Measuring Success In Learning Communities

Abstract

In 1998, our department turned to the pedagogical innovation termed "learning communities" in an effort to enhance student retention and to bring coherence and meaning to our first-year student curriculum. We have found that our learning community has provided an opportunity for agricultural engineering students to become involved in the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (ABE) department from the moment they arrive on campus. Not only has the learning community helped us to increase our first-year, first time student retention in the major of Agricultural Engineering (AE) from 63.6% in 1997 to 79.0% in 2003 in the department (ABE) from 78.8% in 1997 to 89.5% in 2003, it has helped us to address many of our program objectives including students' abilities to function on multi-disciplinary teams, communicate effectively, and have knowledge of important contemporary issues. Results of our assessment efforts, which encompass both quantitative and qualitative strategies, suggest that students are overwhelmingly satisfied with the program, are involved in our department, and are successful in their academic progress toward their engineering or technology degree.A brief look at the literature With a history that can be traced to an experimental educational program in the 1920s (the Meiklejohn Experimental College at the University of Washington), learning communities can now be found at four to five hundred colleges and universities across the nation. According to Smith, "Learning communities are a broad structural innovation that can address a variety of issues from student retention to curriculum coherence, from faculty vitality to building a greater sense of community within our colleges." Learning communities usually involve purposive groupings of students and coordinated scheduling. In addition, they may involve coordinated approaches to learning and an emphasis on connecting material across disciplinary boundaries. 2 As Tinto 3 points out, the learning community courses for which students co-register are not random; rather, "they are typically connected by an organizing theme, which gives meaning to their linkage. The point of the theme is to engender coherent interdisciplinary…learning that is not easily attainable through enrollment in unrelated, stand-alone courses" (p. 2). Despite the age of many learning community programs, Tinto reports that current perceptions of learning communities have been based largely on anecdotal evidence and institutional reports or assessments described at conferences or national meetings. Recently, however, a study was conducted for the National Center of

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“…Similar results were also seen in the School of Engineering and Computer Science in West Texas A&M University, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and Virginia Tech University [2] - [4]. Introduction of learning communities in agriculture engineering and technology programs in Iowa State University improved the retention rate by 12.3% in a year [5]. Additionally, some studies have linked learning communities with enhanced academic performance and communication skills in the students [5].…”

“…Introduction of learning communities in agriculture engineering and technology programs in Iowa State University improved the retention rate by 12.3% in a year [5]. Additionally, some studies have linked learning communities with enhanced academic performance and communication skills in the students [5]. A study conducted by Mickelson and Brumm (2005) found that learning communities enhance the sense of community in the students and alleviate the student-faculty relationship.…”

“…A study conducted by Mickelson and Brumm (2005) found that learning communities enhance the sense of community in the students and alleviate the student-faculty relationship. The National Center of Teaching, Learning and Assessment conducted a study that found that learning communities' students engage more in academic and social activities and form study groups easily [5].…”