Investigating classroom community in higher education

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to demonstrate an empirical relationship between classroom community and students' achievement goals in higher education, and to offer a possible explanation for differences in this relationship for cooperative and non-cooperative classrooms. Structural equation modeling techniques revealed that students' perceptions of interactive learning significantly mediated the relationship between students' goals and their sense of classroom community, but only for classrooms that used cooperative learning techniques. In the traditional lecture-style course surveyed, students' feelings of classroom community and interactive learning were significantly lower than in cooperative learning classrooms. Finally, while mastery goals were significantly higher for cooperative learning students, performance-approach goals were significantly higher for traditional lecture students.