| Learning Communities : Learning Communities MCCCD Dialog Day
October 8, 2004 |
| Leadership Abstracts : Leadership Abstracts “The learning revolution aims toward creating a new culture and a new architecture of education, a new system in which the learner is placed at the center of everything that occurs in the educational enterprise. The learning community is a curricular innovation that can help achieve that purpose …”
Terry O’Banion, 1996 President Emeritus of The League for Innovation |
| AAHE National Conference on Higher Education : AAHE National Conference on Higher Education Many researchers believe that “knowledge is constructed by humans through social interaction. Education, therefore, should be based in learning communities where teachers and students act interdependently to construct meaning and understanding.”
Pat Cross, 1998 |
| Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) : Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) Employers want graduates to have competence in problem-solving, teamwork, social skills, communication, among other skills. The report notes “that people learn best when taught in the context of situations, activities, and problems.”
Sticht, 1984, 1986, 1987; Resnick, 1987; Lave, 1988 |
| AAC&U Report: The Greater Expectation (1999) : AAC&U Report: The Greater Expectation (1999) Among other things, this report identifies integrated and linked learning communities, diverse forms of experiential learning, and collaborative research projects as powerful and effective strategies for deepening student preparation for a knowledge-intensive society and increasing their opportunity to persist and succeed. |
| AACC Issue Paper: Fulfilling the Promise of Access and Opportunity : AACC Issue Paper: Fulfilling the Promise of Access and Opportunity “Community colleges should design validating teaching and learning environments that are relationship-centered, connecting faculty and students.” This article cites learning communities as an example of validating, democratic classrooms in action.
Laura Rendon, 2002 |
| Honored but Invisible : Honored but Invisible “One common benefit of LC’s is that they create communities among students. Students report that they come to know their fellow students better and are able to work with them more both in and out of class—in constrast to conventional practice in community colleges, where students typically find a new group in virtually every class they take.”
W. Norton Grubb, 1999 |
| Liberal Education (Fall 1993) : Liberal Education (Fall 1993) “A five-year study indicates that students in learning communities at North Seattle Community College have higher retention, persistence, and graduation rates than students in traditional courses, a finding that is generally consistent in learning communities throughout the state [of Washington].” |
| Commission on the Future of Community Colleges : Commission on the Future of Community Colleges Community is “not only a region to be served, but also a climate to be created.” “The most challenging task before our colleges is to participate in the building and rebuilding of their communities to the ultimate end of building learning communities that empower people to participate in continuous individual and community renewal.”
Harlacher and Gollattscheck, 1992 |
| Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, AAHE : Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, AAHE “Learning is enhanced when it is more like a team effort than a solo race. Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated. Working with others often increases involvement in learning. Sharing one’s own ideas and responding to others’ reactions sharpens thinking and deepens understanding.”
Chickering and Gamson, 1987 |
| Honored But Invisible : Honored But Invisible Sometimes the skills in one course can be used to help emphasize the content of the other course and “instructors can argue with one another, providing varying interpretations and modeling for students the active debate and discussion they want to encourage.”
W. Norton Grubb, 1999 |
| Time Magazine : Time Magazine Time recently hailed Seattle Central Community College for creating “one of the nation’s most expansive programs of learning communities.” “The secret is a first-year curriculum that is carefully designed to inspire repeated, meaningful interactions among its students.” |
| Pat Cross : Pat Cross “When faculty show an interest in students, get to know them through informal as well as formal channels, engage in conversations with them, show interest in their intellectual development, then students respond with enthusiasm and engagement.” |
| Chickering and Gamson : Chickering and Gamson “Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of classes is the most important factor in student motivation and involvement. Faculty concern helps students get through rough times and keep on working. Knowing a few faculty members well enhances students’ intellectual commitment and encourages them to think about their own values and future plans.” |
| Jean MacGregor : Jean MacGregor “As they look back on their learning communities teaching experiences, the faculty teams who feel the most engaged speak repeatedly about their own learning and their own sense of community, beyond what they created for and with their students. They speak of the intense stimulation of discovering each others’ disciplines and teaching practices, the affirmation of reflecting together on students they had in common, and the deep satisfaction of learning to collaboratively create a curriculum.” |
| One Instructor’s Perspective : One Instructor’s Perspective “It’s very, very enriching to see other teachers work, teachers who are already quite adept, quite experienced veteran teachers with enormous reserves of technique. … So there’s an enormous kind of fertilization … that kind of enrichment that would never be possible in the normal traditional venue where you are going into the classroom every day by yourself.”
Grubb, 1999 |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country MCCCD Dialog Day
October 8, 2004 |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country At Skagit Valley Community College one learning community paired a sociology course with a nutrition course. It was called, “Culture, Poverty and Diet.” |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country Seattle Central Community College has a thematically linked learning community called “Our Ways of Knowing: The African American Experience and Social Change” which combines sociology, political science, art, and English courses. |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country The Puentes Project in California has developed learning communities for Latino students in more than thirty colleges. They typically emphasize language and cultural issues and incorporate success strategies for college. |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country At Daytona Beach Community College in Florida, the Quanta Program offers a two-semester learning community experience as part of the general education program. Fully integrated and team-taught by three professors, it combines Freshman English I and II, Humanities I and II, and General Psychology and Psychology of Adjustment. |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country Collin County Community College in Texas offers several learning communities as part of their civic engagement initiative. A history and English pair is called “Rhetoric and the Republic” while another pairs government and sociology, “Exploring America’s Communities: Problems and Policies in Society.” |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country Metropolitan Community College District in Missouri institutionalized learning communities as one way to provide coherence for general education. Called “learning enhancement requirements,” the interdisciplinary requirements provide opportunities for the pursuit of individual learning objectives in the context of interdisciplinary, human diversity, or integrative studies objectives. |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country North Seattle Community College in Seattle offers a learning community called “Ways of Knowing: How to Choose What to Believe,” which explores classic epistemological questions from several different discipline perspectives, including philosophy and science. |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country At Skagit Valley Community College in northwestern Washington, the “Daily Planet” learning community combines introductory composition with astronomy. “!Viva¡--Mexican Voices/American Dreams” combines literature and ethnic relations. “SEX.comm” combines human sexuality with mass communication. |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country Lane Community College in Oregon offers learning communities for both health occupations and culinary arts. “BioBonds: Blocks for Your Body” combines chemistry and cell biology, while “Food for Thought” links culinary arts, basic math applications, and English as a way to examine the influential role of food. |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country LaGuardia Community College in New York City offers a variety of developmental learning communities. The “New Student House” was first piloted in 1991 and includes a cluster of basic skills courses. An ESL version was developed in 1994. In addition, ESL faculty have successfully paired 50 percent of their courses with college-level content courses. |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois, has Integrated Studies Communities designed for students with a 10th – 12th grade reading level. They combine basic skills courses with one college-level course in either communications or psychology. Parkland also offers a team-taught Forensic Science pairing between Chemistry and Criminal Justice. |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country DeAnza College in Cupertino, California, has several basic skills learning communities. Summer Express is one offered during the summer months. It combines pre-college reading, writing, and college orientation for students who have not qualified for college-level work. |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country Grossmont Community College in San Diego offers the award-winning Project Success model designed to increase academic success and student retention. It now involves 30 faculty and 600 students each semester. |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country Tacoma Community College’s Bridge Program with the Evergreen State College is a 12 to 16 credit yearlong general education program for working adults that meets three or four days a week, including Saturdays. The Bridge Program is a block of general education courses organized around a theme. |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country At LaGuardia Community College, “Movies and the City: Intercultural Images” has students visit the Tenement Museum to deepen their understanding of immigrant conditions as they do research projects based on the novel and film, Ragtime. They also visit the Museum of the Chinese in the Americas, the Museo del Barrio, the Museum of the City of New York, and the New York Historical Society, as well as Little Italy, Orchard Street, and Loisaida, three neighborhoods on Manhattan’s lower east side. |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country Also at LaGuardia Community College, the “Harlem on My Mind” cluster has students examine historical documents and then take a walking tour of Harlem for a research project on the Harlem Riot of 1935. In the “Moral Thinking” cluster students focus on ethical dilemmas raised by the World Trade Center disaster while taking English, philosophy, and film courses. |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country At Collin County Community College, a learning community called “The Road to the White House” combined English, history, and government. Students worked with the Secretary of State’s Office, Project Vote Smart Youth Inclusion Project, and Rock the Vote to conduct a nonpartisan voter registration drive on campus. |
| Learning Communities Around the Country : Learning Communities Around the Country Also at Collin County Community College, the study of people with disabilities was the focus of “The Politics of Liberation: Civil Rights, Civil Liberties, and Multiculturalism in the 21st Century” combining government, history, and sociology. Students worked at a residential barrier-free camp for the physically challenged and an equine- assisted rehabilitation program for children and adults. |
| Learning Communities Around Maricopa : Learning Communities Around Maricopa MCCCD Dialog Day
October 8, 2004 |
| Learning Communities Around Maricopa : Learning Communities Around Maricopa At PVCC, the First Year Experience (FYE) is an academic program for any student entering college for the first time. Students enroll in 2-4 courses as a cohort (6-12 credit hours) and remain with the cohort throughout the first college semester. FYEs include co-curricular elements, such as student gatherings, activities, study skills, life skills, and college success skills. |
| Learning Communities Around Maricopa : Learning Communities Around Maricopa In Spring 2004, a PVCC learning community called “20th Century Visions: Exploring the Art of Filmmaking“ included Contemporary Cinema and First-Year Composition. Students studied contemporary films, directors, and critics with emphasis on evaluating films as an art form. |
| Learning Communities Around Maricopa : Learning Communities Around Maricopa At PVCC, “The Literate Scientist” combines science and technical writing skills for the science major. Writing assignments are focused on using the technical library as the main source. ENG 111, Technical Writing, is combined with CHM236, General Organic Chemistry. |
| Learning Communities Around Maricopa : Learning Communities Around Maricopa The Dynamic Learning Program at SMCC focuses on education majors. It takes cohorts of incoming freshman and with block scheduling provides instruction that reflects a shift from teacher centered classes to cooperative, constructivist and engaging learning experiences. |
| Learning Communities Around Maricopa : Learning Communities Around Maricopa At Glendale Community College, one learning community is called “Looking for the Truth in Fiction.” Students complete both humanities requirements in one sweep by reading what the great philosophers and authors have to say about the human condition. They explore good and evil, heroes and villains, and how the world is constructed by applying philosophy to literature. |
| Learning Communities Around Maricopa : Learning Communities Around Maricopa Also at Glendale, “The Way We Really Are: The Police Function and Society Issues for the 21st Century” examines the realities of police work, coupled with the stress of personal relationships. Courses in Family Studies and Police Science are taught by two police marriage survivors and examine the demands of the job and the demands of maintaining a healthy personal relationship. |
| Learning Communities Around Maricopa : Learning Communities Around Maricopa In Spring 2004, at Glendale, “Be Techie, Not Tacky or Survivor's Guide to Technical Writing Skills” combined BPC110 (Computer Usage and Applications) with ENG 111 (Technical Writing). |
| Learning Communities Around Maricopa : Learning Communities Around Maricopa At CGCC, one popular learning community pairs anthropology with first-year composition designed around the theme, “Native Americans of the Southwest: Voices of the Past and Present.” Another “Weaving the Tapestries of our Lives” integrates first-year composition with Sociology. |
| Learning Communities Around Maricopa : Learning Communities Around Maricopa At CGCC, “Community Through Art” links ENG 101 and ARH 100, Arithmetic and Study Skills links MAT 082 and CPD150AB, while “Currents of American Life” integrates HIS 108 and ENH 255. Another focuses on cultural diversity by integrating ENG 101 and PSY 132.
|
| Learning Communities Around Maricopa : Learning Communities Around Maricopa Also at Chandler-Gilbert CC, the “Community Participation and Student Success” (COMPASS) learning community combines English, communication, and counseling courses. “Teachers Today and Tomorrow” is a four-semester education cohort learning community. |
| Learning Communities Around Maricopa : Learning Communities Around Maricopa At Scottsdale Community College, the Digital Storytelling integrates ART 199 and COM 199. |
| Learning Communities Around Maricopa : Learning Communities Around Maricopa At Phoenix College, “Exploring Your Natural World” links Environmental Biology and Critical Reading. |
| Learning Communities Around Maricopa : Learning Communities Around Maricopa A guide called Learning Communities: Getting Started was written by Geri Rasmussen and Elizabeth Skinner of GateWay Community College. It is available on the MCLI website. |
| Learning Communities Around Maricopa : Learning Communities Around Maricopa The Fall 1996 Forum and Labyrinth published by MCLI contained articles from faculty at Phoenix College, Mesa, Gateway, Paradise Valley, and South Mountain about team teaching, integrated learning communities, and using technology in learning communities. It is available on the MCLI website. |
| Learning Communities Around Maricopa : Learning Communities Around Maricopa Marybeth Mason and Maria Hesse from CGCC contributed to two monographs, Learning Communities in Community Colleges and Integrating Learning Communities with Service-Learning, which were published by the National Learning Communities Project in conjunction with AAHE. |