Experts believe that involvement in college clubs and organizations increases student retention and helps learners build valuable social relationships, but online students sometimes struggle to find that sense of community.
CodeDevils is a fully online student organization at Arizona State University open to coders of all abilities, serving as a connection point for online students from all over the world. The club offers members opportunities to work on real-world projects, attend workshops and compete in coding competitions.
Isabella Faris is eager to ensure that members have all the information they need to participate.
“All of our events are online,” she says. “All of our communication is online, and our biggest goal is for everybody to be able to join our activities.”
Faris is an undergraduate data science student in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at ASU. The senior serves as the CodeDevils marketing director, managing the club’s social media presence on LinkedIn and Instagram as well as their profile on Sun Devil Sync, ASU’s student involvement web platform. She posts weekly updates and event announcements geared toward increasing student engagement.
Her efforts are paying off. CodeDevils currently has around 700 members in Sun Devil Sync and more than 1700 active participants on the group’s Discord server. Since Faris began her marketing role, attendance has significantly increased at workshops, from approximately 10 people at each event in 2023 to an average of 30–40 attendees in the 2024–25 academic year.
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