In an institution geared towards providing education to a diverse adult student population, it can be difficult to help students establish a feeling of belonging and a loyalty without a strong physical presence and the accompanying buildings. Realizing that collegiate learning occurs inside and outside of the classroom, online academic clubs can provide a sense of community and an informational resource for degree-seeking students. The goals for this presentation are to define online academic clubs, demonstrate how the clubs assist students, provide examples for possible club activities, and to recommend best practices. The goal of the presenter is for the audience to leave the session with knowledge on how online academic clubs can benefit students and with an idea on how staff and faculty can implement online academic clubs. Online academic clubs provide a meeting place for students. At the University of Maryland University College (UMUC), the clubs reside within the online course management system, since students already use the system for their classes. The clubs are formed around the undergraduate majors. Each club has a faculty advisor, who helps to bring in new content, create activities, and respond to student inquiries. In addition, clubs can have student leaders who can assist the faculty advisor. Since students tend to be busy, the clubs do not have participation requirements, and joining is free and simple. Once a student expresses an interest in the club, the student is added into the club. Since the clubs are online, a students living around the world can come together as members. Online Academic clubs can serve multiple needs of the student population. The objectives of the clubs are: 1. Social Integration: Create a global community where students of similar interests can interact with other students and share information. Help students who might feel isolated to the university feel connected. 2.Professional Exploration: Provide opportunities for professional socialization and networking, and to provide resources that will help students further their education and careers. 3. Student Development: Encourage students to participate in scholarly, leadership, and community activities outside of the classroom, and to challenge themselves intellectually. 4. Help navigate the University: Create a central location where students can go to ask questions and learn of department/program updates, as well of events occurring at the University. To fulfill the club objectives, student club members are encouraged to participate in activities within the club, and to provide suggestions. Although some activities may be unique to a club, there are a common set of activities that can be found in all of the clubs. All of the clubs have a space where members can introduce themselves and be welcomed by the other students. In discussion boards, students exchange information on courses, opportunities (job openings, conferences, scholarships) and share experiences. The clubs host guest speakers who hold seminars on global topics related to the academic field, or who provide information on a career path. Clubs host various activities for its members, including book discussions, writer's workshops, and charity drives. They can also be a great place for the departments to advertise news and events. The clubs provide an online venue for an institution's honor societies and professional organizations, which can be subgroups. Since it can be difficult for adult students to commit their time to the club regularly, faculty advisors and student leaders make most of the activities flexible so that more students can participate. Since the academic clubs exist online, with no starting/stopping points, it is important to follow best practices to maintain ongoing activity. Similar to online courses, faculty presence (and student leader presence) can play a large role in encouraging the student members to return. Presence can be established by posting new discussions, responding to student inquiries, posting new announcements, e-mailing students, and maintaining a regular schedule of guest speakers. Asking for student feedback, or conducting surveys of student members can help faculty advisors and staff to see what topics or activities have the greatest effect. In addition, faculty and staff may want to consider other venues for the clubs, depending on the student population. Recently, academic clubs at UMUC have created Facebook pages and LinkedIn groups. Creating an online academic club can be simple, but maintaining the activity can be challenging, unless the proper tools are utilized. Creating online academic clubs at UMUC has shown to be successful. To learn more about how students perceive the academic clubs, UMUC's Center for Student Success surveyed over 250 club members from multiple clubs in Summer 2008. The results show that over 80% cite that they participate in the student clubs to network with students and faculty, to learn about their field of study and about careers in the field, and use the club as a resource for information. 73% of student members were satisfied of the amount of information and level of activity within their clubs. Students overall enjoyed being able to talk with students, faculty, and alumni on shared interests. Online academic clubs can help to fill the void that students feel by not physically attending a campus, and provide the flexibility to accommodate the students' busy lives.
