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Learning Communities:
An Overview |
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Learning Communities:
An Overview |
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© Copyright 2000 by Ashley Williams. The right to make additional exact copies, including this notice, for personal and classroom use, is hereby granted. All other forms of distribution and copying require permission of the author. |
Outcomes and Benefits: Students While it is impossible to overstate the importance of careful analysis of meaningful assessment of any learning experience, a developed discussion of student outcomes in LCs is impossible here. However, I would at least to point to the significant body of assessment information at various institutions indicating beneficial results of learning community experience in areas such as student to student interaction, student to faculty interaction, creation of community, retention, and critical thinking, among others. In commentary about assessment studies on LCs, Rafael Heller (1998) says that existing research "strongly endorses" learning communities, for example, because they foster greater student engagement, both academically and socially (p. 11). In a reflection on the analysis of 63 LC assessment studies dating from 1988-1999, Jeri Lindblad (2000) reports favorable student outcomes in such areas as retention and persistence, critical thinking, tolerance for multiple perspectives, and self-awareness and motivation while also noting the need for more studies, for example, on under-represented students. One of the most significant findings Jerri Lindblad reports is that LC students "increase in cognitive complexity at a faster rate than students in stand-alone classes or in nationally normed samples" (p. 26). The greatest gain LC students themselves report is in their ability to understand other points of view and engage in analysis and integration of ideas. The impact of student-to-student interaction identified by Astin (1993b) would seem to explain some or much of this perception. At George Mason, the Office of Institutional Assessment has completed various studies involving LC students. A 1996 study (published in In Focus, Vol. 1, No. 4), Retaining Students Enrolled in New Century College, PAGE, and Linked Courses: A One-Semester Report provides a "snapshot" of retention of first-year students from the first to second semester. Students in each of these three communities were retained at significantly greater rates than other first-year students. A subsequent study, again published in In Focus (1999), gathered information about curricular connections between and among Linked Courses. In this study, 67% of students agreed that links did help make curricular connections; 80% agreed that links promoted a sense of community, and 60% of students reported a closer relationship with faculty in linked courses than with faculty teaching their other courses (Fall 1998 Linked Courses Report: Results from Pre- to Post-Course Questionnaire).
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