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What are learning communities?
In higher education, curricular learning communities are classes that are linked or clustered during an academic term, often around an interdisciplinary theme, and enroll a common cohort of students. A variety of approaches are used to build these learning communities, with all intended to restructure the students? time, credit, and learning experiences to build community among students, between students and their teachers, and among faculty members and disciplines.
The three general types of learning community structures are as follows:
- Student Cohorts/Integrative Seminar
Learning communities can be structured as programs in which a small cohort of students enrolls in larger classes that faculty do not coordinate. In this instance, intellectual connections and community-building often take place in an additional integrative seminar.
- Linked Courses/Course Clusters
Learning communities may involve two or more classes linked thematically or by content which a cohort of students takes together. In this instance, the faculty do plan the program collaboratively.
- Coordinated Study
Learning communities may involve coursework that faculty members team teach. The course work is embedded in an integrated program of study.
These are broad categorizations along a spectrum of learning community activities. Dozens of adaptations of these types exist to fit the needs of specific colleges and universities.
The above information has been taken from the Washington Center of Evergreen State College in Washington. |
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