Belonging' inform your teaching strategy? Reflections from a core Business unit

Authors

  • Elizabeth Levin Swinburne University of Technology
  • Andrew Rixon Swinburne University of Technology
  • Maree Keating Swinburne University of Technology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.v10i2.1307

Keywords:

belonging, blended delivery, networked learning, first-year students

Abstract

This paper reflects on how a ‘sense of belonging’ is cultivated for both the teaching team and the students in a large, core first year Business unit. In the Innovative Business Practice (IBP) unit students develop their personal brand and professional identity through strength-based science, and also pitch creative solutions to social problems. This cross-disciplinary unit is taught using an activity-based approach. The team of tutors are being trained as facilitators which creates a sense of belonging and community within the teaching team. A blended delivery approach utilising Crowdicity, idea management software, facilitates networked learning, and helps students develop their digital skills as well as interact with one another, the teaching team and industry experts.

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Author Biographies

Elizabeth Levin, Swinburne University of Technology

Dr Elizabeth Levin is Director , Undergraduate Programs in the Faculty of Business and Law at Swinburne University of Technology. She has been instrumental in the development, design and teaching of several core integrated, multidisciplinary units including capstones which are embedded across the curriculum. Her research interests span learning and teaching in higher education, relationship and project management.

Andrew Rixon, Swinburne University of Technology

Dr Andrew Rixon holds a PhD in complexity science from the University of Queensland. Andrew is a lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and is the convenor of Innovative Business Practice a core first year unit for Faculty of Business and Law, Swinburne University of Technology.  Andrew’s research interests include professional purpose, sense of belonging and leadership development in emergency medicine.

Maree Keating, Swinburne University of Technology

Dr Maree Keating holds a PhD from the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT and is currently employed as a Learning and Academic Skills Advisor at Swinburne University. She has been an educator and researcher for the past twenty years, and publishes about inequality and marginalisation in TAFE and Higher Education as well as in professional contexts. Before moving to Swinburne she convened the postgraduate program and was a senior lecturer in Communication and Public Relations at Victoria University.

2019 STARS Conference Issue

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Published

2019-08-09

How to Cite

Levin, E., Rixon, A., & Keating, M. (2019). How can a ’Sense of Belonging’ inform your teaching strategy? Reflections from a core Business unit. Student Success, 10(2), 71–78. https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.v10i2.1307

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 2 (2019): 2019 STARS Conference Special Issue

Section

Practice Reports

License

Authors retain copyright and grant the Journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International Licence (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.