{{Short description|Group of people cooperating to achieve academic goals}} A '''learning community''' is a group of people who share common academic goals and attitudes and meet semi-regularly to collaborate on classwork. Such communities have become the template for a cohort-based, interdisciplinary approach to higher education. This may be based on an advanced kind of educational or 'pedagogical' design.{{r|goodyear}}
Community psychologists such as McMillan and Chavis (1986) state that four key factors defined a sense of community: "(1) ''membership'', (2) ''influence'', (3) ''fulfilment of individuals needs'' and (4) ''shared events and emotional connections''. So, the participants of learning community must feel some sense of loyalty and belonging to the group (''membership'') that drive their desire to keep working and helping others, also the things that the participants do must affect what happens in the community; that means, an active and not just a reactive performance (''influence''). Besides, a learning community must give a chance to the participants to meet particular needs (''fulfilment'') by expressing personal opinions, asking for help or specific information, and share stories of events with particular issue included (''emotional connections'') emotional experiences".{{r|bonk}}
Learning communities are now fairly common to American colleges and universities, and are also found in Europe.
==History== In a summary of the history of the concept of learning communities, Wolff-Michael Roth and Lee Yew Jin suggest that until the early 1990s, and consistent with (until then) dominant Piagetian constructivist and information processing paradigms in education, the individual was seen as the "unit of instruction" and the focus of research.{{r|roth_lee}} Roth and Lee claim this as a watershed period when influenced by the work of Jean Lave,{{r|lave}} and Lave and Etienne Wenger{{r|lave_wenger}} among others, researchers and practitioners switched to the idea that was knowing and knowledgeability are better thought of as cultural practices that are exhibited by practitioners belonging to various communities;{{r|brown|roth_bowen|scardamalia|mcgilly}} which, following Lave and Wenger's early work,{{r|lave_wenger}} are often termed communities of practice.{{r|bosciussi|habhab}}
Roth and Lee claim that this led to forms of praxis (learning and teaching designs implemented in the classroom, and influenced by these ideas) in which students were encouraged to share their ways of doing mathematics, history, science, etc. with each other. In other words, students take part in the construction of consensual domains and "participate in the negotiation and institutionalisation of ... meaning".{{quote without source|date=May 2023}} In effect, they are participating in ''learning communities''. Roth and Lee go on to analyse the contradictions inherent in this as a theoretically informed practice in education.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}
Roth and Lee are concerned with the learning community as a theoretical and analytical category; they critique how some educators use the notion to design learning environments without considering the fundamental structures implied in the category. Their analysis does not consider the appearance of learning communities in the United States in the early 1980s. For example, the Evergreen State College, which is widely considered a pioneer in this area,{{r|tinto}} established an intercollegiate learning community in 1984. In 1985, this same college established the Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education, which focuses on collaborative education approaches, including learning communities as one of its centrepieces.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}
Learning communities began to gain popularity at other U.S. colleges and universities during the late 80s and throughout the 90s.{{r|smith_2009}} The Washington Center's National Learning Commons Directory has over 250 learning community initiatives in colleges and universities throughout the nation.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}
==Models== Learning communities can take many forms. According to Barbara Leigh Smith of the Evergreen State College,{{r|smith_1993}} <blockquote> The learning community approach fundamentally restructure the curriculum and the time and space of students. Many different curricular restructuring models are being used. Still, all of the learning community models intentionally link together courses or coursework to provide greater curricular coherence, more opportunities for active teaming, and interaction between students and faculty. </blockquote>
Experts frequently describe five basic nonresidential learning community models:{{r|kellog|tinto}}
# Linked courses: Students take two connected courses, usually one disciplinary course such as history or biology and one skills course such as writing, speech, or information literacy. # Learning clusters: Students take three or more connected courses, usually with a common interdisciplinary theme uniting them. # Freshman interest groups: Similar to learning clusters, but the students share the same major, and they often receive academic advising as part of the learning community. # Federated learning communities: Similar to a learning cluster, but with an additional seminar course taught by a "Master Learner", a faculty member who enrols in the other courses and takes them alongside the students. The Master Learner's course draws connections between the other courses. # Coordinated studies: This model blurs the lines between individual courses. The learning community functions as a single, giant course where the students and faculty members work full-time for an entire semester or academic year.
Micro-foundations are based on studies to understand how groups and teams increase their capabilities to work effectively together.<ref>Argote L. (2013). Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining and Transferring Knowledge, Springer Science+Business Media New York, 115-146</ref> If the organization is a puzzle, then the groups are pieces of the puzzle, putting them together makes it solid.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crossan |first1=Mary M. |last2=Lane |first2=Henry W. |last3=White |first3=Roderick E. |title=An Organizational Learning Framework: From Intuition to Institution |journal=Academy of Management Review |date=July 1999 |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=522–537 |jstor=259140 |doi=10.5465/AMR.1999.2202135 |s2cid=45814035 }}</ref> describe organizational learning as a dynamic process, where new ideas and actions move from individuals to the organization and same time organization return feedback as data what have been learned and experienced in the past. Feed-back from the organization comes to the individual through groups and vice versa. They divided organizational learning into three levels where individual learning is based on intuiting and interpreting while group learning is based on interpreting and integrating, and finally, the organization is about institutionalizing. When these theses are compared with other scholars' studies, there can be found many similar exposes,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gil |first1=Alfonso J. |last2=Mataveli |first2=Mara |title=Learning opportunities for group learning: An empirical assessment from the learning organization perspective |journal=Journal of Workplace Learning |date=13 February 2017 |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=65–78 |doi=10.1108/JWL-02-2016-0009 }}</ref><ref>Senge, P., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R., Smith, B. (1994), The fifth discipline fieldbook: strategies and tools for building a learning organization, New York, Currency 1994.{{page needed|date=May 2023}}</ref> also prove that groups are basic blocks which make a base for organizational learning. Although he claims that learning organizations work is based on several "lifelong programs of study and practice": First, it is based on the individual. In his opinion, all starts with a group member and his/her capability to expose the deepest desire. By that, a person can encourage others and he/herself to move towards the goals. Second is mental models, where individuals have to constitute reflect on their own thought and feel how they see and feel the world against their actions and how they affect their actions. The third one is all about sharing our visions. Basically, it is about how we can create a commitment in a group. Fourth is about group learning and how members can develop their intelligence and ability. The last one describes system thinking.
When studying many other scholars,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nonaka |first1=Ikujiro |title=A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation |journal=Organization Science |date=February 1994 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=14–37 |jstor=2635068 |doi=10.1287/orsc.5.1.14 |s2cid=17219859 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chiva |first1=Ricardo |last2=Alegre |first2=Joaquín |title=Organizational Learning and Organizational Knowledge: Towards the Integration of Two Approaches |journal=Management Learning |date=March 2005 |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=49–68 |id={{ProQuest|209901282}} |doi=10.1177/1350507605049906 |s2cid=143828785 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bresman |first1=Henrik |last2=Zellmer-Bruhn |first2=Mary |title=The Structural Context of Team Learning: Effects of Organizational and Team Structure on Internal and External Learning |journal=Organization Science |date=August 2013 |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=1120–1139 |id={{Gale|A339529849}} |jstor=42002896 |doi=10.1287/orsc.1120.0783 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zhou |first1=Wencang |last2=Hu |first2=Huajing |last3=Shi |first3=Xuli |title=Does organizational learning lead to higher firm performance?: An investigation of Chinese listing companies |journal=The Learning Organization |date=13 July 2015 |volume=22 |issue=5 |pages=271–288 |doi=10.1108/TLO-10-2012-0061 }}</ref> there can be a basic red line of all these theories about organizational learnings. It all starts with individual tacit knowledge. Socializing that to another person transforms through externalization to explicit where it can be shared with a team and by arguing, internalising, and turning it into practice. This is the ever-lasting spiral that brings the organization to the learning path.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} The basic of learning comes from the individual, and after sharing and debate it with other individuals, it became too aware. These individuals make together a group and sharing knowledge with other groups it comes to learning at the organizational level.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}
===Living-Learning Communities===
Residential learning communities, or living-learning communities (LLCs), are a type of academic intentional community which range from theme-based halls within a college dormitory to degree-granting residential colleges.<ref>{{cite web |title=Living-Learning Communities and Residential Colleges |url=https://liveon.msu.edu/campus-life/living-learning-communities-and-residential-colleges |website=Residence Education and Housing Services |publisher=Michigan State University |access-date=21 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231225134110/https://liveon.msu.edu/campus-life/living-learning-communities-and-residential-colleges |archive-date=25 December 2023}}</ref> What residential and nonresidential learning communities share is an intentional integration of academic content with daily interactions among students, faculty, and staff living and working in these programs.{{r|brower}}
Students who participate in LLCs tend to have higher GPAs, increased retention rates, and greater academic engagement compared to their peers living in traditional, non-themed residence halls.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kurotsuchi Inkelas |first1=Karen |last2=Daver |first2=Zaneeta E. |last3=Vogt |first3=Kristen E. |last4=Brown Leonard |first4=Jeannie |title=Living–Learning Programs and First-Generation College Students’ Academic and Social Transition to College |journal=Research in Higher Education |date=1 June 2007 |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=403–434 |doi=10.1007/s11162-006-9031-6}}</ref>
==Results== Universities are often drawn to learning communities because research has shown that participation can improve student retention rate.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Examining the academic performance and retention of first-year students in living-learning communities, freshmen interest groups and first-year experience courses|last=Purdie, John R.|date=2007|publisher=University of Missouri-Columbia|oclc=173842996}}{{page needed|date=May 2023}}</ref> Lisa Spanierman, Jason Soble, Jennifer Mayfield, Helen Neville, Mark Aber, Lydia Khuri & Belinda De La Rosa note in the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice that learning communities can have a much greater impact on students which including predicting greater academic interactions, and the development of a greater sense of community and belonging.<ref name="Spanierman Soble Mayfield et al 2013">{{cite journal |last1=Spanierman |first1=Lisa B. |last2=Soble |first2=Jason R. |last3=Mayfield |first3=Jennifer B. |last4=Neville |first4=Helen A. |last5=Aber |first5=Mark |last6=Khuri |first6=Lydia |last7=De La Rosa |first7=Belinda |title=Living Learning Communities and Students' Sense of Community and Belonging |journal=Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice |date=July 2013 |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=308–325 |doi=10.1515/jsarp-2013-0022 |s2cid=143629009 }}</ref>
=== Retention rate === Comparing students that live on-campus in learning communities, and those that live off campus shows that students that participate in learning communities are more likely to persist to graduation.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pascarella |first1=Ernest T. |last2=Terenzini |first2=Patrick T. |title=Letters: Debating College's Effect on Students |journal=Academe |date=1993 |volume=79 |issue=2 |pages=5–6 |doi=10.2307/40251282 |jstor=40251282 }}</ref> This is supported in supplementary scholarly literature through the work of Vince Tinto as he states "For example, social and academic systems that positively reinforce each other will increase student commitment such as when students are part of a peer group that also serves as a study group.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tinto |first1=Vincent |title=Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition |date=2012 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-92246-1 }}{{page needed|date=May 2023}}</ref>
=== Sense of Community and Belonging === Learning Communities have been shown to contribute to a students sense of community and belonging.<ref name="Spanierman Soble Mayfield et al 2013"/> Sense of belonging is understood as "a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met”.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McMillan |first1=David W. |last2=Chavis |first2=David M. |title=Sense of community: A definition and theory |journal=Journal of Community Psychology |date=January 1986 |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=6–23 |doi=10.1002/1520-6629(198601)14:1<6::aid-jcop2290140103>3.0.co;2-i |s2cid=14729262 }}</ref> The importance of the development of a sense of belonging is outlined by Abraham Maslow as it is deemed a universal human need, and an essential element to health.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Maslow AH Motivation and Personality NY 1954|last=Greer, Germaine|date=1968|oclc=1126688590}}{{page needed|date=May 2023}}</ref>
=== Academic Performance === Research conducted by John Purdie, and Vicki Rosser concluded that students who participated in learning communities earned higher grades, even when controlling for entering characteristics, and environmental characteristics.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|903807610}} |last1=Purdie |first1=John R |last2=Rosser |first2=Vicki J |title=Examining the academic performance and retention of first-year students in living-learning communities and first-year experience courses |journal=College Student Affairs Journal |location=Charlotte |volume=29 |issue=2 |date=Spring 2011 |pages=95–112, 179 }}</ref> Universities are able to contribute to the increased academic performance of students what participate in a learning community because of its ability to predict greater peer academic experiences and an enriched learning environment.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wawrzynski |first1=Matthew R. |last2=Jessup-Anger |first2=Jody E. |title=From Expectations to Experiences: Using a Structural Typology to Understand First-Year Student Outcomes in Academically Based Living-Learning Communities |journal=Journal of College Student Development |date=2010 |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=201–217 |doi=10.1353/csd.0.0119 |s2cid=4541341 |url=https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1090&context=edu_fac |access-date=2020-07-26 |archive-date=2018-07-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719094630/https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1090&context=edu_fac |url-status=live }}</ref> In a study conducted by Karen Inkelas of Northern Arizona University students that participate in academic based learning communities self-reported an increase in meeting learning outcomes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Inkelas |first1=Karen Kurotsuchi |last2=Soldner |first2=Matthew |last3=Longerbeam |first3=Susan D. |last4=Leonard |first4=Jeannie Brown |title=Differences in Student Outcomes by Types of Living–Learning Programs: The Development of an Empirical Typology |journal=Research in Higher Education |date=September 2008 |volume=49 |issue=6 |pages=495–512 |doi=10.1007/s11162-008-9087-6 |s2cid=145195946 }}</ref>
==Approaches== * Online learning community * Intergenerational equity * Youth/adult partnerships
==See also== * Collaborative learning * Community of practice * Learning organization * Online learning community * Professional learning community
==References==
* {{cite web | last1=Brower | first1=Aaron M. | last2=Inkelas | first2=Karen K. | title=Living-Learning Programs: One High-Impact Practice We Know A Lot About | url=https://www.aacu.org/publications-research/periodicals/living-learning-programs-one-high-impact-educational-practice-we }} * {{cite book |editor1-last=Gabelnick |editor1-first=Faith |editor2-last=MacGregor |editor2-first=Jean |editor3-last=Matthews |editor3-first=Roberta S. |editor4-last=Smith |editor4-first=Barbara Leigh |title=Learning Communities: Creating, Connections Among Students, Faculty, and Disciplines: New Directions for Teaching and Learning, Number 41 |date=1990 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-55542-838-9 }} * {{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Barbara Leigh |last2=McCann |first2=John |title=Reinventing Ourselves: Interdisciplinary Education, Collaborative Learning, and Experimentation in Higher Education |date=2001 |publisher=Anker Publishing |id={{ERIC|ED448646}} |isbn=978-1-882982-35-6 }}
===Notes=== <references>
<ref name="bonk">{{cite book |last1=Bonk |first1=C. J |last2=Wisher |first2=R |last3=Nigrelli |first3=M |chapter=Learning Communities, Communities of practices: principles, technologies and examples |editor1-last=Littleton |editor1-first=Karen |editor2-last=Miell |editor2-first=Dorothy |editor3-last=Faulkner |editor3-first=Dorothy |title=Learning to Collaborate, Collaborating to Learn |date=2004 |publisher=Nova Science Publishers |isbn=978-1-59033-952-7 }}</ref>
<ref name="bosciussi">{{cite book |last1=Bos-Ciussi |first1=M |last2=Augier |first2=M |last3=Rosner |first3=G |chapter=Learning Communities Are Not Mushrooms - or - How to Cultivate Learning Communities in Higher Education |pages=287–308 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OPknDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA287 |editor1-last=Kimble |editor1-first=Chris |editor2-last=Hildreth |editor2-first=Paul |title=Communities of Practice - Vol. 2: Creating Learning Environments for Educators |date=1 January 2008 |publisher=IAP |isbn=978-1-60752-610-0 |access-date=22 May 2023 |archive-date=22 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522123144/https://books.google.com/books?id=OPknDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA287 |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="brown">{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=John Seely |last2=Collins |first2=Allan |last3=Duguid |first3=Paul |title=Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning |journal=Educational Researcher |date=1989 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=32–42 |doi=10.3102/0013189X018001032 |jstor=1176008 |hdl=2142/17979 |s2cid=9824073 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
<ref name="brower">{{cite journal |last1=Brower |first1=Aaron M. |last2=Dettinger |first2=Karen M. |title=What is a Learning Community?: Toward a Comprehensive Model |journal=About Campus: Enriching the Student Learning Experience |date=November 1998 |volume=3 |issue=5 |pages=15–21 |doi=10.1177/108648229800300504 |s2cid=151956113 }}</ref>
<ref name="kellog">{{cite document |id={{ERIC|ED430512}} |last1=Kellogg |first1=Karen |title=Learning Communities|publisher= ERIC Digest |date=1999 }}</ref>
<ref name="goodyear">{{cite journal |last1=Goodyear |first1=Peter |last2=de Laat |first2=Maarten |last3=Lally |first3=Vic |title=Using pattern languages to mediate theory–praxis conversations in design for networked learning |journal=ALT-J |date=September 2006 |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=211–223 |doi=10.1080/09687760600836977 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
<ref name="habhab">Habhab. S. (2008), [http://www.chris-kimble.com/CLEE/Book_1/Chapters/Chapter_11.html Workplace Learning in a Community of Practice: How do Schoolteachers Learn?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422204426/http://www.chris-kimble.com/CLEE/Book_1/Chapters/Chapter_11.html |date=2009-04-22 }} ''in'' Communities of Practice: Creating Learning Environments for Educators, C. Kimble, P. Hildreth and I. Bourdon (Eds), Information Age Publishing. Vol 1, Ch 11, pp. 213-232.</ref>
<ref name="lave">Lave, J. (1988) Cognition in practice: Mind, mathematics and culture in everyday life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.{{page needed|date=May 2023}}</ref>
<ref name="lave_wenger">Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.{{page needed|date=May 2023}}</ref>
<ref name="mcgilly">The Cognition and Technology Group (1994). From visual word problems to learning communities: Changing conceptions of cognitive research. In K. McGilly (Ed.), Classroom lessons: Integrating cognitive theory and classroom practice (pp. 157–200). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.</ref>
<ref name="roth_lee">{{cite journal |last1=Roth |first1=Wolff-Michael |last2=Lee |first2=Yew-Jin |title=Contradictions in theorizing and implementing communities in education |journal=Educational Research Review |date=January 2006 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=27–40 |doi=10.1016/j.edurev.2006.01.002 }}</ref>
<ref name="roth_bowen">{{cite journal |last1=Roth |first1=Wolff-Michael |last2=Bowen |first2=G. Michael |title=Knowing and Interacting: A Study of Culture, Practices, and Resources in a Grade 8 Open-Inquiry Science Classroom Guided by a Cognitive Apprenticeship Metaphor |journal=Cognition and Instruction |date=March 1995 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=73–128 |doi=10.1207/s1532690xci1301_3 }}</ref>
<ref name="scardamalia">{{cite journal |last1=Scardamalia |first1=Marlene |last2=Bereiter |first2=Carl |title=Computer Support for Knowledge-Building Communities |journal=Journal of the Learning Sciences |date=July 1994 |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=265–283 |doi=10.1207/s15327809jls0303_3 |citeseerx=10.1.1.600.463 }}</ref>
<ref name="smith_1993">{{cite journal |id={{ERIC|EJ479698}} |last1=Smith |first1=Barbara Leigh |title=Creating Learning Communities |journal=Liberal Education |date=1993 |volume=79 |issue=4 |pages=32–39 }}</ref>
<ref name="smith_2009">{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Barbara Leigh |title=The Challenge of Learning Communities as a Growing National Movement |journal=Peer Review |date=2001 |id={{ERIC|EJ647377}} |s2cid=151188288 }}</ref>
<ref name="tinto">{{cite journal |last1=Tinto |first1=V |date=2003 |title=Learning better together: The impact of learning communities on student success |journal=Higher Education Monograph Series |volume=1 |issue=8 |pages=1–8 |url=https://wsac.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2014.ptw.%2855%29.pdf |access-date=2023-05-22 |archive-date=2023-04-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424165709/https://wsac.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2014.ptw.(55).pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
</references>
Category:Learning methods Category:Types of communities Category:Philosophy of education Category:Collaboration