Part 1 - An Overview

An Overview of Learning Communities

Higher education is under great pressure today to show that it is preparing students for the changing world of work and the demanding challenges of citizenship in turbulent times. In addition, there are internal pressures to make the curriculum more flexible in order to take advantage of innovations in instructional technique and technology. Finally, there is a desire to emphasize higher levels of critical thinking throughout the educational system.

As part of this recent interest in seeking innovative and flexible approaches to college instruction, Learning Communities (LC) are attracting the attention of faculty members in a wide variety of disciplines. Learning Communities are an approach to curriculum design which coordinates two or more courses into a single program of instruction, often called a learning community. Models range from clusters of loosely linked courses to single programs in which several courses have been so intertwined that course divisions are no longer apparent.

"By stepping outside the tradition of isolated courses and imagining more interdisciplinary approaches, we may gain the flexibility we need to continue to adapt our remarkable institutions to meet the needs of our communities in the next century."

By making educational experiences more coherent and meaningful, LC fosters a greater sense of community among learners, promotes greater retention and achievement for students, and revitalizes the teaching experience for faculty members. The integrated approach is believed to be more compatible with the way people naturally learn and more relevant to the real world. Learning is raised to a higher level as students see the commonalties in thinking across several subject areas. Critical thinking is strengthened as students are exposed to multiple, and sometimes conflicting, perspectives on the same issues. When individual disciplines are seen in a broad context encompassing many aspects of human society, more ethical decisions are possible.

Learning Communities are an exciting innovation for community college instructors. By stepping outside the tradition of isolated courses and imagining more interdisciplinary approaches, we may gain the flexibility we need to continue to adapt our remarkable institutions to meet the needs of our communities in the next century.

Learning communities can be developed for a number of differing purposes. Several content courses can be combined to emphasize a common theme. A history, sociology, and psychology course, for example, could be combined to work with the theme of the "Individual in Society." One or more skills courses, such as English composition or college reading, can be combined with a content course such as freshman biology. In such a course the students do a great deal of reading and writing about the concepts they learn in biology, simultaneously improving their literacy skills and their conceptual understanding of biology. Another possibility would be to integrate several general studies courses for students in a particular occupational program such as engineering to emphasize these students' special interests and needs.

In the Maricopa Community College District, learning communities have been started for all of these purposes and others. These learning communities have taken various forms, reflecting differing degrees and types of integration. The most common are linked activities, linked courses, and seamless courses.

**Figure 1**

Linked Activities

Many faculty members who become interested in LC first experiment with single activities or projects which link two courses. These experiments amount to cross-class dialogues planned by instructors teaching separate courses with different student populations. For example, a presentation of gang violence is attended by students from psychology, sociology, and economics courses. After the presentation, the students join in a discussion of the topic.

A somewhat more involved linked activity might ask students enrolled in a math course to evaluate process descriptions written by English 101 students for solving math word problems. English students discover whether their writing communicates clearly, while the math students benefit from exposure to a variety of perspectives to help them understand a math process.

Such activities are fairly easy to plan and execute, requiring little if any changes in the normal instructional and administrative procedures on the campus. Only two aspects of collaboration are required, co-planning by instructors teaching different courses and co-learning, the sharing of a learning activity by students from two or more courses. (See Figure 1.) Nonetheless, linked activities can achieve a lot in terms of building more integration within the curriculum and more camaraderie among faculty. Students begin to understand that learning goals cut across traditional course offerings.

**Figure 2**

Linked Courses

Instructors who see many connections between two or more courses may decide to plan a semester-long coordination. This effort will involve four elements of collaboration. (See Figure 2.) Although the courses may be taught separately, every effort is made, through co-planning to emphasize parallels and reinforce joint concepts and skills. Students are required to co-enroll in all the courses included in the link. Instructors observe each other's classes and begin to experiment with the co-teaching of selected activities. Most learning activities and assignments are still specific to only one of the courses in the link, but the instructors plan one or more joint projects or co-learning activities which involve all courses. Joint assignments, however, are still assessed separately so that separate grades can be assigned to each course.

Because students share so much together, a supportive community of learners begins to develop. Students learn by example to expect connections among the courses they take in college and begin to seek a broader framework for their education. Faculty members are enriched professionally by working so closely with other instructors.

Linked courses require more investment of faculty time in planning both before the semester begins and on an ongoing basis. It is important that faculty members' schedules allow them to attend each other's classes.

**Figure 3**

Seamless Courses

Some instructors may want to go beyond the coordination of existing courses to merge the competencies of two or more courses into a single program of instruction. Five elements of collaboration are needed for this more ambitious undertaking. (See Figure 3.) For example, students could co-enroll in a six credit "course" which would cover the competencies associated with first-year philosophy and biology (for record keeping purposes, students would still be technically enrolled in the two traditional courses). Students would attend a 2 1/2 hour session twice a week to participate in a program of co-learning activities that relate, in an integrated fashion, to the goals of the two courses. There would be no identifiable time associated with any one course because the courses have been thoroughly combined through co-planning. The instructors of record for the two courses would act as a co-teaching team and would be present throughout the session. Homework assignments and examinations would also be integrated and co-assessed. Individual assessments contribute to a single grade for the overall program, which would be recorded on the students' transcripts for both of the courses in which they are officially enrolled.

For some instructors, the seamless LC course reflects a broader learner centered philosophy of education which sees the learner rather than the discipline as the organizing center of learning experiences. Students become part of the instructional team as they work with faculty members to design the semester's activities. In addition, since this philosophy also views knowledge as dynamic, the course may not be preplanned but emerges day to day as the outgrowth of the interactions of students and instructors. The role of the faculty is to document how course competencies are covered within the emerging design.

It is beneficial to experiment with one or more of these types of LCs or develop a unique version which combines qualities from more than one of these types. The best design will depend on institutional environment and the specific disciplines to be integrated as well as the characteristics of the faculty and students who will participate. The goal is to provide a richer range of learning experiences to our students and contribute to a more vibrant and supportive campus environment for students and faculty alike.

**Figure 4**

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