Bringing order to student social connectedness in the hybrid university learning environment (HULE) using a complexity theory approach

Wheele, Theresa

Publication type:	Conference paper
Type of review:	No review
Title:	Bringing order to student social connectedness in the hybrid university learning environment (HULE) using a complexity theory approach
Authors:	Wheele, Theresa
et. al:	No
Conference details:	29th Annual Conference of the European Real Estate Society (ERES), London, United Kingdom, 12-15 July 2023
Issue Date:	12-Jul-2023
Language:	English
Subjects:	Hybrid university learning environment (HULE); Student connectedness; Digital transformation; Digitalisierung; Post-Covid
Subject (DDC):	302: Social interaction 378: Higher education
Abstract:	Student social connectedness is indicated to be changing as universities are becoming more digitalised. Digitalisation and the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed universities into a new digitally-orientated learning environment, which so far has been little researched or understood. This theoretical article aims to bring order to student social connectedness in the hybrid university learning environment (HULE) by applying complexity theory. This aims to help better manage student social connectedness in the HULE. The importance of developing this research is crucial when considering the role of social connectedness as a significantly influential aspect of the learning process. Despite new communication technologies being continually developed and tested often for the benefit of the HULE (for instance, ‘the meeting Owl’), there is no real understanding of how they might: 1) improve student social connectedness with other forms of existing communications technologies (for instance, ‘WhatsApp’), or 2) whether students engage with these technologies in the ways expected. This is concerning as industry-level research indicates that student social connectedness is not only changing in these environments but is being negatively impacted in these environments, suggesting that students would benefit from more guidance when navigating these new communication streams for the benefit of their social connectedness. In applying complexity theory from socio-materiality, this theoretical article explores how student social connectedness could be better organised within the HULE. To achieve this, it addresses the micro to macro scale agents and events that might alter student social connectedness in the HULE. This builds on 3 proposed indicators of social connectedness: socialising, social support, and a sense of belonging. In this way, student social connectedness is explored as a complex adaptive system in which individuals and collective groups self-organise in response to changing environments and different events, which can be further enabled or directed by strategies such as co-design or nudge strategies from behavioural economics. By encouraging the development of indicators, the long-term aim is to enable these strategies for student social connectedness to be better integrated into the HULE. This theoretical article subsequently lays the groundwork for further research to be developed for managing student social connectedness in the HULE, impacting existing pedagogical approaches for university courses.
URI:	https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/28675
Fulltext version:	Published version
License (according to publishing contract):	Licence according to publishing contract
Departement:	Life Sciences and Facility Management
Organisational Unit:	Institute of Facility Management (IFM)
Published as part of the ZHAW project:	Anforderungen der Studierenden an hybride Lernumgebungen
Appears in collections:	Publikationen Life Sciences und Facility Management

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Wheele, T. (2023, July 12). Bringing order to student social connectedness in the hybrid university learning environment (HULE) using a complexity theory approach. 29th Annual Conference of the European Real Estate Society (ERES), London, United Kingdom, 12-15 July 2023.

Wheele, T. (2023) ‘Bringing order to student social connectedness in the hybrid university learning environment (HULE) using a complexity theory approach’, in 29th Annual Conference of the European Real Estate Society (ERES), London, United Kingdom, 12-15 July 2023.

T. Wheele, “Bringing order to student social connectedness in the hybrid university learning environment (HULE) using a complexity theory approach,” in 29th Annual Conference of the European Real Estate Society (ERES), London, United Kingdom, 12-15 July 2023, Jul. 2023.

WHEELE, Theresa, 2023. Bringing order to student social connectedness in the hybrid university learning environment (HULE) using a complexity theory approach. In: 29th Annual Conference of the European Real Estate Society (ERES), London, United Kingdom, 12-15 July 2023. Conference paper. 12 Juli 2023

Wheele, Theresa. 2023. “Bringing Order to Student Social Connectedness in the Hybrid University Learning Environment (HULE) Using a Complexity Theory Approach.” Conference paper. In 29th Annual Conference of the European Real Estate Society (ERES), London, United Kingdom, 12-15 July 2023.

Wheele, Theresa. “Bringing Order to Student Social Connectedness in the Hybrid University Learning Environment (HULE) Using a Complexity Theory Approach.” 29th Annual Conference of the European Real Estate Society (ERES), London, United Kingdom, 12-15 July 2023, 2023.