CAO
Inclusion and belonging aren’t just buzzwords, they’re essential for meaningful, effective learning
Presented at the Association of Learning Technology Conference, October 2025
At University of Cambridge Online, we believe that inclusion and belonging are not just values, they provide a significant benefit for every learner.
By embedding these principles into our course design, we aim to create learning that’s not only effective, but also human-centred and emotionally intelligent.
Why belonging matters in learning
What does it mean to truly belong in a learning environment? For me, belonging is the feeling that you are represented, included, and accepted in your learning environment, and that your presence and contributions matter to the learning community. This isn’t just a nice to have, it’s foundational to meaningful learning.
As Brené Brown, research professor at the University of Houston and expert on vulnerability and belonging, puts it:
A deep sense of love and belonging is an irreducible need of all people. We are biologically, cognitively, physically, and spiritually wired to love, to be loved, and to belong. When those needs are not met, we don't function as we were meant to.
At Cambridge Advance Online, we see this reflected in our learner outcomes. As of October 2025, 90% of learners rate academic and tutor support on our courses as good or excellent.
A strong sense of belonging is positively linked to learner engagement, retention, and wellbeing. Learners who feel a sense of belonging are more emotionally and cognitively engaged in the learning, are more likely to complete the course, more likely to return for future learning experiences, and build confidence and motivation to become lifelong learners.
The five principles of belonging
Drawing on research, practical frameworks, and our own experience at Cambridge Advance Online, I’ve identified five key principles for designing inclusive learning experiences. For each, I’ll share how we bring these principles to life in our courses.
1. Inclusion and representation
Inclusion and representation are about ensuring all learners feel seen and respected, with content and activities that reflect diverse backgrounds and experiences. This means using a wide range of formats: videos, readings, interactive activities, and real-world case studies; so that every learner can find something that resonates with them.
In our courses, accessible design is a priority. Our accessibility taskforce keeps us up to date with legislation and best practice, and we make design choices to support accessibility, such as adding headings for screen readers and meaningful alt text and long descriptions.
Learners are also encouraged to share any additional accessibility requirements with our Course Operations Team so that we can ensure the learning experience is tailored to support them.
2. Fostering community and connection
Learning is social, so creating opportunities for learners to interact, collaborate, and build relationships, both with each other and with tutors is key. We build community through activities like group work, peer review, and discussion forums, so learners connect and learn from each other.
Introductory activities early in the course help learners build rapport early from the outset. At the end of each course, learners are invited to join a LinkedIn alumni community to support ongoing connections.
As one learner from our Creativity, Problem Solving and Design Thinking course puts it:
I really enjoyed looking at my colleagues’ final projects, discussions and comments. It was interesting to see how everyone from different backgrounds approach problems and come up with such variety of ideas.
This speaks to the value of diversity of thought and community for a well-rounded learning experience.
3. Emotional intelligence and safety
Designing with empathy, using supportive language and establishing clear expectations supports learners to feel safe to participate and express themselves. Tone and clarity of communications are essential to creating emotional intelligence and safety to support belonging.
In our courses, we use clear community guidelines and tutor moderation to foster respectful and safe interactions. Our course policies are freely available on our website for all learners to review and enrolling on one of our courses involves committing to upholding these policies. We want every learner to feel comfortable sharing their ideas and experiences, knowing they will be met with respect.
4. Meaningful support and visibility
Consistent and visible tutor presence is key to providing learners with meaningful support. Each of our learners is supported by a dedicated tutor throughout their course, who is active in discussion forums, live sessions, assignment marking, and contactable through private messages. We carefully manage course cohort size to ensure tutors can provide meaningful support, and as of October 2025, 92% of our learners rated group size as good or excellent.
Our tutors offer timely, personalised feedback using inclusive rubrics, developed in partnership with in-house assessment experts. This helps support diversity in learner interpretation and submission of course final assignments, and that learners receive a grade that is a fair reflection of the time and effort they have put into the course.
5. Relevance and personal meaning
Supporting learners to connect course content to their own lived experience fosters deeper engagement. We use relatable and varied examples and case studies, and where possible, give learners the choice to tailor assignment tasks to their industry and interests.
Reflection is also key to fostering relevance and personal meaning. Reflective prompts are embedded throughout our courses, encouraging learners to find personal insight and meaning in the material.
What are our challenges and future considerations?
Designing for belonging is an ongoing journey. We’ve learned that while you can foster belonging, you can’t force it, sometimes factors outside your control will affect how learners feel.
Looking to the future, the role of AI in personalising learning is growing. AI can help adapt content, personalise learning pathways and provide tailored support, but it’s important not to lose sight of the human connections that underpin belonging.
We must also be mindful of the perceived ‘cost’ of belonging and ensuring that in the landscape of increasing financial pressure on organisations and institutions that inclusion is seen as integral, not optional. Finding streamlined, sustainable ways to create belonging-supportive learning experiences is key to fostering a community of thriving lifelong learners in the future.
All our courses are carefully crafted to help learners take the next step in their career. Explore our courses now and find the right one for you.
