Learning Communities

This approach takes a curricular perspective. Learning is assumed to be enhanced when learning activities from two or more courses are integrated or coordinated. Models for accomplishing that integration range from coordinating a single activity for several courses, such as a speaker, to blending a group of interdisciplinary courses in such a way that the separation between the courses is lost. The interdisciplinary focus requires cooperation and
coordination by the instructors of the involved courses. A major challenge is sustaining coordination.

LC: A methodology for encouraging collaborative, integrated learning (no date).
 Available: http://www.siue.edu/~wnelson/courses/resources/lcomm/LComm.html.
MacGregor, Jean, James L. Cooper, Karl A. Smith, & Pamela Robinson, editors. Strategies for Energizing    Large Classes:  From Small Groups to Learning Communities. New Directors for Teaching & Learning 81(2000). [The entire edition of this journal has articles on this theme.
 Available at the CTL.]
Rasmussen, Geri and Elizabeth Skinner. Monograph on Learning Communities  (11/15/99).
 Available: http://hakatai.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/ilc/monograph/index.html

Learning Communities Transform Drive-Through Credentialing Into Rewarding Education:
Curricular coherence, connections among students and faculty promote digestion of ideas
by Carol Graham, Management & Information Systems

For too many years I have served up intellectual snacks to students who rush to my classes and then rush off to jobs and/or families and/or other classes without fully digesting ideas they study. Most attend classes so they can simply finish their programs — they get undergraduate degrees but fail to receive an education.

Although I sometimes think of myself as a fast-food chef, I am also an excellent teacher.  I use active and collaborative classroom methods, encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning, and develop students' critical thinking skills.  Often over the course of a semester, our work together in a class leads to a sense of community: we know each person's name, discuss issues, practice skills, and learn from each other in a supportive community.

Learning Communities.  However, this is not what I mean by “learning communities” (LCs).  Learning communities change the traditional structure of course offerings rather than the methodologies used by teachers in courses.  LCs include a variety of approaches that link or cluster classes during a given term, often around an interdisciplinary theme, and enroll a common cohort of students.  In addition, the curricular structure also often includes collaboration among teachers.

Learning communities address the needs for: greater intellectual interaction between student and student, student and faculty, and faculty and faculty; curricular coherence through reinforcement and/or integration of ideas; understanding issues which cross subject matter boundaries; active and collaborative learning; exploring and understanding diverse perspectives; and faculty development.  LCs are found in developmental studies, freshman year experiences, strategies for coherence in general education, writing and speaking programs, study in a minor, study in the major, and graduate school programs.

Learning Community Models.  Usually, teachers teach separate courses to separate sets of students, and students experience their separate courses in unrelated fragments.  By the time students graduate, they have collected impressive piles of bricks rather than built strong foundations for their houses of life-long learning.  By intentionally pairing or clustering courses into programs, both teachers and students experience a more coherent and enriched teaching and learning environment.  I am familiar with three basic types of learning community models: paired or clustered classes; student cohorts in larger classes; and team-taught coordinated study programs.  Variations of two models have been tried at WKU.

One simple structure links a skills course, perhaps English 100, to a content course, say sociology.  That is, students who sign up for the English course are required to sign up for the sociology course also.  To complete the link, the English teacher and the sociology teacher meet and discuss how to organize it.  Since sociology courses usually have a higher enrollment that composition courses, there may be students in the sociology class that are not in the linked English class.  A similar linking took place at WKU and linked UC 101, Freshman Seminar, and chemistry where the UC 101 cohort all took the same chemistry lab and also were enrolled in the same large chemistry lecture section.  In another case, one section of UC IO 1 was linked with a section of English 100.  In both examples there was no need for faculty coordination because the English teacher also taught UC 101; the chemistry teacher taught UC 101, the chem lab, and the chemistry lecture class.  I think WKU's UC 101 requirement is ripe for linking or clustering with other courses.  These links may not require faculty coordination if integration and discussion of ideas takes place in the Freshman Seminar setting.

In a second model, programs of two or more classes, which a cohort of students takes together, are linked thematically or by content. The faculty do plan the program collaboratively.  WKU's's Humanities Semester might follow this example; however, I do not know how much collaborative planning is done by the teachers in this program.  The WKU Community College formed a learning community of students and teachers where the student cohort was enrolled in four classes: Freshman seminar, developmental math, developmental English, and an elective, sociology.

In another model, a small cohort of students enrolls in several larger classes that faculty do not coordinate.  Intellectual connections and community building can take place in an additional integrative seminar.  Perhaps a cohort of Honors Program students could enroll in courses and have a colloquia serve as the integrative seminar.
At this time at WKU, I cannot imagine a team-taught program of three or four courses where work is embedded in an integrated program over the course of a semester.

Learning Community Outcomes.  Learning communities are effective in promoting student outcomes such as increased retention and achievement; increased involvement and motivation; shorter time to degree and degree completion; and intellectual development.  Faculty outcomes include an expanded repertoire of teaching approaches, revised course content, and new scholarly interests; faculty mentoring; and faculty engagement with beginning students and general education requirements.  The institution benefits from an opportunity for curriculum development and the strengthening of teaching and learning.

Successful learning community implementation requires extensive cross-unit coordination.  In addition, LCs are exciting and time consuming—don't try this if you do not have tenure; beware of local politics; find a friend who wants to try this, too.

Resources.
A more complete bibliography can be found at the Center for Teaching and Learning.   There are also listservs on learning communities.

Barr, R. B. and J. Tagg. (I 995) “From Teaching to Learning: A New Paradigm for Undergraduate Education.” Change,    November/December, 1995.
Gabelnick, F., J. MacGregor, R. Matthews, B. L. Smith. (1990).  “Learning Communities: Building Connections Among    Disciplines, Students and Faculty.” New Directions in Teaching and Learning, No. 4 1. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Guarasci, R. and V. Tinto. (I 994).  Democratic Education in an Age of difference.  San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Levine, J. H., Ed. (I 999).  Learning Communities: New Structures, New Partnerships for Learning.  Monograph Number 26.  Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.

Much of the material presented in this article was gained from a presentation by Jean MacGregor at the Learning Communties Workshop held in March 1998 at the University of South Florida.