• 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.

The Five Models

Gabelnick, et al, (1990), identified five models of learning communities:

• inked courses
• clusters
• freshman interest groups (FIGS)
• federated learning communities
• coordinated studies.

In the first two models, faculty teach individual courses but typically engage in some joint planning and assist students in finding connections between or among the content of courses. Generally instructors design at least one joint assignment. Clustered courses (usually three but sometimes four courses) are connected by a common theme. FIGS involve a group of students who are enrolled together in two or three courses. This model does not require faculty teaching these courses to collaborate and plan jointly; rather, the learning community is created by the shared experience of students who form a cohort of learners. Frequently, the mutually enrolled students are also involved together in a weekly seminar or freshman success course. Closely related to this approach is the federated learning communities model in which a faculty member accompanies students to classes as a "master learner" and facilitates a weekly seminar to help students grasp key concepts and make connections between and among courses.

In contrast to the models above, the coordinated studies model (exemplified by New Century College LCs) requires extensive faculty collaboration and team teaching in order to achieve integration of course ideas and content across the curriculum. Students enrolled in coordinated studies LCs are generally expected to reflect on their whole learning experience and to identify key questions, connections, and oppositions across a range of texts, discussions, and classes, etc.

Definitions and Models

Currents and Causes