1. Learning Communities at the Communty College of Baltimore County
March, 2009
The League for Innovation at Community College
Donna McKusick, Ed.D
Dean , Developmental Education and Special Academic Programs

2. CCBC is One college, three campuses, two extension centers
Largest provider of higher education and workforce development in the Baltimore metropolitan area
28,251 credit students
33,653 continuing education students
15,567 FTE

3. CCBC’s Learners Credit Continuing Education Average age 29 45 Female
63%
54%
Minority
43%
36%
County Residents
75%
61%
Full/part-time
34%/66%

4. CCBC’s Learners 62% work 20 hours or more weekly
37% receive financial aid
69% of credit students (80% of students who take placement tests) place in developmental courses

5. Purpose at CCBC is to offer developmental students:
a more integrated, contextualized learning experience through greater curricular coherence and increased collaboration of students and faculty in the pursuit of learning.
an enriched and supportive learning experience
an opportunity to accelerate into credit courses
Purpose at CCBC is to offer developmental students:

6. Contextualization
“The most logical goal for college reading and learning programs would be to teach students a repertoire of strategies and tactics that will prepare them for the tasks and texts they encounter in college.”
Stahl, N. A., Simpson, M. L., & Hayes C. G., (1992), Ten recommendations for teaching high-risk college students, Journal of Developmental Education, 16 (1).

7. Contextualization
“If transfer to other academic coursework and future learning tasks does not occur, these programs are of little value to students or to the institution…”
Weinstein, C. E., Husman, J., & Dierking, D. (200). Self-regulation interventions with a focus on learning strategies. In M. Boekaerts, P. Pintrich, & M. Zeidner (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation (pp ). San Diego: Academic Press.
Research on transfer says students need procedural knowledge or how to do it, sustained practice, explicit instruction, reflect

8. Supportive Learning Experience
“…the successful developmental education teacher must develop the whole student rather than solely deal with cognitive skill deficits”
Smittle, P. (2003). Principles for effective teaching. Journal of Developmental Education, 26 (3).

9. Acceleration
“The issue is not so much about ability but sustainability…the gap between students’ ability to perform and the performance they can actually sustain over the semester.”
Inside Higher Education, “Rethinking Remedial Education” January 29, 2008

10. Goals
Improve success as measured by student pass rates, retention, graduation and transfer
Increase student learning and achievement
Assist students with connecting their learning across courses and disciplines

11. CCBC’s Learning Communities: Quick Facts
40 learning communities a year, including general education, developmental education, ESOL, and Honors communities.
Many developmental learning communities pair RDNG 052 or ENGL 052 with an introductory or general education course.
Some communities pair developmental reading with developmental English.

12. Developmental Learning Communities
Pair a developmental course with a gen ed credit course
Courses frequently paired include PSYC 101, SOCL 101, SPCM 101, HLTH 101, HIST 116,
Content for the developmental course is based on the curriculum of the credit course
Have Master Learners, faculty who attend the credit course and conduct a one hour a week seminar on “learning-to-learn.”

13. Integrating Aspects of the Learning Community
Use of authentic reading tasks
Use of authentic writing tasks
Use of an integrative assignment
Strategy and skill transfer

14. The Master Learner Attends the credit class
Models good student behavior
Meets with students once a week in the Master Learner Seminar.
Shares techniques with students about
achieving academic success
Meets with the instructors in the credit course
and developmental course to discuss student concerns and align topics

15. In the Master Learner Seminar
Students….through an SI type of experience
Learn a variety of study strategies
Practice note-taking techniques
Discuss time-management strategies
Learn test-taking skills
Review course material
Receive support and encouragement
Share educational “experiences”
Reflect to develop metacogition
Learning-to-learn
Thinking about thinking
Memorization and recall strategies
Predicting test questions
Debriefing after exams

16. Benefits of Developmental Learning Communities
Provide content validity
Transfers skills
Stops the cycle of deficit background knowledge
Uses student power to foster retention
Accelerates entry into credit courses
Provides meaningful professional development to faculty

17. Benefits of Developmental Learning Communities
Provide content validity
Transfers skills
Stops the cycle of deficit background knowledge
Uses student power to foster retention
Accelerates entry into credit courses
Provides meaningful professional development to faculty 17

18. Challenges to Instituting a Learning Communities Program
Partnering among college departments
Getting students to register
Helping faculty understand the integrative nature of learning communities
Behavioral Issues-- hyperbonding

19. Participating faculty say that, as a result of the program, they have:
Developed self-awareness of teaching
Placed more attention on delivery systems
Used more collaborative learning techniques
Developed more compassion for students
Become better listeners
Become more flexible teachers
Given students more responsibility for learning

20. Learning Communities Outcomes 2002 to 2007
LC students
All RDNG 052 students
CCBC students
One semester retention
78% to 89%*
73% to 75%*
65% to 67%*
One year retention
58% to 70%*
46% to 56%*
46% to 48%*
Pass rates in reading
70% to 85%*
69% to 74%*
N/A
Pass rates in credit course
69% to 91%*
71% to 87%*
(in same courses)
*Depending on year
Exact match with credit courses

21. Learning Community Expenses
$ 1,000 stipend for revision of course materials: syllabus, lesson plans, integrative assignments, and resources.
$ 500 stipend for partial revision of materials or for teaching in an existing LC
One-credit stipend or course release time during the semester the faculty teach the LC
Three-credit stipend or course release time for Master Learners

22. Future at CCBC Cost efficiency
Taking it out of the realm of boutique programs
Incorporating the Student Success course
A platform for advising
Bundling with other accelerated programs
Part of a menu of high impact experiences

23. Questions?