PhD Defense: Supporting a Sense of Community in Blended Learning and Digitalized Higher Education
On 9 October, Linlin Pei from the University of Twente will defend her PhD dissertation, Supporting a Sense of Community in Blended Learning and Digitalized Higher Education, at the University of Twente.
As higher education becomes increasingly digitalized, universities face a central challenge: how to preserve the flexibility and accessibility of blended learning while sustaining the social and relational conditions that support studentsâ learning, well-being, and participation. In this context, studentsâ sense of community is especially important, as it is associated with belonging, meaningful interaction, reduced isolation, persistence, and deeper learning.
Linlin Pei from the University of Twente addresses this challenge in her PhD dissertation. This doctoral research, partially financed by 4TU+.CEE, investigates how studentsâ sense of community can be intentionally supported across blended learning environments and the wider institutional context of digitalized higher education. The dissertation follows a progression from understanding how students and teachers experience sense of community, to designing professional development for teachers, examining the effects on students, and identifying the institutional conditions needed to sustain these practices.
Across four studies, the research shows that a sense of community does not emerge automatically from course enrolment, group work, digital access, or physical proximity. Rather, it depends on the deliberate cultivation of psychological safety, meaningful and structured collaboration, purposeful use of digital tools, and institutional support. One of the dissertationâs key contributions is the concept of âstructured flexibilityââ which describes how student autonomy can be balanced with intentional pedagogical structures that create repeated and interdependent opportunities for engagement.
Three studies from the dissertation have already been published:
- Teachersâ and studentsâ perceptions of a sense of community in blended education https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10639-023-11853-y
- Professional development for promoting a sense of community in blended learning https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19415257.2024.2446576
- Studentsâ perceived sense of community in blended learning https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210656126000383
The defense ceremony will be held on Friday 9 October, from 10:30â12:00, Waaier 4, University of Twente, Enschede