Individual differences in sense of classroom community in a blended learning environment

Classroom community may be referred to as the sense of trust and interaction between groups of learners, and it has been argued that sense of community is imperative to successful learning. The construct of cognitive style has frequently been used to explain differences in the educational attainment and has also been found related to social behaviour. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between cognitive style as measured by the Cognitive Styles Index (Allinson & Hayes, 1996) and sense of classroom community as measured by the Classroom Community Index (Rovai, 2002) in a group of students pursuing courses in a blended learning environment. The study also looked at the effects of gender on sense of community. The results indicate that the students with intuitive cognitive styles report a lower sense of community than students with an intermediate or analytic style; however, few differences were found with respect to gender. The results are discussed in terms of the utility of the construct of cognitive style in predicting social behaviour and guiding the design of blended learning environments.