Building Communities of Active Learners

Southwest Regional Learning Communities Conference
February

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"Is Anyone Else as Stressed as I Am?": The Rewards and Dangers of Electronic Bulletin Boards in Linked Courses
University of Prince Edward Island
Shannon Murray, Stefanie Richard

In this session, we will discuss the First-Year Advantage (FYA) program at UPEI, a learning community of twenty five students and five professors who connect with each other both in the classroom and electronically. The twenty five students take four single-semester coursesÑAcademic Writing, Practical Logic, Introduction to Psychology, and Introduction to LiteratureÑand one two-semester First-Year Experience course (University 100). Instructors coordinate their schedules, but conduct their classes independently. Some assignments are connectedÑthe presentation component of University 100, for example, is based on research for the Academic Writing courseÑand there are social events for professors and students, but what connects us between classes and across semesters is a common Web Course Tools (WebCT) page. All five professors use that page for quizzes, supplementary material, and a coordinated "readings and assignments" calendar. The most revealing, helpful, yet also problematic feature of the WebCT page, though, is the electronic bulletin board. That bulletin board takes the place of a weekly journal in the Academic Writing class. Students post a minimum of 100 words a week on any aspect of the FYA program, so that they practice their writing, reflect on their courses, and help each other through difficulties in their first, and most challenging, year. Although this bulletin board is one of the most constant and satisfying community-builders in the program, our experience this year shows that students can either support each other or lead each other astray. The key to the success of the bulletin board, therefore, is vigilant yet tactful monitoring by the five instructors.
    contact information:smurray@upei.ca