Learning Communities

Abstract

A recent trend in higher education has been the creation of learning communities. These programs are designed to create a learning environment that encourages students to make both academic and social connections to provide a richer learning experience. Colleges and universities often create learning communities as a mechanism for increasing student retention and academic engagement while also enhancing “deeper” learning. While these goals focus on the student, learning communities can also be an effective strategy for meeting other institutional goals. While there is considerable agreement that learning communities can be an effective forum for enhancing the quality of undergraduate education, the success of these programs requires considerable planning and dedication by campus administration, faculty, and staff.

Building Bridges into Engineering and Computer Science: Outcomes, Impacts and Lessons Learned

“…The most significant result of first year Bridge is that the eleven (11) students who completely eliminated remediation earned As and Bs in Calculus 1, successfully completed AES degree, transferred after two years from the Bridge, and are thriving at their transfer institutions. First year results also indicated a need to further develop support for students who showed improvement but, after Bridge were still placed in remedial math, as only five (5) out of these ten (10) participants were retained (50% Fall-to-Fall retention). It is also important to note a less reported outcome of the Bridge participants: five (5) out of 132 students changed their academic and career goals to a non-engineering or computer science discipline.…”

“…Early failure in math and science courses pose a barrier to persisting in these fields [9]. Compounding these challenges, when engineering and computer science students begin their higher education at a community college, they take longer to complete their degree, and are less likely to graduate [10].…”