With online learning continuing to increase in popularity in higher education institutions, it is important to examine the effectiveness of this learning format. Prior research has indicated community interactions mitigate feelings of isolation in online courses and promote positive student outcomes; however, none has closely examined the impact of online communities multiple outcomes. Online community-building activities are designed to create and maintain a collaborative classroom environment for students to jointly solve problems and reach deeper understandings of course concepts. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect such a community-building intervention had on students in several online courses. The study concentrated on three main areas, including student performance, learning depth, and student satisfaction.

Students in six online community college courses in Western North Carolina (N = 124) were randomly assigned to two different groups. The students from one group in each online course were assigned to receive a community-building intervention, while students in the remaining group received no intervention. At the end of the semester, data were collected including student grades, an evaluation of an end-of-course exam, and a course satisfaction and learning depth survey.

An analysis of the results indicated there were no statistically significant differences between the students in the community and no community groups on measures of student performance (p = .98, d = .05), learning depth (p = .58, d = .07), or student satisfaction (p = .96, d = .02). An additional analysis of courses with high treatment fidelity also indicated no statistically significant differences between the two groups for the three dependent variables. Further analysis of learning depth examined with one course's final exam also indicated no statistically significant group differences, although findings did reveal a slightly perceptible improvement in learning depth for the community group.

Though no statistically significant differences were found in student performance, learning depth, and student satisfaction as a result of the community-building intervention, this study provides valuable insight into online learning. The strengths of this randomized study were the wide variety of course disciplines represented and the use of three different measures of online community. Though the findings were limited due to a small sample size, the possibility of an unreliable instrument, and limited impact of the intervention, the results of this study reinforced the difficulties associated with establishing community and indicated several ways to improve such interactions.