Preliminary validation of the scale of sense of community in on line courses

Sense of community (SC) refers to the perception of similarity and strong interdependence with others, and the feeling of being a member of a stable group. In online courses, the SC is decisive for the academic success and the satisfaction of students. According to the McMillan and Chavis model, the SC made up of four dimensions: (1) Membership (defined by sub-dimensions Boundaries, Emotional safety, Sense of belonging, Personal, investment, Common symbol system), (2) Influence (Power of member to influence the community and Community’s power to influence members), (3) Personal fulfilment and integration of needs, and (4) Shared emotional connection (Contact, Quality of Interaction, Closure to events, Shared valent event, Emotional investment, Effect of honor and humiliation on community members, Spiritual bond). Despite their potential advantages, there are few questionnaires used for the evaluation of the SC in online course and none able to measure all the dimensions of McMillan and Chavis model. For this purpose, the Scale of Sense of Community in online Courses (SSCC) has been developed according to McMillan and Chavis model. Internal consistency and convergent/discriminant validity of the scale were investigated: 321 students of universities online courses completed the SSCC, another scale of SC, and a scale assessing a construct in relation to SC. The SSCC was shown to be reliable and valid in discriminating SC from other similar constructs. Further research is necessary to investigate the factor structure of the SSCC. Theoretical and methodological issues in using SSCC in the future are also presented and discussed