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Numerous recent reports, documents, and studies in higher education
and student affairs have direct practitioners’ attention towards
student learning as an outcome of the college experience (i.e. AAHE/ACPA/NASPA,
1998; ACPA, 1994; Newell, 1999).
Bolstered by studies which have demonstrated that interaction
with faculty members have led to increased student academic success
and intellectual and psychosocial development (Astin, 1993;
Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991), this body of literature has done
much to encourage increased collaboration between student affairs
professionals and faculty members as a means towards increasing
student learning. One
of the forms this collaboration has taken is the learning community,
a broad term which includes numerous structured forms of interaction
between and among students and faculty members.
Adding
to this conversation is Shapiro & Levine’s Creating
Learning Communities: A Practical Guide to Winning Support,
Organizing for Change, and Implementing Programs (1999).
Described by the authors as a work which examines “the
critical pieces that need to be in place from the beginning and
suggest[s] how to build campus consensus around the concept of
learning communities” (p. xii), the book provides practical advice
on putting learning communities into practice.
Unlike other works about learning and
learning communities, the point of this book is not to
attempt to convince the reader of the merits of learning communities
(although the authors do present a compelling case for the learning
community concept). Instead,
it provides realistic and useful guidance to those who are already
prepared to put learning communities into place on their campuses.
The
first chapter steps back from the practical and attempts to answer
the questions “Why learning communities?,” and “What is a
learning community?” While
only partially answering the “why” question of learning
communities, the authors do set the context for the recent emergence
of learning communities in higher education by reviewing recent
reports and documents that call for the reinvention and
transformation of undergraduate education.
Better answered, however, is the “what” question of
learning communities. While
no one definition seems to encompass the kinds of programs the
author describe, they do propose that learning communities share
certain characteristics: (a) they organize students and faculty into
smaller groups, (b) encourage integration of the curriculum, (c)
help students establish academic and social networks, (d) provide a
setting for students to be socialized into the expectations of
college, (e) bring faculty together in meaningful ways, (f) focus on
learning outcomes, (g) provide a setting for delivery of academic
support initiatives, and (h) offer a critical lens for examining the
first-year experience.
Chapter
two provides the reader with a succinct history of the learning
communities movement, including the work of such early reformists as
John Dewey. The bulk of
the chapter is devoted to describing four approaches to learning
communities which the authors feel are most prevalent.
The presentation of these models (paired or clustered
courses, cohorts in large courses, team-taught programs, and
residential-based programs) is particularly useful for the reader
who may still be trying to grasp what a learning community looks
like.
The
rest of the book focuses on the business of implementing learning
communities on a college campus.
Chapter three, taking cues from the literature on campus
culture and organizational change, describes a general model for
assessing campus culture and identifying the opportunities and
challenges for learning communities on a campus.
Practitioners will find the discussion of “change levers”
particularly helpful. The
authors also cover such important topics as prioritizing, planning,
promotion and budgeting.
Chapter
Four turns to a discussion of the curricula, and examines some of
the typical curricular bases for learning communities, such as the
core curriculum, interdisciplinary courses, writing courses,
freshman seminars, and experiential learning.
Learning communities, the authors note, do not refer to a new
curriculum, but instead “represent a new way to think about
accomplishing the overriding goals of general education while
helping students link their learning to career and future
aspirations” (p. 90).
Chapter
Five takes on the delicate but important task of attracting faculty
to learning communities and rewarding faculty for their work.
The authors point out that “a campus that is serious about
attending to undergraduate education will have to institutionalize
the roles and reward for faculty who dedicate themselves to this
exciting but labor-intensive work” (p. 97).
Faculty development must also be attended to if faculty are
to invest themselves in the learning communities concept, and the
authors discuss this in terms of defining roles and providing
support and resources. Unfortunately,
the recruitment, involvement, and development of student affairs
professionals is absent from the chapter.
Administrative
partnerships between student affairs, academic affairs, and business
affairs units is important as well, and Shapiro & Levine explore
this topic in Chapter Six. They
note the multitude of obstacles to developing these partnerships,
such as cultural differences and limited resources, but also
identify a number of strategies which some institutions have found
effective for overcoming those difficulties.
Potential roles for specific administrative units (academic
advising, residence life, orientation, and admissions, for example)
receive attention, another helpful feature of the book.
Putting
the actual structures in place – both the operational processes of
creating a community and the developmental process of maintaining
one – is examined in Chapter Seven.
The authors provide excellent recommendations about
establishing planning cycles, working with colleges and departments,
marketing programs, registering students, and monitoring
enrollments. Unfortunately,
the more difficult task of maintaining communities, particularly as
the student affairs practitioner might understand them, is not given
as strong a treatment.
Chapter
Eight addresses evaluation and assessment, another topic which has
received much attention lately in student affairs, and one which no
process model should overlook.
The authors provide a fairly thorough discussion of
assessment, and suggest a process that roughly follows assessment
models proposed in the literature (i.e. Upcraft & Schuh, 1996;
Winston & Miller, 1994).
Chapter
Nine serves to fill in the gaps left in chapters One and Two by
attempting to answer the question, “What impact do learning
communities have on students?”
Here the authors provide a content analysis of various
studies conducted at campuses where learning communities are already
established. While
the focus is not on research design and methodology, the authors do
review several pieces of evidence which suggest that learning
communities do have an impact on students, by examining such
indicators as achievement and retention, intellectual and social
development, and involvement. In
addition, they provide evidence from student voices (results of
qualitative studies) that provide a rich, descriptive representation
of what students experience in relation to learning communities,
including reasons for joining, benefits of participation, and the
actual classroom experience. The
impact on faculty and on the institution in general is also
reviewed, although evidence in these areas appears slight.
In evaluating the support for learning communities, the
authors note three themes which emerged from a collaborative study
recently completed at three institutions: (a) learning communities
help develop a network of peers, (b) learning communities helped
bridge the gap between the academic and social dimensions of
college, and (c) learning communities helped students gain a voice
in the construction of knowledge.
Each of these seem consistent with what student development
theories would lead us to expect from such an experience (i.e.
Baxter-Magolda, 1992; Chickering & Reisser, 1993).
Finally, in Chapter Ten, Shapiro and Levine offer concluding advice
and reflections on learning communities, based on the concepts
emerging from the previous chapters and based on their own
experiences in designing, implementing, and maintaining learning
communities (Shapiro at University of Maryland College Park, Levine
at Temple University). Their
own reflections are presented as responses to four questions:
“What do I know now that I wish I knew then?,” “What lessons
could not be taught but rather had to be learned through trial and
error?,” “What knowledge could have I acquired along the
way?,” and “What one piece of advice would I offer to
beginners?” While the
advice is brief, it does provide unique insight for those about to
embark on the learning communities journey.
This
is an excellent sourcebook for those needing guidance in building
learning communities on their campuses.
It provides a comprehensive look at the many opportunities
and challenges an educator may face during the development of
learning communities. In
addition, it provides a general process which will prove useful to
faculty and administrators alike.
The abundance of concrete examples from campuses with
existing programs helps to illustrate that process. The only
striking shortcoming, other than the brevity with which some topics
are discussed, is the absence of any significant discussion of the
role for student affairs in this otherwise very collaborative
endeavor. While the
astute student affairs practitioner can use this resource to
discover his or her own role in introducing and maintaining learning
communities on college campuses, the authors could have addressed
ways in which student affairs can assume the role of full partner in
this learning model with much potential.
Nevertheless, Creating
Learning Communities is well worth reading and makes an
important contribution to the literature.
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References
American
Association for Higher Education, American College Personnel
Association, and National Association of Student Personnel
Administrators (1998). Powerful
partnerships: A shared responsibility for learning.
Washington, D.C.: Author.
American
College Personnel Association (1994).
The student learning
imperative. Washington,
D.C.: Author.
Astin,
A.W. (1993). What
matters in college: Four critical years revisited.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Baxter-Magolda,
M. B. (1992). Knowing
and reasoning in college: Gender-related patterns in students’
intellectual development. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Chickering,
A. W., & Reisser, L. (1993).
Education and identity
(2nd ed.). San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Newell,
W. H. (1999). The
promise of integrative learning. About
Campus, 4(2), 17-23.
Pascarella,
E. T., and Terenzini, P. T. (1991).
How college affects
students. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Upcraft,
M. L., and Schuh, J. H. (1996).
Assessment in student
affairs. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Winston,
R. B., and Miller, T. K. (1994).
A model for assessing developmental outcomes related to
student affairs programs and services.
NASPA Journal, 32 (1), p. 2-19.
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