Publications
17 results found
Viola JK, Cohen E, 2023, REFLECTIONS ON THE WALKING INTERVIEW APPROACH TO EXAMINING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ SENSE OF BELONGING, Academic Belonging in Higher Education: Fostering Student Connection, Competence, and Confidence, Pages: 183-197, ISBN: 9781642675283
At Imperial College London, institutional policy to promote inclusivity and student agency has been informed by targeted research on students’ sense of belonging. Since 2019, the authors’ ongoing longitudinal “Belonging, Engagement, and Community” study, conducted across all faculties and course levels at Imperial, has utilized mixed methods approaches, including novel qualitative methods, to collect data from approximately 850 Imperial students. These methods include open and closed questionnaire responses, traditional semistructured interviews, and walking interviews. In this chapter, the authors focus on the novelty of the walking interviews and how this method provides a unique understanding of students’ sense of belonging at university. The nature of the walking interview positions the participant as the leader of the interview, to take the interviewer to the places and spaces important in their daily experience as a university student. This chapter provides valuable insight into the utility of the walking interviews method for understanding student experiences of belonging on campus. The authors also share insights from their collaborations across Imperial and reflections about the efforts being made to change cultures and practices at the institutional level.
Cohen E, Viola J, 2022, The role of pedagogy and the curriculum in university students' sense of belonging, Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, Vol: 19, Pages: 1-17, ISSN: 1449-9789
The special issue aims to explore the possibility of pedagogy and curriculum design for promoting ‘belonging’. Relevant to this aim is the question which we address in this proposed paper: To what extent, and in what ways, do students understand their learning experiences (i.e. of pedagogic and curricular practices) to be relevant factors in contributing to their sense of belonging? This paper draws from a study into students’ sense of belonging that has so far run for two years, in Winter-Spring of 2019-20 and 2020-21. Building on existing research that has systematically sought to understand the dimensions and factors shaping students’ sense of belonging in higher education, our mixed-methods study combines three methods of collecting data from students: a Sense of Belonging Scale, an open-ended questionnaire item, and in-depth semi-structured interviews. The data captures the views and experiences of ~500 students at one research-intensive university in the UK. Our findings have implications for teachers and institutional policy by revealing how particular pedagogic and curricular practices can both enable and undermine students’ sense of belonging, as well as the limits of pedagogy/curricula in influencing belonging. We also explore how these factors interact with students’ biographical characteristics, with some students facing particular challenges with regards to ‘belonging’. We conclude that pedagogy and the curriculum have their main influence not directly, but rather by contributing to a broader ‘academic sphere’, within which students do or do not develop a sense of belonging.
Howson CK, Cohen E, Viola JK, 2022, Inertia in elite STEM widening participation: the use of contextual data in admissions, British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol: 43, Pages: 950-969, ISSN: 0142-5692
There is a contradiction of intensive national policy efforts and the slow pace of change in widening participation in England. This paper focuses on the use of contextual data in STEM subjects, where there has been less progress in widening access and a more rigid entry pathway through A-level study. Interviews with admissions tutors suggest a narrative in which STEM curricula, and the prior knowledge and skills required to succeed within it are fixed, and that attempts to widen participation and broaden the notion of ‘best students’ could undermine academic standards and the student experience. The paper draws on social justice and social reproduction theoretical frameworks to explore policy enactment, identifying support for widening participation and the effects of a conservative ethos amongst academics. The tension of these approaches, alongside the autonomy of decision-makers, are key dynamics explaining the inertia of policy efforts for change.
Viola J, 2021, Belonging and global citizenship in a STEM university, Education Sciences, Vol: 11, ISSN: 2227-7102
For the past two decades, there has been a resurgence in the actualization of civic missions in universities; these universities have continued to demonstrate commitment to educate for the purpose of global citizenship. Global citizenship is both a skillset and a mindset. As universities engage in efforts to increase students’ capabilities for living and working in a diverse society, research in this area has often focused on students of social science disciplines in the United States, presenting an opportunity for an investigation into students’ sense of belonging and global citizenship in the STEM university context in the United Kingdom. Building on prior civic scholarship, which defines citizenship in part as a sense of belonging, this paper presents interview data from a longitudinal, mixed-methods study at a STEM university in the United Kingdom to explore the meanings and experiences of students’ belonging in a multicultural institution, and their attitudes about current political issues before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study presents theoretical and practical implications for citizenship education research and practice.
Viola JK, 2020, Young People's Civic Identity in the Digital Age, Publisher: Springer International Publishing, ISBN: 9783030374044
Viola J, 2019, Youth Voice in Contemporary Society: Building youth efficacy for engagement in the political world, International Conference for Education and Democratic Citizenship (ICEDC) 2019
Viola J, 2019, Civic Identity in the Digital Age: An investigation into the civic experiences of American young people
Contemporary society is characterized by digitally mediated interactions and activities, especially through social media. As young people discover their identities, they make decisions about how to present themselves to others, and they develop an understanding of how they fit into society, what it means to be a citizen and to be civically engaged, and how to effectively engage in the political world. Literature reveals the lack of an adequate framework for understanding how young people come to develop their civic identity in contemporary times. This study therefore explores three research questions: 1) In what ways do young people, ages 14 through 17, present themselves to others in contemporary society? 2) What are the mechanisms through which young people form their civic identity in this era, and how do young people understand citizenship and civic engagement? 3) What are the means through which young people engage in the political world, and what factors contribute to this engagement? Using in-depth interviews with 46 participants of diverse backgrounds, this study investigated how young people in the United States aged 14 through 17 conceptualize their civic identities in today’s world. In the United States, the tradition of education for democratic citizenship has declined in recent decades due to a focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. Young people have thus not received adequate civic education, and the public has consequently perceived them as disengaged from the political world. Despite this public perception, a growing body of research indicates that young people are civically engaged in non-traditional ways, and there is an assumption that the use of technology among young people will elevate their voices and civic actions. This study finds that while young people are civically engaged, and despite the multitude of digital media that could be used to amplify their voices and causes, they still feel their voic
Viola J, 2019, Social Media and Political Socialisation: How youth conceptualise citizenship in contemporary society, PSA Annual International Conference 2019
Viola J, 2018, Researching Teacher’s Interest in Student’s Personal Development Using Interviews
Viola J, 2018, Political blogs by teenagers promote tolerance, participation and public debate
Viola J, 2017, Civil Discourse in the Digital Age: How American youth use social media for civic engagement: Implications for studies of digital citizenship, International Conference for Education and Democratic Citizenship (ICEDC) 2017
Viola J, McIntyre J, Gehlbach H, 2017, Teachers' Interest in Students' Personal Development: The Creation of a New Survey Scale, SAGE Research Methods Cases Part 2
While few question the importance of teacher-student relationships, less is known regarding which aspects have the most impact on students. However, exploring these aspects requires distinct measures to assess the various domains of these relationships. Several years ago, we embarked on an endeavor to create a new survey instrument to measure teacher-student relationships—focusing particularly on teachers’ personal interest in their students. This case study describes how we developed a survey scale to measure 6th-12th grade students’ perception of their teachers’ interest and investment in students’ personal development. We used Gehlbach and Brinkworth’s rigorous six-step process for survey development to maximize measurement precision. This case highlights this six-step process and several challenges we faced along the way, includingDistinctness: How do we define a new construct? Is our construct importantly different than other teacher-student relationship measures?Feedback: What can we learn from students—our target respondents—and academics? How do we resolve conflicts in the feedback provided by these two populations?Sampling: When it is difficult to acquire a representative sample for feedback, which groups of prospective respondents should we prioritize?
Marietta G, Viola J, Ibekwe N, et al., 2014, Improving Relationships through Virtual Environments: How Seeing the World through Victims’ Eyes May Prevent Bullying, American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting 2015
Viola J, Schueler B, McIntyre J, et al., 2014, Teachers’ Interest in Students’ Personal Development: The Creation of a New Survey Scale, American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting 2015
Marietta G, Viola J, Ibekwe N, et al., 2014, Improving Relationships through Virtual Environments: How Seeing the World through Victims’ Eyes May Prevent Bullying, American Psychological Association Conference 2014
Forman B, Viola J, Koch C, 2013, The Gateway Cities Vision for Dynamic Community-Wide Learning Systems, Boston, Publisher: MassINC
Hutto N, Viola J, 2013, Toxic Stress and Brain Development in Young Homeless Children, Neuroscience for Social Work Current Research and Practice, Editors: Matto, Strolin-Goltzman, Ballan, Publisher: Springer Publishing Company, Pages: 263-277, ISBN: 9780826108760
Families are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. homeless population. Thirty-seven percent of the homeless population, or 236,181 families with children, were homeless in 2011 (National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH), 2012). According to the National Center for Family Homelessness (NCFH), 1.6 million children, or 1 in 45 children, were homeless in 2010, an increase by 6.7% from 2009. Homeless children comprise 22% of the overall homeless population; one-half of these children are under the age of six (Hong & Piescher, 2012; Burt et al., 1999). It has been estimated that children under the age of five have the highest shelter utilization rates of homeless individuals of all age groups (Culhane & Metraux, 1999). Homeless children and their families experience significant stress because of their housing status, often compounded by past traumatic experiences such as illness, violence, or separation. Although there is some evidence that life shocks and stressors can cause homelessness itself, such as the birth of a child with severe health conditions, the experience of homelessness has been shown to be directly related to toxic stress (Curtis et al., 2012). Homeless children are known to experience more developmental delays and emotional and behavioral problems than nonhomeless children, which can have long-term effects on their socioemotional development and relationship-building skills (Bassuk, Murphy, Thompson Coupe, Kenney, & Beach, 2011). This chapter discusses the effects of toxic stress on development
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