• Introduction
• Definitions and Models
• The Five Models
• Currents and Causes
• Creating Learning Communities at GMU: Institutional Climate
• The Precursors
• Two Early LC Versions: BA/SIC and Core
• The Mason Topics Program
• New Century College: Coordinated Studies Model
• The Upper Levels
• Faculty Challenges: The Need for Faculty Development
• Outcomes and Benefits: Students
• Outcomes and Benefits: Faculty and the Scholarship of Pedagogy
• Conclusion
• Endnotes and References
• Printable Text of Article

© 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.

Conclusion

Clearly, learning communities are a significant trend in higher education today. For many students and faculty, the LC experience is meaningful and even transforming. Assessment information from across the country indicates that most faculty who participate find the experience strongly beneficial, even inspiring and rejuvenating (Lindblad, 2000). In e-mail discussions and hallway conversations at LC conferences, faculty often speak of having their lives as teachers changed permanently because of their experience.

However, despite their effect as a potent force for curricular and pedagogical revision, LCs do not yet represent anything like a revolution in teaching and learning on a national scale. LC programs are in some ways fragile, requiring resources and effort on the part of faculty, staff, and administration. They also require a level of collaboration and commitment to teaching that is often not valued by reward systems in higher education. In addition, within the academy, there is sometimes profound resistance to interdisciplinarity and the integration of knowledge from multiple perspectives, even at the beginning of a new millennium.

Despite these complexities, it seems clear that learning community approaches offer exciting possibilities and a significant return on investment and are well worth the institutional and individual efforts required. The concerns which created the need for different ways of teaching and learning have not disappeared from American campuses, and so LC initiatives will likely continue to expand, evolve, and benefit the institutions that launched them. At George Mason, our rich tradition of LC initiatives and pedagogical innovation constitute a valuable institutional resource.

Outcomes and Benefits: Faculty and the Scholarship of Pedagogy