Connecting and Staying Connected: A Student's Perspective
Clayton Pillion, Texas A & M University Student
Former student of Mesa Community College, Integrated Engineering Program (1994-96)

The Integrated Engineering Program
Having just transferred from Mesa Community College to Texas A & M University to finish my engineering degree, I can speak first hand about the benefits of being a part of an integrated learning community. My first two semesters at MCC, I was a student in the pilot year of the Integrated Engineering Program (IEP). The IEP is offered at Mesa and Glendale Community Colleges and is a National Science Foundation funded program to improve engineering education. Our district is joined by six other Universities in our Foundation Coalition.

I remember those first few weeks of class in the pilot IEP. None of us truly worked together. I had entered MCC right from high school and I hardly knew anyone€s name. Our first test rolled around and the scores did not meet expectations. We realized that we were struggling and needed help. However, it took a difficult math assignment to bring the class together. From that day on, we would meet nearly five nights a week to work through problems.

Encouragement Promotes New Skills
Integrated learning communities put students in a position to succeed by taking cooperative learning to a higher level. What makes this different from the concept of group study is that the bond we formed promoted new skills. Personally, I was able to come forward as a leader and motivator. In the traditional class setting many students work individually. How can an individual develop leadership or motivational skills if all work is individual work?

My group interaction and presentation abilities were also enhanced because the situation allowed this. We gave presentations in class on our design problems. We were encouraged by faculty to participate in several Engineering Open Houses where large numbers of MCC students came to hear about the program. I also worked with faculty in designing various web pages and was able to teach faculty members some of the technology skills I was learning.

Students Work, Learn and Teach Together
The IEP students receive instruction on group skills, but the true benefit occurs as the students learn together. The IEP allows students to become friends attending the same classes rather than a group of students in the same classes. The friendships form naturally during class lunches, group tutoring, and the general academic atmosphere. A small portion of a class period is dedicated to group skills training. However, the majority of the learning process happens while students actually work together. Thus, the laboratory for group skills is the student's natural interaction outside of the class.

My second two semesters at MCC, I continued my course work in engineering and worked as a peer tutor with the IEP students that year. During tutoring everyone sat around a table while I wrote on the board. After working through a problem, I would ask the students to rework the problem at the board and explain the steps in detail. Initially no one accepted my offer. A few brave individuals eventually accepted the challenge, and as the semester progressed, they discovered the benefit received from explaining problems to others. Notice I used the word "individuals". This is one fundamental principle behind integrated communities, an individual learns group skills in a real-life situation.

Keeping the Connection through Technology
What changes when a student is removed from his or her learning community and placed in totally new surroundings? Nothing! This is my first semester at Texas A & M University and I have also been able to use the technology skills I acquired in the IEP at Mesa to extend my learning community.

Technology is rapidly changing how students are communicating. In the past a student would most likely write a letter and send it to a friend they physically met somewhere else. Now students can meet other students anywhere in the world. The practicality is only realized when you need to speak with someone. Internet technology is making this possible by allowing me to communicate from my office at Texas A & M to the students at MCC. Such technology as Cooltalk and the Internet Phone allow two Internet users to talk for FREE! A friend of mine from MCC was sitting in the engineering lab trying to update one of my old PowerPoint presentations. Rather than wasting countless hours, he called me using Cooltalk. Our voices were remarkably clear. This is an excellent alternative to e-mail.

After leaving MCC many faculty members asked how I was doing and what I thought of the campus. Well, instead of typing the same description to everyone, I scanned in some pictures and displayed them on the Web. I e-mailed the address (URL) to everyone and they were able to see for themselves. The Internet can bring people together like no other medium can. It allows for direct and instantaneous communication, but, more importantly it is flexible. It is growing and new technologies are being developed at incredible rates. I believe the Internet will be our grandchildren's sole means of communication.

I've been able to build an entirely new learning community resembling the one I left at Mesa. This is because the skills learned are not unique to a location, but they are universal. This portability is what made learning communities so critical to my education.

-t h e   f o r u m-

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