1. Basic Definition of Learning Communities  “A variety of approaches that link or cluster classes, during a given term, often around an interdisciplinary theme, and enroll a common cohort of students.”  “This represents an intentional restructuring of students’ time, credit, and learning experiences to build community and to foster more explicit connections among students and their teachers, and among disciplines.”  Gabelnick, Macgregor, Matthews, Smith

2. Degrees of Collaboration in Learning Communities: faculty teams  Team teaching  Joint syllabus  Planning of co-curricular events  Regular meetings  Collaborative assessment  Identify strategies for at-risk students  Shared themes  Shared goals

3. Degrees of Collaboration in Learning Communities: curriculum  Common or joint syllabus  Integrative assignments, projects  A reflective seminar  Co-curricular activities: on/off campus  Common goals, pedagogies  Common themes, topics  Community recognition

4. Active Learning Strategies in Learning Communities  Student-centered discussions  Student-led seminars  Problem-based learning  Critical thinking approaches  Writing across the curriculum  Collaborative projects and responses  Service and civic learning  Labs and field study

5. Core Practices in Learning Communities for detailed discussion of these topics, see forthcoming book,Learning Communities: Reforming Undergraduate Education, by Barbara Leigh Smith, Jean MacGregor, Roberta Matthews and Faith Gabelnick (Jossey Bass 2004).  Community  Active Learning  Integration  Diversity  Reflection and Assessment

6. Core Practices: Designing Activities: Models  Find a common theme: discuss connections in each course  Plan a field trip related to 2-3 classes  Design a seminar on a film  Plan a debate, talk show panel  Sequence responses to a text (or film) through your disciplines  Design a collaborative activity in response to a reading  Design a one minute reflection paper