Learning Communities Research and Practice (LCRP - E-Journal, Washington Center at The Evergreen State College Research)
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A Place-based Learning Community: Klamath Connection at Humboldt State University
Get PDFA place-based learning community called Klamath Connection was designed to improve the academic performance of freshman in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) majors at Humboldt State University, a midsize public institution in a location geographically and culturally unfamiliar to the majority of its students. The program interweaves four high impact practices demonstrated to improve the success of students in STEM: a summer immersion, freshman year seminar, modified gateway courses, and peer mentoring. Each component is linked by an interdisciplinary theme unique to our geographic location and central to the communities that live within it, the Klamath River basin. This manuscript describes the local background and needs assessment that initiated the program, explains our hypothesized model that a place-based learning community can foster the sense of belonging, skills, and habits that favor academic success, and reviews the design and implementation of our pilot program that launched in 2015 for 63 first time students entering HSU. We conclude by describing lessons learned from informal and formal assessments of participating faculty, staff, and administrative personnel that have prompted modifications to the model, which is currently being expanded to serve all entering STEM majors by 2020. Analyses describing the effects of the program on student attitudes, academic performance, and retention in the university will be reviewed in a subsequent manuscript
Mentoring: A natural role for learning community faculty
Get PDFThe purpose of this article is to highlight mentoring as an important piece of leading a learning community. The authors will share a definition of mentoring which is applicable to the learning community experience. Characteristics of mentoring will be described, including types of mentoring and mentor-mentee relationships. The authors will apply these concepts to their role as facilitators for a learning community at a teaching-centered, 4-year institution. They will reflect on mentoring in a discipline-focused learning community, share experiences, and discuss the benefits identified for both faculty and students
What’s the VALUE of Information Literacy? Comparing Learning Community and Non-Learning Community Student Learning Outcomes
Get PDFUsing the Information Literacy VALUE Rubric provided by the AAC&U, this study compares thirty final capstone assignments in a research course in a learning community with thirty final assignments in from students not in learning communities. Results indicated higher performance of the non-learning community students; however, transfer skills were higher with the learning community students. Reasons for the findings are discussed, along with suggestions for future research. This article contributes to the growing literature about the role of librarians and information literacy in learning communities
Learning communities & our culture of inquiry
Get PDFAt the heart of learning communities is a culture of inquiry, supported by research, practices from the field, and reflections, all of which contribute to the scholarship of teaching and learning
Learning Communities Faculty Scholars: An Online, Targeted Faculty Development Course to Promote Scholarly Teaching
Get PDFMany learning communities instructors seek professional development opportunities that foster their growth as teacher-scholars. Learning communities programs, therefore, have an opportunity to provide targeted, “just in time” training that allows for the immediate application of knowledge to a learning community setting, maximizing benefits for both faculty and students. This paper describes an online faculty development program for learning communities faculty in which participants explored such topics as first-year student needs, basic principles of learning and course design, integrative assignments, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Designed intentionally to work alongside faculty members’ busy schedules, this program provides a way to encourage scholarly teaching and the scholarship of teaching among learning communities faculty
Creating Communities of Engaged Learners: An Analysis of a First-Year Inquiry Seminar
Get PDFThis Practices from the Field article describes the rationale and operationalization of an interdisciplinary team-taught first-year inquiry seminar and learning community program at a large predominantly White research institution. The authors both serve as faculty members in the College of Education and Human Development and teach in the program. This initiative is unique in that we employ a micro-learning community model with students and faculty teaching teams within a single course.
Using the frameworks of high-impact and effective educational practices (Kuh, 2008), the authors describe the seminar and the selected practices that are intentionally integrated into the curriculum (e.g., common book, writing intensive, experiences with diversity, and others). We discuss specific pedagogical practices and course activities, including use of iPad in design of small group projects. Another feature of this curriculum is its focus on engaging all students, including a growing number of first-generation and immigrant students, comprising approximately 40% of the entering class.
Additionally, we include assessment data based on student survey responses focused on key practices. Discussion and implications conclude the article where we provide recommendations for higher education professionals and student affairs practitioners who are involved in learning community initiatives
Sparking Passion: Engaging Student Voice through Project-Based Learning in Learning Communities
Get PDFHow do we confront entrenched educational practices in higher education that lead to student demotivation, poor retention, and low persistence? This article argues that project-based learning that situates student voice and capacity at the center of culturally-responsive curriculum has the potential to spark student passion for problem-solving real world issues that directly affect them, their family, and/or their community, especially when combined with other key component student-centered strategies found in learning communities. The article asserts that we learn more when we are doing something we care about, and project-based learning (a.k.a. Passion Projects) that responds to students in the room not only sends the message that we value their experiences and points of view, which in hand, leads to a more inclusive, positive environment, it also provides experience for the kind of thinking and skills students need to integrate for 21st century careers
Editorial
Get PDFFrom the National Learning Communities conference to practices in the field, we continue to improve our teaching and learning
A Dynamic Program Assessment Framework for Learning Communities
Get PDFThis research builds upon Malnarich, Pettitt, and Mino’s (2014) investigation of students’ reflections on their learning community (LC) experiences. Adapting their Peer-to-Peer Reflection Protocol for use at Kingsborough Community College, CUNY, we present a framework for dynamic LC program assessment. To obtain feedback about theory-practice connections in our English as a Second Language (ESL) LCs, students were asked to consider whether their experiences reflected the sociocultural tenets underlying the program (Vygotsky, 1978, 1986). Students provided individual responses in writing and engaged in a communal conversation facilitated by a professor, program director, and campus administrator based on these writings. Using conversation analysis, our examination of responses to one program principle in the discussion context uncovered two related phenomena: students talked about what collaboration meant to them in their LC (collaboration-in-content), and also engaged in the act of collaboration in the conversation itself (collaboration-in-process). The exploratory nature of these interactions as part of a growing community support and extend the findings of Malnarich et al. (2014). We conclude by arguing for the continued investigation of ways to bridge theory and practice in our LC program work by bringing assessment activity and classroom activity together, and inviting various campus stakeholders to this dynamic process
Value Added: Learning Communities, Experiential Process and Student engagement in life long learning in the Culinary Arts
Get PDFCulinary Arts training at the associates level presents a set of challenges to the instructor. It has been my experience that as the work environment is changing, students face new challenges in the kitchen, including a new mix of skills, both technical and social in nature. In this piece, I reflect on a promising learning community model at our college