Learning Communities
Advantages | Fall 2008 Offerings | Past Offerings | Faculty Process | Contact Info
A "Learning Community" refers to a group of students enrolled in two or more courses whose instructors collaborate to integrate instruction.
Advantages of Learning Communities
Instead of selecting from a menu of separate foods to be eaten one at a time, students can choose "combo plates"--learning communities. This is one instance in which "super-sizing it" yields much more than empty calories.
Students naturally learn in multiple ways--not in isolated, focused chunks. People develop both technical and social skills as they engage in varried activities throughout the day. The separation of academic disciplines creates artificial boundaries between subjects that could be more meaningfully understood as inter-related parts.
Integrated instruction promotes the making of connections, a vital skill in our changing world where learning how to learn is far more important than memorizing specific facts that will soon become outdated.
In learning communities, there's a lot more room to be explored outside of the box than in it.
Learning communities help students to bond, develop self-confidence, and to identify themselves as being a part of a community. Research shows that students who feel that they are valued members of a group have higher success rates than do students who are "going it alone."
| Contact Info: Marty Kendall Learning Communities Coordinator martha.kendall@sjcc.edu (408)298-2181 x3884 She will be pleased to answer student questions and help faculty develop new Learning Communities. |
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Thanks to SJECCD administrative commitment and faculty eagerness to embrace this innovative pedagogy, SJCC is a leader among Bay Area Community Colleges in the development of learning communities.