Learning Communities Research and Practice (LCRP - E-Journal, Washington Center at The Evergreen State College Research)
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Living and Learning Communities: One University\u27s Journey
Get PDFUniversity housing has the capacity to offer more than comfortable living spaces, and campuses across the U.S., including our own, are exploring models of residential learning communities that provide both academic and social support students while cultivating a strong sense of community. In this article, we describe our campus foray into offering a new residential learning community model. We explain its origins, its evolution, and the questions we face now that we have successfully created a second approach to living learning communities on our campus
The Founding of the Learning Communities Association
Get PDFLearning communities have reached the point in their growth that we now need a professional association to allow for more opportunities for participation in advancing learning communities. This is the story of the founding of the new Learning Communities Association
Supporting Sophomore Success Through a New Learning Community Model
Get PDFThe creation of a Sophomore Learning Community (SLC) model can help address concerns about the “sophomore slump” and sophomore attrition. While managing the logistics of a sophomore LC can be difficult, with proper faculty, staff, and administrative support, positive results can be produced. This article outlines the need for Sophomore Learning Communities and describes the process one university used to pilot an SLC program
Why you should write for this journal
Get PDFWe need your articles. What we know about learning communities today as whole is based upon the multitude of experiences we have with our students and our colleagues on our varying campuses. The gift offered by the conception of inquiry as stance is an opportunity to embrace a dialectical approach, rooted in what Cochran-Smith and Lytle describe as our “deep and passionately enacted responsibility to students’ learning and life chances and to transforming the policies and structures that limit students’ access to these opportunities” (p. 279). As colleagues drawn together by our shared commitment to constantly find more effective ways to support all our students’ learning and their life chances through this thing we call learning communities, let’s use this journal to deepen our collective work in service of our democratic agenda
How One Learning Community Approached Death
Get PDFIn this narrative piece, the author describes how a learning community was able to transfer their practices of care to support a colleague as he faced illness and death. The author chronicles how the learning community responded to support their team member, other members of the campus community, and the students. She reflects on this experience and explores how the learning community structure supported compassion during this challenging year
Daring to Dream: Sustaining Support for Undocumented Students at The Evergreen State College
Get PDFWith the 1982 Supreme Court decision in the case of Plyler v. Doe, K-12 students, regardless of their immigration status, were able to access a free public school education without the threat of deportation. However, such clarity has not been the case for undocumented students pursuing higher education. As increasing numbers of undocumented students graduate from high school, some with undocumented parents and some who are unaccompanied youth seeking asylum, many dream of the opportunity to attend college (Perry, 2014). And yet, many “Dreamers” are unable to do so because of little access to financial aid, the lack of accurate information, the absence of institutional support, language and cultural barriers, and ultimately, the fear of deportation or the deportation of their loved ones. In response to these overwhelming challenges and increased fear and uncertainty raised since the 2016 elections, The Evergreen State College (TESC) is developing a framework to better support undocumented students as they seek their college degrees. In the following article, we describe the components of this framework and the steps taken thus far to ensure that the College is responsive to the needs of undocumented students. First, we consider the broader political conditions and policies, such as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the sanctuary movement, which together are impacting the responses of higher education institutions nationwide. From there, we discuss how other state higher education institutions are responding to the needs of undocumented students and how we hope to continue doing so at The Evergreen State College
The Roadmap Seminar: Preparing Students for Success in Learning Communities
Get PDFWith institutions of many types embracing the rich possibilities offered by course-based learning communities, it is important for programs to consider how they might best prepare students for success in those courses. Key to this work is identifying the particular skills needed and creating opportunities to introduce students to those skills before their learning community experiences. At Queens University of Charlotte, we have tackled this important issue by designing a transition course, the Roadmap Seminar, with components that introduce students to the three skills central to our learning communities: integrative thinking, teamwork, and metacognition. Using mid-semester surveys of students and faculty, learning outcomes assessment, student course performance, and end of semester evaluations, our initial results of this approach are positive. Student work has shown the conscious development of integrative thinking and heightened awareness of how they function as part of a team. This framework provides an opportunity for other institutions to consider how they can prepare students with the specific skills that will make their learning communities truly high impact experiences
“Not only as Students, but as Citizens”: Integrative Learning and Civic Research in a First-Year Learning Community Course
Get PDFLearning communities (LCs) provide an ideal context for civic learning because they foreground the integrative and interactive nature of learning and skills development. While the academic benefits of LCs have been well documented, their potential to promote civic learning and engagement has received less attention. Indeed, the potential of LCs to serve as a catalyst for civic learning through their emphasis on integrative and interactive learning has gone mostly unremarked. The authors address these gaps in the literature in this article by analyzing the possibilities of integrating civic research in a first-semester LC at an urban community college. Extrapolating from their experiences, they argue that structuring LCs around civic learning can enable students to develop academic skills while at the same time building new understandings of themselves as active citizens and potential change makers in larger communities. The authors also recommend that colleges that plan to integrate civic learning in their LCs invest in recruiting and maintaining consistent teaching teams in order to enable the revision and improvement of curricula over time
Editorial
Get PDFOur contributors continue to demonstrate how learning communities, in their multiple variations, constitute a substantive intervention into the classroom, challenging students to engage more deeply and effectively in their learning. What emerges in this collection of articles is the strong sense that people who teach in learning communities understand that setting the stage for deep and transformative learning requires skillfully connecting how students learn with what they are learning. The articles in this issue demonstrate how learning community faculty make good use of the freedom afforded by various curricular structures to create rich learning opportunities for students. What’s more, teachers in learning communities grasp the value of approaching the classroom as master learners, whose responsibilities can sometimes extend to sharing their work in this journal
Reflections from the Field: Creating an Elementary Living Learning Makerspace
Get PDFThis article features the creation of a makerspace in the elementary education (ELED) living and learning community (LLC) residence hall. This space was created based on the growing body of literature demonstrating the rise of makerspaces across learning environments as well as the need to expose pre-service teachers (PSTs) to early field experiences that integrate digital technologies and new media across the elementary curriculum. We provide a roadmap for others who aim to create makerspaces in conjunction with teacher preparation programs and living learning communities. We also reflect on ways to improve our process, recommending further research into the effectiveness of makerspaces as field experiences for students preparing for 21st century careers