LEARNING
COMMUNITIES
Creating Environments that Retain,
Engage and Transform Learners
North Seattle Community
College Presenters:
* Jane Lister Reis, Communications Faculty
* Haley Gronbeck, teaching assistant and tutor
* Cam Basden, teaching assistant and adult learner
* Chris McRae, adult learner
* Carol Hamilton, Faculty Emeritus, English
Foundations of our
Learning Community Design:
Supportive, Emergent, Co-Constructive &
Based on Adult Learning Theory (Knowles)
Carol
Jane
* Adults are practical, autonomous and self-directed.
* Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge
that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities, and
previous education.
* Adults are goal-oriented and relevancy-oriented.
* As do all learners, adults need to be shown respect.
Conner, M. L. "How Adults Learn." Ageless Learner, 1997-2007. http://agelesslearner.com/intros/adultlearning.html
LEARNING COMMUNITIES:
A 20+ Year History at Our
College
* Requirement of AA degree since 1990s General Education Outcome: Integrated Learning
* Research on student learning and retention in college and
cohort community
* Integrated Studies Committee led by a faculty member Faculty Development Connections/Collaboration/Cohesion
Reasons for Integrated
Learning Communities
in the Curriculum
For Student Learning & Retention:
* Students find connections across disciplines
* Learn to communicate in seminars through writing &
discussion/ Ask “so what” in speaking and writing
*Cohorts form, integrative assignments challenge, diversity
explored through texts and purpose
* Look at a public and relevant issue for their ongoing lives
Theme/details for
our course:
“Beginnings: Sustaining Our Identity
and Culture in a Multicultural Society”
* An interdisciplinary 10-credit, 11-week evening course
* Fall 2010 combining Freshman English Comp
(ENGL 101- 102)
* American Literature and Society (ENGL 265),
* Small Group Communication (CMST&230)
* Intercultural Communication (HUM105)
Components of
this Class:
*Theme and Problem-based learning
*Essays (personal narrative and research-based)
*Dialogic student seminars
*Mini-lectures
*Small group discussions
*Cultural interviews
* Final integrative project that addressed
a community issue
All assignments can be found on the course website
Understanding and
Constructing the
Classroom as Container
Designing the elements of the course to help students
experience the different levels of a container:
1. Politeness - Shared Monologues
2. Shared Experience -- Moving from ‘Me’ to ‘We’
3. Reflective Dialogue – Inquiry & Analysis
4. Generative Dialogue – Making Meaning Together
Container Concept as four quadrants from William Isaacs.
Dialogue and The Art of Thinking Together, 1999.
Introducing the Adult
Learners & Teaching
Assistants
Our Educational Paths and How Learning Communities
Changed our Learning and Our Lives
Haley, Cam, and Chris
Cam’s Narrative
• My experience as both a student and T.A. in Coordinated
Studies: its impact on my life both scholastically and
privately.
• Positive and negative experiences in online and hybrid
classes; lack of personal connections and importance of
human to human dialogue.
• Communication and its importance inside and outside of
the classroom.
A Community That Cares
• Establish awareness with students on the 1st day of class -this is not a normal class --you will be talking about deep
issues revolving around identity, belonging, and community.
• Create a sense of openness: student to student, teacher to
student, and student to teacher all required for success and
enjoyability.
• Invite stories: All class members have a story, one that
shapes our identity and our relationships with one another.
• Discover empathy: it exists in all of us, but requires practice.
• Recognize the class as a living system: it requires nurturing
and attention in order for optimal learning to take place.
In a community of care students move from separateness into a shared experience
•
Haley’s Narrative
• Intersections between Scholarship of Teaching &
Learning (SoTL) and my experience as a T.A.
• My experience at The Evergreen State College:
community-based, seminar-style learning with narrative
evaluations
• Practical applications of alternative learning
•
Diverse Learners: Exploring
Personal Narrative and
Social Awareness
• Importance of narrative in the classroom to create a
comfortable learning environment.
• Creating a space where stories come forward.
• Releasing your voice in the classroom: creating a space
for student and teacher connection.
• Using personal histories to challenge and deconstruct
dangerous ideas.
• Developing community and intellectual intimacy by
understanding ourselves, our history, and the stories.
around
us.personal narrative and social awareness creates a space
Exploring
for reflective dialogue
A COMMUNITY OF
RELEVANT ENGAGEMENT
Completing a project that addresses community stimulates
scholarship and connection by performing the following
functions:
* Practical application of course material
* Exercises analytical and critical thinking skills
* Creates safe learning environment
A COMMUNITY OF
RELEVANT ENGAGEMENT
* Empowers learners to take leadership and ownership
* Fosters teambuilding skills
* Develops connections
* Provides quantifiable and visible service to the community
A COMMUNITY OF
RELEVANT ENGAGEMENT
• Developing connections with each other and to the
college that extend beyond the classroom. They build
networks and support groups that can be used in future.
• Providing a quantifiable and visible service to the
community which gives the school value to the public and
gives learners a sense of ownership to the school and
their work.
Relevant engagement creates opportunity for the discovery of new knowledge
and meaning through generative dialogue
Questions for Haley, Cam and Chris?
Learning Communities: Build on
Past Successes and Move to
Future Reforms
Assessment of learning communities:
* Learning communities strengthen student retention and academic
achievement
* Transformative for both students and faculty
* Research shows an integration of General Education outcomes makes
sense to undergraduate students & returning older college students
* New designs focusing on reforming pre-college Math
and English curriculum (Gates Foundation grants and Washington
Center projects)
Learning Communities:
Renewing Faculty Energy &
Creativity
Faculty Development:
*Faculty at North have benefitted from Washington Center for
Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education at Evergreen
State College (alternative curriculum reform for 30 years)
*Faculty learning community (teams of 2-3 faculty create a course
together)to purposefully integrate “disciplinary” outcomes
* Workshops, conferences, mentoring, faculty exchanges and teams
COURSE TOOLS &
REFERENCES
Course Website and Class Blog
Key Handouts & Assignments (on course website):
“So Do You Mean?” (Virginia Satir)
“What’s in a Seminar” (Jim Harnish, faculty emeritus, NSCC)
Seminar Video “Seminar: A Skill Everyone Can Learn"
Seminar Preps (supports careful reading & critical thinking)
Personal Narrative Assignment & Essay (creates value and respect)
Cultural Interviews Assignment (listening, empathy & privilege exercises)
Final Integrated Assignment (meeting a community need as a small group)
Annotated Bibliography for Learning Communities (on blog)
20 Tips for Creating a Transformative Learning Community(on blog)
FINAL
QUESTIONS?
Thank you for this opportunity to share our learning experience with you!
CONTACT INFORMATION
Jane Lister Reis jreis@sccd.ctc.edu
Haley Gronbeck h.gronbeck@gmail.com
Cam Basden
cbass13@gmail.com
Chris McRae
cmcrae21@uw.edu
Carol Hamilton chamilton@northseattle.edu