The Search for Community: The View from the Front Porch
Suzann S. Shepard, MCC

In the Midwest folks still have front porches instead of fenced-in yards or walled patios that separate people and discourage communication among neighbors. A porch swing is centrally located on the porch, and it is usually flanked by two or three lawn chairs that serve to invite neighbors and children passing by to sit a while and visit. Interestingly, some of the biggest housing developers in California are building houses with elaborate gables and porches, complete with porch swings. The porches face a common green belt area so neighbors can get to know each other as they visit. News is exchanged, problems are solved, people are nurtured, and achievements are celebrated on the front porch. Folks intuitively stay connected to each other and united in their common purpose of preserving their sense of community.

Educational leaders across the nation are questioning the wisdom and effectiveness of the visible and invisible walls that isolate workers into departments and separate faculty into disciplines. We are also searching for ways to build and preserve a sense of community by purposefully planning Learning Communities (LCs) or Integrated Learning Communities (ILCs) - two broad terms that we at Maricopa often use interchangeably.

Johnson, Johnson, and Smith (1991) say, A learning community is characterized by two types of social support. The first is an academic support group that provides needed assistance and helps students succeed academically in college. The second is a personal support group made up of people who care about and are personally committed to the student.

An integrated learning community strives to provide the academic and personal support to students by developing and delivering integrated learning experiences for a cohort of students. Existing courses may be linked or the curricular materials may be completely restructured to provide the integration of content and learning. Faculty may teach two or more courses providing the linkage; faculty may team teach. The aim of Integrated Learning Communities is to provide students and faculty an opportunity for increased intellectual interaction and shared inquiry (Washington Center News, 1995).

As a part of the human family, we long to be connected to each other. Abraham Maslow called this the need for love and belonging and said that this need is universal. He placed this need to belong in the middle of his hierarchy of needs, indicating that after our physiological and safety needs are met, we direct much of our energy into trying to satisfy our love and belonging needs. Furthermore, in Maslows hierarchy, it is only after a large percent of our needs for love and belonging are satisfied, that we can then put energy toward what he called our higher needs of growth in esteem and self-actualization -- or exploring and developing our potential.

Isn't this what being a student and a teacher is all about? Exploring and developing potential? Learning communities provide students and faculty alike an arena that is rich in resources, opportunities and challenges for intellectual and personal growth. This kind of richness in learning experiences is made possible because the structure of the learning begins with the establishment of community. The students and faculty who associate together in the LC or ILC are united first by a mutual interest or common purpose. As the sense of community is developed, all participants are free to move through Maslows hierarchy of needs. Assuming individuals are able to meet their basic needs, the learning community begins to satisfy their universal need to belong. Once this is in place, students and faculty are spending less time on the lower needs in the hierarchy and can direct their energy and resources to intellectual and personal pursuits as they explore and develop their potential.

As the Ocotillo committee on ILCs and the Priority Educational Programs (PEP) Grant committee completed its inquiry last year, we identified 22 Maricopa Learning Communities. (See our web site: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/ilc/). It is quite likely other ILCs have sprouted since the creation of the web site. Although ILCs have common characteristics, there are many faces of learning communities. At Maricopa three major types of integrated learning experiences seem to be gaining momentum: linked activities, linked courses, and seamless courses.

In this issue, you will have an opportunity to see some of the many faces of learning communities and get a taste of the versatility and variety of learning experiences this type of endeavor can offer not only students, but faculty as well. Garrison Tahmahkera, Director of the American Indian/Multi-cultural Center at Mesa Community College speaks of the necessity of creating a learning community for American Indian students who leave home communities behind to attend college. You'll hear of the joys and challenges of team teaching from Connie Cagley, Liz O'Brien, and Mike Mitchell of Phoenix Colege, and Sally Rings tells us what it is like to be the only faculty teaching integrated courses. You'll get a picture of how Tom Lowe and Susan McRae of GateWay Community College worked to develop a unique interdisciplinary project at the Maricopa Skill Center. LynnAnn Wojciechowicz talks of her experiences in the Storytelling Integrated Studies in which two English teachers team with a counselor. Gwen Argersinger of Mesa Community College discusses the PEP Grant report that combines faculty comments on the benefits and challenges of ILCs. And finally, youll hear from Clayton Pillion, a former Mesa Community College student who participated in the Integrated Engineering Program at Mesa. Clayton speaks from a students perspective and tells us how he maintains his connections with fellow students and former faculty via the Internet.

Welcome to the front porch of the Forum. Stay and visit a while, and by all means contact the contributors to this issue when you begin your own search for community in your classroom.

-t h e   f o r u m-

URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/
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