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Bringing Learning Communi.es to Scale: Strengthening the Heart of Equity-‐Minded Liberal Educa.on
Phyllis Worthy Dawkins, BenneE College Jillian Kinzie, NSSE
Emily Lardner, Washington Center @ Evergreen State College
David Schoem, University of Michigan
Introduc.ons
Please briefly introduce yourself, your school, and your interest in this session.
Making ins.tu.ons more equity-‐minded
• What we know about ins.tu.onal change: – Change requires a shiP of perspec.ve – Change must be systemic – Change requires people to relearn their roles – Change requires conscious and consistent leadership – Change requires systema.c assessment – Change requires a visible “triggering” opportunity
Peter Ewell, 1997“Organizing for Learning” in the AAHE Bulle.n
LC’s & organiza.onal change
Relearn roles: Learning communi.es serve as ‘revitalizing agents’ on campus—requiring students, teachers, administrators, & student affairs staff to work together. (Gabelnick, MacGregor, MaEhews & Smith, 1990) Moment of opportunity: Campus change agents can use learning communi.es as “levers” for connec.ng people interested in similar ideas (Kezar, 2014)
LC’s as an equity minded prac.ce: Texas A&M Corpus Chris.
Undergraduate student body: 9100+ 79% full .me, 21% part .me 42% have family incomes < 40K and receive
PELL grants 46% Hispanic 40% White 5% Black
Moment of opportunity • Mexican American Legal Defense and Educa.onal Fund suit led TX Legislature to pass the South Texas Ini.a.ve in 1993, expanding the UT and the A&M systems into south Texas
• 1994: TAMU-‐Corpus admits first and second year students
• 1994: First Year Learning Community program begins • Currently, all incoming 1st year students enroll in LCs for their first two semesters (around 2000)
• Fall semester student symposium—two days where students present their work to the public
• Instructors for student success course have been regularized
LC’s as an equity minded prac.ce: New Mexico Highlands University
Undergraduate student body: 1700 + 73% full .me, 27% part .me 57% have family incomes <40K & receive PELL
grants 55% Hispanic 20% white 8% American Indian/Alaska Na.ve 7% Black
Moment of opportunity • New senior administrators; restructured organiza.on
• Faculty & staff developed a new Freshmen Experience Program with LC’s
• New center for teaching and learning • Campus focused on increasing student engagement
• Goal: create invi.ng, engaging program for all 1st years through faculty/staff collabora.on
• NSILC elevator speech: hEps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7h-‐tvBD6As
LC’s as an equity minded prac.ce: University of Hawaii West Oahu
Undergraduate student body: 2600+ 47% full .me, 53% part .me 35% have family incomes <40K & receive PELL
grants 38% Asian 29% two or more races 11% white 11% Hispanic 8% Na.ve Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
Moment of opportunity
• In 2007, added first and second year students • Highest density of Na.ve Hawaiian people live in west Oahu—desire to increase Na.ve Hawaiian access and success
• Successful Title III proposal to launch LC/FYE project incorpora.ng Na.ve Hawaiian ‘ike (knowledge) and values into the curriculum and the co-‐curriculum—pilo.ng larger ini.a.ve
• Strong faculty/staff collabora.on; PD key
Join us at the Na.onal Summer
Ins.tute on Learning Communi.es July 11-‐July 15
www.evergreen.edu/washcenter to apply
The Na.onal Resource Center for Learning Communi.es
High-‐Impact Prac/ces Educa/onal experiences that make a significant difference to student persistence, learning outcomes, and student success.
HIPs= Pedagogies and Prac0ces that Challenge and Stretch Students
High-‐Impact Educa0onal Prac0ces (2008) AAC&U
One High Impact Prac/ce...Learning Communi/es
• Curricular structures that link several courses-‐-‐or restructure the curricular material en/rely-‐-‐so students have opportuni/es for deeper understanding and integra/on of what they are learning, and more interac/on with one another and educators in the learning enterprise.
• Structure encourages integra/on across courses and involves students with “big ques/ons”; many LCs explore a common topic and/or common readings through different disciplines.
-‐-‐ AAC&U defini0ons
Features That Make HIPs Magical • Significant /me on purposeful task • Substan/ve interac/on with faculty & peers
• Frequent feedback • Engagement with difference • Engage higher-‐order learning skills, in challenging context -‐ Analysis -‐ Synthesis -‐ Evalua/on -‐ Applica/on
• Capacity to be “life-‐changing”, opportunity for students to reflect on who they are becoming
Popular LC Features • Living-‐learning • Integra/ve courses or discussion group • Required out-‐of-‐class ac/vi/es • Courses only for LC cohort, or related to major • Undergraduate peer mentors
NSSE Findings on Learning Communi/es
w Even “modest” structures (co-‐enrolled, linked) have posi/ve impact on social life, quality of interac/on with peers & faculty, and persistence
w More inten/onal, complex features (integrated experiences, peer advisors, requiring ac/vi/es outside of class – community service/community based projects, field trips, social events) make a greater difference to student learning
Learning Community features linked to greatest learning benefits
1. Engaging pedagogies 2. Peer teaching, mentors
3. Out-‐of-‐classroom ac/vi/es
4. LC programs that integrate material across courses
10
Learning Communi/es Invite an Array of Pedagogical Approaches & HIPs
Problem-‐Centered Learning
Discussion Groups & Seminars
Wri/ng Intensive
Ongoing Reflec/on, Metacogni/ve Ac/vi/es, Self-‐evalua/on
Peer Teaching Lectures and Demonstra/ons
Experien/al Learning
Labs and Field Trips
Collabora/ve Learning Research w/Faculty
Service-‐Learning
First-‐Year Seminar
Integra/ve assignments/ experiences
Common Intellectual Experiences
Study away/abroad
Peer mentors/advisors in LCs • Peer learning is an effec/ve, engaging pedagogy for all students
• Connects students to peers in ways that increases sense of belonging and reten/on
• Peer mentor, teacher, counselor, study group facilitator, makes /me for collabora/on
Out-‐of-‐Class Ac/vi/es in LC • Out-‐of-‐class ac/vi/es associated with gains in self-‐understanding, deep learning, & enriched social life.
• Helps students get to know each other, and to get to know faculty
• Opportunity for applied learning & reflec/on
Integra/ve Ac/vi/es in LCs LC programs that integrate across courses
are associated with higher student engagement & learning
Ø Integra/ng content across courses
Ø Integra/ng assignments, projects, and experiences outside of class (real world applica/ons)
Ø Integra/ve discussion group (bring the ideas together, make applica/on in seminar)
Integrated Ac/vi/es Make a Difference, and more is be>er!!!
• Higher the frequency of integra/ve ac/vi/es in LCs…. – the more students engage in higher-‐order learning, reflec/ve learning
– more effort in academic pursuits & collabora/ng with peers in and outside class
• Lack of impact for students in non-‐integrated LCs lends support to posi/on that inten/onally structured integra/ve ac/vi/es are necessary to increase deep learning
First-‐Year Student Par/cipa/on in LCs by Student
Characteris/cs
Unlike Other HIPs, LC Par/cipa/on is Similar By Student Characteris/c
• First-‐genera/on, adults, and interna/onal students a licle less likely to par/cipate in LCs
• Students of different racial-‐ethnic groups had an equal likelihood of par0cipa0on in LCs
• Majors: Biol. science, educa/on, engineering, more likely be in LC; Physical sciences, undecideds less likely
NSSE-‐FSSE Findings: First-‐Year Student LC Par/cipa/on by Faculty Importance
• Ins/tu/ons where faculty place greater importance on LCs have higher rates of FY par/cipa/on in LCs
• Women, faculty of color, FT faculty, faculty in certain fields (biol. sciences; health professions, nursing) more likely to value HIPs
Just pufng cohort of students together in learning communi/es does not in and of itself, guarantee engagement in effec/ve educa/onal prac/ces or deep learning
• If you’re aher deep learning, greater collabora/ve learning & academic effort then, LCs with inten/onally structured integra/ve ac/vi/es are the way to go
• LCs with integrated ac/vi/es are acrac/ve op/on for faculty who want students to become deep learners
Pause for reflec.on
• Take a minute to think about what you drew to our session—what are you wondering about now?
AT HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
Learning Communi/es and Living Learning Communi/es
Black Colleges and Black Universi.es hEp://www.hbcupages.com/
Historically Black Colleges and Universi/es
• The Higher Educa.on Act of 1965 defines an historically Black college and university as: “…any black college or university that was established prior to 1964.”
• Mission was, and is, the educa.on of black Americans
• While the 105 HBCUs represent 3% of the na/on's ins/tu/ons of higher learning, they graduate nearly 20% of African Americans who earn undergraduate degrees.
White House Ini.a.ve on HBCUs hEp://sites.ed.gov/whhbcu/
Historically Black Colleges and Universi.es with Learning Communi.es (32/105)
• Benedict College • BenneE College • Bethune-‐Cookman College • Central State University • Clark Atlanta University • Delaware State University • Dillard University • FayeEeville State University • Florida A&M University • Hampton University • Howard University • Johnson C. Smith University • Jackson State University • LeMoyne-‐Owen College • Mississippi Valley State University • N.C.A&T State University • N.C. Central University
• Norfolk State University • Philander Smith College • Prairie View A&M University • Shaw University • Spelman College • St. Augus.ne’s College • Southern University, NO • Talladega College • Tennessee State University • Tougaloo College • Winston Salem State University • Xavier University, NO • University of Central Arkansas-‐Pine Bluff • University of the District of Columbia • Voorhees College • Others…
HBCUs with LCs by Type of Ins.tu.on Public Universi/es (16)
1. Central State University 2. Delaware State University 3. FayeEeville State University 4. Florida A&M University 5. Howard University 6. Jackson State University 7. Mississippi Valley State University 8. N.C.A&T State University 9. N.C. Central University 10. Norfolk State University 11. Prairie View A&M University 12. Southern University, NO 13. Tennessee State University 14. Winston Salem State University 15. University of Central Arkansas-‐Pine
Bluff 16. University of the District of Columbia
Private Universi/es (16)
1. Benedict College 2. BenneE College 3. Bethune-‐Cookman College 4. Dillard University 5. Clark Atlanta University 6. Hampton University 7. Johnson C. Smith University 8. LeMoyne-‐Owen College 9. Philander Smith College 10. Shaw University 11. Spelman College 12. St. Augus.ne’s College 13. Talladega College 14. Tougaloo College 15. Xavier University, NO 16. Voorhees College
Washington Center for Undergraduate Learning Summer Ins.tute on Learning Communi.es Par.cipants
• Johnson C. Smith University, 2002 • Tougaloo College, 2002 • BenneE College, 2005 • University of the District of Columbia, 2007, 2008, 2009 • Delaware State University 2007, 2008 • Bethune Cookman College, 2003 • Florida A&M University, 2007 • Mississippi Valley State University, 2007 • Southern University of New Orleans, 2008 • FayeEeville State University, 2008 • Norfolk State University • Others
Living Learning Communi/es
• North Carolina Agriculture and Technical University (NCA&T)
• Cheyney University • Delaware State University • Livingstone College • BenneE College • Shaw University • Savannah State University
Johnson C. Smith University • Historically, Black, private, undergraduate ins.tu.on
• Liberal Arts Ins.tu.on • Located in CharloEe, North Carolina • 105 full-‐.me faculty • Enrollment @1488 • 98% African American • ThinkPad Laptop University • President, Dr. Dorothy Cowser Yancy
Dillard University • Historically, Black, private, undergraduate ins.tu.on
• Liberal Arts/Comprehensive University
• President, Dr. Marvalene Hughes • New Orleans, Louisiana • 95 full-‐.me faculty • Student Enrollment @995 • 98% African American students • Ini0a0ves: Research and Study Abroad • Among the Top 10 HBCUs, Ranked Number 9 in 2009 , and Number 7 in 2008
BenneE College • Historically, Black, private, undergraduate liberal Arts College for Women
• Faculty – 56 full-‐.me faculty Student/faculty ra.o 11.26:1 61% of faculty hold terminal degrees
• Students – Total enrollment: 766 ▪ Full-‐.me enrollment: 709 ▪ Part-‐.me enrollment: 57
• 95% African American • President: Dr. Rosalind Fuse-‐Hall
Residen.al LLC Provides…
• Links between their lives in the residence hall and learning experiences in the classroom;
• An environment that is conducive to building a strong, cohesive peer support system that will serve the students throughout their academic and professional careers
Typical LC Model at HBCUs Providing
Equity to All New Students (JCSU, Dillard, Cheyney, BenneE)
• 8 LC3 Clusters and 12 blocks for all Freshmen
– Business 2 LC3 Blocks – Social Sciences 1 LC3 Blocks – Educa.on/Psychology 1 LC3 Blocks – Nursing 1 LC3 Blocks – Humani.es 2 LC3 Blocks – Natural Sciences 3 LC3 Blocks – Undecided 1 LC3 Blocks – Transferred Students 1 LC3 Blocks
Cri.cal Thinking and Communica.on
Integrated/interdisciplinary learning
assignment
Co-‐curricular ac.vi.es
Ac.ve and Engaged Learning
Typical Core Equity Minded Prac/ces Across All LC Blocks
Creating
Evaluating
Analyzing
Applying
Understanding
Remembering
Putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing.
Making judgments based on criteria and standards
through checking and critiquing.
Carrying out or using a procedure through
executing, or implementing.
Constructing meaning from oral, written, and
graphic messages through interpreting,
exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring,
comparing, and explaining.
Retrieving, recognizing, and recalling relevant
knowledge from long-term memory.
Bloom’s Taxonomy Cognitive Domain
http://www.odu.edu/educ/llschult/blooms_taxonomy.htm
Breaking material into constituent
parts, determining how the parts relate to one another and
to an overall structure .
Graduate S
chool U
ndergraduate H
igh School
This pyramid depicts the different levels of thinking we use when learning. Notice how each level builds on the foundation that precedes it. It is
required that we learn the lower levels before we can effectively use the skills above.
Enhancing the Quality of a Liberal Educa.on…
• By reinforcing the following skills across Learning Communi.es from the general educa.on program into the major – Analy.cal Reading – Cri.cal Thinking – Wri.ng – Quan.ta.ve Reasoning – Technology
• Using these skills to solve “real world” problems
Essen.al Learning Outcomes Knowledge of human cultures and physical and natural world
- focused by engagement with big ques.ons, both contemporary and enduring
Intellectual and prac/cal skills - prac.ced extensively, across the curriculum, in the
context of progressively more challenging problems, projects, and standards of performance
Personal and social responsibility - anchored through ac.ve involvement with diverse
communi.es and real-‐world challenges
Integra/ve learning and applied learning - demonstrated through the applica.on of knowledge,
skills, and responsibili.es to new se|ngs and complex problems
From: AAC&U, LEAP Report, College Learning for the New Global Century, p.12
4
High Impact Ac.vi.es George Khuh & Associates, AAC&U Presenta.on, January 22, 2009
• First-‐Year Seminars and Experiences • Common Intellectual Experiences • Learning Communi.es • Wri.ng-‐Intensive Courses • Collabora.ve Assignments and Projects Undergraduate Research
• Diversity/Global Learning • Service Learning, Community-‐Based Learning • Internships • Capstone Courses and Projects
Collabora.on Across Campus: NCA&T
• With academic and student affairs partners to complement the classroom experience inside the residence halls by offering: – Students an opportunity to live and learn together in an integrated academic residen.al environment.
– Specialized programming, interac.ons with faculty and staff; and a suppor.ve community that focuses on student success.
– Nine different living learning communi.es on campus
References • AAC&U, LEAP Report, College Learning for the New Global Century, p.12 • Butler, K. & Dawkins, P.W. (2008). The Impact of a “Healthy Youth” Learning
Community on Student Learning Outcome Measures. Journal of Negro Educa0on, 77 (3), 264-‐270.
• Butler, K. & Dawkins, P.W. (2007). Developing learning communi.es in health and human performance. American Journal of Health Educa.on,38 (4), 230-‐236
• Dawkins, P., Froneberger, B., SuEon-‐Haywood, M., Jeter, P. (2007). Engaging faculty in a Freshman Academy Learning Community. Journal of Learning Communi.es Research, 2 (1), pp. 1-‐19
• Dawkins, P. W. (2006). Faculty Development Opportuni.es and Learning Communi.es. In N. Simpson and J. Layne (Eds.), Student learning communi0es, faculty learning communi0es, & faculty development (pp. 63-‐80). S.llwater, OK: New Forums Press Inc.
• Malnarich, G. & Lardner, E.D. (2003, Winter). Designing integrated learning for students: A heuris0c for teaching, assessment and curriculum design (Washington Center Occasional Paper for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Educa.on, Number1). Olympia, WA: Evergreen State College.
• Smith, B.L., J. MacGregor, R.S. MaEhews, and F. Gabelnick. 2004. Learning communi0es: Reforming undergraduate educa0on. San Francisco: Jossey-‐Bass
• Summerskill, G. & Jones, C. (2007). Case managers and the Freshman Academy Learning Community: The results of involving a variety of campus personnel in first-‐year-‐student mentoring. Journal of Learning Communi.es Research, 2 (1), pp. .45-‐58
• Yancy, D. C., SuEon-‐Haywood, M., HermiEe, E., Dawkins, P.W., Rainey, K. & Parker, F. (2008). The impact of the Freshman Academy/Learning Communi.es program on student progression and engagement. Journal of Negro Educa0on, 77 (3), 250-‐263.
The Michigan Community Scholars Program Mission Statement
The Michigan Community Scholars Program (MCSP) is a residen.al learning community emphasizing deep learning, engaged community, meaningful civic engagement/community service learning and intercultural understanding and dialogue. Students, faculty, community partners and staff think cri.cally about issues of community, seek to model a just, diverse, and democra.c community, and wish to make a difference throughout their lives as par.cipants and leaders
involved in local, na.onal and global communi.es.
Contact: David Schoem, Director ([email protected]) 734-‐615-‐6847
Program Features:
Intergroup Rela/ons Council • Formal Peer-‐led Dialogic Conversa.ons on Hot
Topics (all peer leaders have been trained as facilitators)
• Informal Peer-‐led Lounge Chats on Topics in the News
• Excursions to Campus talks, performances, cultural and racial events.
• Trips to City of Detroit; African American History Museum, Arab American Museum, Holocaust Museum
• Sponsor speakers, writers, ac.vists on Diversity topics
• Sponsor MLK Symposium events for the en.re campus
Community Service Board: Ac/on Teams • Urban and Rural Poverty • Borders and Immigra.on • Youth and Educa.on • Environment and Sustainability • Alterna.ve Weekends • MCSP Innova.on Funded-‐Projects • University-‐Community Social Jus.ce Film Series
Community Building and Programming Board • Ropes Course • Monthly MCSPhamily Nights • Health and Wellness • Arts and Culture • Academic Support • Intramural Sports Clubs and Sports Events
Student Demographics 2015-‐16
• Students of Color and Interna.onal Students – 48%
• White Students – 52% • Underrepresented Students of Color – 27% • African American Students – 15% • Hispanic/La.no Students – 10% • Na.ve American Students – 2% • First-‐Year Low Income – 14% • First-‐Year First Gen – 12%
First Year Program Requirements and Course Offerings
Program Requirements • 1 – A First-‐Year Seminar Course (offered by MCSP-‐linked faculty) • 2 – A Civic Engagement Course (from a select menu of campus-‐wide offerings) • 3 – “The Student in the University” (a common intellectual experience requirement) Sampling of MCSP Linked-‐Course Offerings • Social Jus.ce, Iden.ty, Diversity, and Community-‐ Sociology • Educa.on and Inequality -‐ Psychology • Community Research -‐ Psychology • Crossing the Color Line – History • Health Care, Privilege, and Community– Medicine • Web-‐Based Mentorship: The Arab-‐Israeli Conflict – Educa.on • Truth and Reconcilia.on – American Culture • Nonviolence: From Montgomery to the World -‐ Afroamerican and African Studies • Debt, Obliga.on, and Forgiveness – English • Love and Jus.ce – Philosophy • Environmental Literature – Program in the Environment
Infrastructure Sponsoring Units • College of Literature, Science and the Arts • University Housing
Students – 170 Total • 120 First-‐year students • 50 Student leaders (sophomores, juniors, seniors) Departmental-‐Linked Faculty -‐ 15 • Social Science, Humani.es and Professional School Faculty
Staff – 2.375 FTE • Director – 50% .me • Associate Director – full-‐.me • Administra.ve Assistant – 87.5% .me • Program Coordinators (20 hrs/week; hourly and temporary -‐ 3)
Update from David “We have had a truly standout year in terms of building a model mul.cultural community, with student demographics considerably more diverse from the rest of the campus, with students ac.vely engaged with one another across their different backgrounds, and with students engaged in local communi.es and in dialogic conversa.ons on difficult topics in classes and out-‐of class on a regular basis. I haven't included reten.on rates, but historically our program has matched or exceeded overall reten.on rates for UM for all students and for underrepresented students of color (typically 90-‐100% for first-‐year students).”
Think/pair/share
In what ways are you envisioning learning communi.es as an equity-‐minded prac.ce?
