September 16, 2012 | SharkAdmin [image 1]Learning communities are not new to Northwest Vista College, but doing one that keeps students intrigued takes experience. Sharon Colangelo and Mimi Duvall have been co-teaching a class for a number of years. They have found that this type of learning environment makes it comfortable for students to learn and thus more successful. Students in Sharon’s and Mimi's class, which combines Art Appreciation and English Composition, were recently put in groups to creatively present the different parts of an essay. While doing this, some of the students said having two teachers in one class is helpful and entertaining. “It definitely makes the class more interesting because you have different opinions,” said Isaac Serrata, a freshman at NVC. “In this class, the assignments make more sense because they are related and the teachers know what each other are thinking.” A few of the other students chimed in and said the conversations between Sharon and Mimi get to be very entertaining – almost like you are watching a talk show. The learning community program at Northwest Vista College is growing stronger each year, says Allison Pyle, project director of the NVC Innovista Grant. Learning communities consist of two courses that are linked together during an academic term, sharing the same group of students, and are oftentimes thematically based. Assignments are integrated in such a way that material learned in one course helps reinforce material learned in the linked course. Integrated assignments are key to helping students learn, and having the same group of classmates allows students to form bonds and study groups. [image 2]Sharon added that one of the biggest benefits of this style of teaching is that students learn how to be critical thinkers and they are not just trying to appeal to one teacher. After a slow start in previous semesters, Allison said, the six learning communities offering linked core courses were at maximum capacity when classes began in August. She said what helped fuel the classes filling up was a big push by Student Success staff, including the information in HOLA/orientation sessions and faculty encouraging students to sign up. To learn more about learning communities, mark your calendars for Thursday, Sept. 20 and Friday, Sept. 21. Title V funds are sponsoring two speakers from Skagit Valley College to talk with faculty and staff about the benefits of learning communities. In addition, they will hold a “lunch-n-learn” workshop for faculty on Friday to help them develop ideas for integrating assignments, and will provide suggestions for more learning communities! Sign-up information will be provided by Melody Crenshaw. Sharon said it was through learning how other colleges do it that helped her and Mimi kick off their class years ago. “We got the idea for the course after the college sent a group of us to study the successful learning communities in action at Evergreen University,” Sharon added. “Mimi and I have offered this course on a regular basis since fall 2002–that's 10 years non-stop. Sometimes it looked like the course wasn't going to make, but it always did.” If you are interested in teaching a learning community, talk with your department chair first, and then check out the NVC LC Faculty Resources page for helpful information and a link to the Proposal For Learning Community form. Here's a monthly newsletter that is sent to learning community participants:[file 1]
