LEARNING
COMMUNITIES:
Creating Environments that Retain,
Engage and Transform Learners
North Seattle Community
College Presenters:
* Carol Hamilton, Faculty Emeritus, English
* Jane Lister Reis, Communications Faculty
* Cam Basden, teaching assistant and adult learner
* Haley Gronbeck, teaching assistant and tutor
* Chris McCrae, adult learner
LEARNING COMMUNITIES:
A 20+ Year History at Our
College
Requirement of our AA degree (learning outcome:
interdisciplinary thinking
Recently utilized as a retention strategy with developmental
English and math integrated with a college course (Gates
Foundation and Washington Center focus)
Integrated Studies Committee led by a faculty member
Learning Communities: A
Proven “Container” for Student
Retention and Critical/Analytical
Thinking2
Most of the research and assessment on learning
communities reveal promising results:
Classroom as container
* A preponderance of studies indicate that learning communities strengthen
student retention and academic achievement, and that both students and
teachers in learning communities say that their learning community
experience is positive.
* Both research and assessment studies point to numbers of noteworthy and
effective learning community initiatives in programs for entering students,
general education coursework, and in pre-college/developmental education.
2
Kathe Taylor et al. “Learning Community Research and Assessment: What We Know Now, Executive Summary,” 2003.
About Our Class:
“Beginnings: Sustaining Our Identity
and Culture in a Multicultural Society”
An interdisciplinary 10-credit, 11-week evening course offered
Fall 2010 combining Freshman English Composition, American
Literature and Society (ENGL 265), Small Group
Communication (CMST&230) and Intercultural
Communication (HUM105)
About Our Class:
Theme- based learning, essays (personal
narrative and research-based), dialogic
student seminars, mini-lectures, small group
discussions, cultural interviews, and a final
integrative project
Introducing the Adult
Learners & Teaching
Assistants:
Our Educational Paths and How Learning Communities
Changed our Learning and Our Lives
Haley, Cam, and Chris
•
HALEY’S
NARRATIVE
• Intersections between Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL)
and my experience as a T.A.
• Importance of narrative in the classroom to create a comfortable
learning environment
• My experience at The Evergreen State College: community-based,
seminar-style learning with narrative evaluations
•
Diverse Learners: Exploring
Personal Narrative and
Social Awareness
• 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.
Cam’s Narrative
• My previous educational experiences: St. Mark’s School
(East Coast Boarding School) & University of Florida and
what was missing.
• Communication and its importance inside and outside of
the classroom.
• My experience as both a student and T.A. in Coordinated
Studies: its impact on my life both scholastically and
privately.
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.
A COMMUNITY OF
RELEVANT ENGAGEMENT
The final integrative group project pulls all of the
coursework together and gives it meaning.
Completing a project that addresses community
stimulates scholarship and connection by performing the
following functions:
• Enhancing learner ability to work as a group member in the
pursuit of a common goal that has an intrinsic value to the
community. Practical application of skills learned in this
classroom environment makes the learning relevant and
gives it meaning.
A COMMUNITY OF
RELEVANT ENGAGEMENT
• Utilizing the critical thinking skills developed by literary analysis
and cultural interviews allows learners the ability to reflect on
and evaluate group dynamics.
• Giving creative space to learners who together pick a theme
(related to literary and cultural themes explored throughout the
quarter), develop tasks and timelines, form a group success
plan, and develop norms forms a strong cohesive group fosters
a safe learning environment empowering all learners to take
leadership in the classroom.
A COMMUNITY OF
RELEVANT ENGAGEMENT
• Developing connections with each other and to the college that
extends 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.
Questions for Haley, Cam and Chris?
About Our Class:
Emergent, Co-Constructive & Based on
Adult Learning Theory (Knowles)3
Love the
learner and
the
learning!
* 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.
3Conner,
M. L. "How Adults Learn." Ageless Learner, 1997-2007. http://agelesslearner.com/intros/adultlearning.html
COURSE TOOLS &
REFERENCES
Course Website:
http://facweb.northseattle.edu/jreis/beginnings2010/beginnings_index.htm
Class Blog: http://beginnscc.blogspot.com/
Key Handouts & Assignments:
“What’s in a Seminar”
Seminar Video “Seminar: A Skill Everyone Can Learn"
Seminar Preps (careful reading & critical thinking)
Final Integrated Assignment
Cultural Interviews Assignment
Personal Narrative Assignment & Essays
Annotated Bibliography
FINAL
QUESTIONS?
Thank you
for this opportunity
to share our learning
experience with you!