Learning Communities
Rashné Jehangir, PhD
Characterizing the Learning Community Experience
I remembered how awkward I felt upon entering the room where the course was to be taught because I came in with nothing and I didn't know what to expect. The atmosphere in the room was very warm and welcoming but there was something about the course that made me feel tense. Maybe it was the work; the effort and the people that made me realize what I was in for. The course was set in a very healthy environment but I was still nervous about the decision I've made by taking this course because I was a freshman-I was lost.
-David, a student from the University of Minnesota
We can agree that all students experience some anxiety when they first arrive on campus. Given that developmental students are more likely to be first-generation college students, English language learners, and of moderate income (American Council on Education Report, 1996), their anxiety can be heightened by concerns about how to navigate the alien terrain of college life. David's comments capture the dread, the questioning, and even the common feeling that many developmental students have about their college experience- "I came in with nothing."
Our job as educators is to help students with this transition, and in doing this we must find ways to bridge the gaps in their learning as well as highlight the strengths they bring. As Barr and Tagg (1995) argue, students are not empty vessels to be filled but rather can be invited to be partners in the educational process by "creating environments and experiences to bring students to discover and construct knowledge for themselves" (p. 15)
This is no easy task, particularly when students come to college lulled by the passive learning model where the teacher talks and they listen (or do not). Learning communities are one vehicle for challenging developmental students to become engaged learners while also providing them with a safe environment to take such risks. There are several models for learning communities ranging from linked courses to thematically connected communities courses to team-taught learning cohorts (Goodsell-Love, 1999; Smith, 1991), and each serve a different purpose determined by student and institutional needs. But regardless of model, learning communities lend themselves to modes of inquiry, skill development, and expectations that bridge the divide that many developmental students struggle to cross as they transition to college (Gablenick, MacGregor, Matthews, Smith, 1990; Levine, Smith, Tinto, Gardner, 1999). Learning communities share some common characteristics that can be viewed as building blocks for what Tinto (1997) has called social and intellectual integration for students. I will highlight four of these blocks and suggest why they may be particularly well suited for developmental education's future.
Creating a home base
Learning communities create extensive opportunities for time on task with faculty and peers. This consistency in the students' schedule, the familiarity that develops between peers, and the increased comfort that students derive from interactions with a specific set of instructors can create a sense of place for students who often exist on the fringe of the academic community. This is especially true for first-year students who are more likely to be overwhelmed by the size and pace of the college and the curriculum. This home base creates a safe space for students to develop peer relationships, to engage in informal study groups and to develop a sense of ownership or place in an academic setting. Belonging to something and to feel part of it goes a long way in making sure you come to that place in spite of the academic, financial, and personal life challenges that get in the way. Learning communities have the capacity to create that sense of place or social integration for developmental learners.
Modeling high expectations
Being part of a community that is formally defined as a "learning community" prompts the question of what does it mean to learn as a community, and what is community supposed to look and feel like? This question itself creates opportunities to engage students in a discussion of differences between high school and college expectations. It also invites dialogue about what expectations instructors have of students and the expectations they have of their peers in the learning community. Certainly these same dialogues can occur in non- learning community courses, but the difference is that in learning communities students get to know each other well, they work together collaboratively, and they talk about what it means to be a student. They are no longer the solitary student who slips in and out of class unnoticed; now they are part of a community where others are interested in hearing their perspectives and are just as quick to hold them accountable for performing below expectations.
This development of an academic identity is particularly important for developmental students because it reminds them that their voice is part of the academic process. It also reinforces that, contrary to the self-fulfilling stereotypes students may have absorbed in past educational environments, they are capable and expected to do strong academic work.
Collaborative meaning-making
We talk a lot about helping students do better, think more critically, and read more thoughtfully, and we adopt different means of measuring this in teaching. Learning communities can provide students with a model in which to practice these skills in the context of a particular discipline, or with attention to interdisciplinary perspectives. Tagg (2004) argues that "the reasons practice in a community of peers is an excellent context for learning and motivation is that it is preeminently through such contexts that we construct and revise meaning" (p. 12). When we ask students to respond critically and to read deeply we are in essence asking them to engage in meaning-making-to engage in individual and "mutual construction of knowledge" (Baxter-Magolda, 2002, p. 6). Learning communities characteristically include multimodal learning and collaborative problem solving because curriculum can be structured in ways that lend and borrow material between courses and focus on course content where students struggle the most.
Bridging the divide
Finally, learning communities can provide structure for bridging the many chasms that exist in higher education. First , developmental students may often find gaps between their home-worlds and school-worlds (Johnson, 1996), and these gaps serve to remind students that they are outsiders to the academic milieu. Learning communities that incorporate diverse curriculum and collaborative learning invite students to bring aspects of their lived experience into the classroom.
Second, learning communities connect instructors and faculty and encourage us to grapple with new curriculum and envision ways to meet the needs of our students collectively. To understand why a certain instructor presents materials in one way and not another, invites teachers to stretch their understanding of other ways of teaching and learning. In doing so, we become part of the learning circle and are challenged in the same way our students are.
Third, learning communities are vehicles by which academic affairs and student affairs can collaborate to enhance student experience and retention. Models that integrate advisors or include career development or first-year seminars taught by student services staff bridge the gap between the academic and social worlds of students. This type of collaboration provides a conduit for these different units to communicate and collaborate around issues of student success.
Like all models, learning communities come in many shapes and sizes and can be designed to meet the needs of different instructional styles, institutional needs, and financial constraints. They also come with their own share of complications, be it peer dynamics or creating shared curriculum. Yet, despite these challenges, we need to find creative ways to ensure that developmental students like David have the tools and the validation to invest in their academic journey. Learning community work can be an intentional response to sustaining access to college in a climate where the "community" of higher education seems to be moving further and further away from education for the broader public good.
References
Barr, R., & Tagg, J. (1995). From teaching to learning - A new paradigm for undergraduate education.
Change Magazine, 27, (6), 12-26.
Baxter Magolda, M.B. (2002). Helping students makes their way to adulthood: Good company for the journey.
About Campus, v. 6, (6), 2-29.
Gablenick, F., MacGregor, J.; Matthews,R.S., & Smith, B.L. 1990. (Eds.). Learning Communities: Creating connections among students, faculty and disciplines.
New Directions for Teaching and Learning , 41. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass
Goodsell Love, A. (1999). What are learning communities. In J. Levine (Ed.)
Learning Communities: New Structures, New Partnerships for Learning
. The First Year Experience Monograph Series, 26.
Johnson, H. (1996). How college affects first-generation college students.
About Campus . 1 (5), 9-13.
Levine, J.,Smith, B.L., Tinto, V., & Gardner, J.(1999). Learning about learning communities: Taking student learning seriously
. Teleconference resource packet. National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience in Transition. University of South Carolina . April 19 th 1999 .
Tagg, J. (2004). Alignment for learning: Reorganizing classrooms and campuses.
About Campus, 9, (2) 8-19.
Tinto, V. (1997). Classrooms as communities: Exploring the educational character of student persistence.
Journal of Higher Education, 68 (6), 599-623.
Back to Center Points Contents
|
Rashne Jehangir
|
Return
to: CEHD : U
of M Home
