January 4, 2010
Students, professors find value in learning communities
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The program has grown from two communities to 50 with almost 1,400 students.
"Learning communities are one of several programs that help entering students succeed," says Jim Pukrop, senior assistant director and coordinator of learning communities in SATS. "Being in a learning community gives a new student a source of immediate help in both the academic and social realms."
In addition to learning communities, SATS-coordinated programs include the Boiler Gold Rush and STAR orientation programs, the Common Reading program, and Purdue Promise, a mentoring and financial aid program for Twenty-first Century Scholars.
This comprehensive set of programs combined with other efforts conducted by Purdue colleges, schools and units to bring the first-year-to-second-year retention rate at the West Lafayette campus to 87.2 percent this fall, the highest ever. The rate is even higher, at 92.7 percent, for those who were in fall 2008 learning communities, Koch reports.
"We're pleased that SATS programs are contributing to student success, which is a focus of the strategic plan," Koch says. "We continue to seek other ways to increase retention and success."
Others besides prospective students are noticing. In August, Purdue made U.S. News & World Report's list of 24 U.S. public universities with the most outstanding first-year experience programming.
In November, Koch was asked to join the national advisory board for the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. His term begins Jan. 1.
Students find support
A learning community has 20-30 students with a common academic interest, and Emily Simison understands how that design softens the transition into a huge university.
Now a sophomore, she says she might never have reached her second year without her learning community.
"Without it, I would have been more alone on campus," she says. "I was concerned about being just a number, and I was homesick. But in our LC, if somebody had a problem, we talked about it."
She was in the Explorers LC for those in the Undergraduate Studies Program, whose academic commonality is being undecided about a major.
Members would go together to callouts that they might have been uncomfortable attending alone, and they shared what they learned about campus resources and opportunities.
"It gave us more confidence, and many of us found out things that helped us choose our majors," she says.
Now an LC ambassador -- a sort of "big sister" to this year's cohort -- studying toward work in athletic training, Simison sees this year's new students taking the same sorts of steps toward success.
"It's been really cool to see them progress this year," she says. "At first everybody was really nervous. But a few weeks ago we had a toasting dinner. It was cool to see these people standing up in Ford Dining Court and giving a toast loudly. One stood on a chair, asked the whole room for attention, and toasted her LC instructors."
LC members take at least two courses together in their first semester.
In some LCs, the students also live near each other in a residence hall. That proximity continues in spring semester, ensuring that study groups and relationships remain intact.
Each learning community also has out-of-class activities that may include social, service, and co-curricular activities.
These features served Michael Knabel well last year as a student in a tough discipline, pre-pharmacy.
"I made tons of friends and stand a good chance of getting into pharmacy school partly because of them and all the support I was able to give and get," he says.
He and some others chose to reside on the same floor again this year as sophomores.
Professors see better learning
Among the professors teaching in learning communities is William Oakes, director of EPICS, or Engineering Projects in Community Service. He leads four EPICS LCs and another called IDEAS, or Introducing Diversity through Engagement and Service.
The EPICS LCs are in their third year, and Oakes has seen patterns emerge -- deeper learning, enhanced skills and stronger friendships yielding retention gains.
"Some of the skills tie to professional readiness," says Oakes, associate professor of engineering education. "We incorporate leadership experiences. Students set up timelines and work breakdowns. We teach them the roles a person plays on a team, conflict resolution skills, project planning skills, agenda setting. We have what we call a code of cooperation, with rewards and sanctions for members."
He points to a recent IDEAS event with Science Bound high schoolers from Indianapolis as an activity that epitomized LCs.
"Our students had to design the activities. They worked hard, had fun, had a sense of pride, and made an impact on the IPS students," he says.
Thus academic, service and team building goals were met.
"Learning communities are some of the most rewarding things that I do," Oakes says. "They are important. As a faculty member, I enjoy getting to know students outside class.
"I appreciate the centralized staff that provides support for logistics and structure. They make it easy for faculty to participate."
Angelica Duran, associate professor of English, says belief in the purposes of learning communities led her to accept leading the Liberal Arts residential LC "Coming-of-Age in the U.S."
"This one is designed for all, but especially for students in the first generation in their family to go to college," she says. "I'm aware that retention issues are greater with this population. I encourage joining organizations, trying activities, being involved and learning."
Duran works hard to incorporate relevant campus activities into the academic content. "Coming-of-Age" students read "Stealing Buddha's Dinner," attended Purdue Theatre's production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" and took part in Old Masters. Off campus, they have had meals in ethnic restaurants.
"We take advantage of Purdue's and Greater Lafayette's diversity so students know they can interact with other cultures," she says, "and that is part of the U.S. experience and our global context today."
CAPTION: Students in the Engineering Honors learning community work on a team project to design and build a roller coaster using K’NEX pieces. Team members are (from left) Bryan Haring, Jessica Wade, Graham Rose, Thomas Pansino and Mark Tubergen. The activity, combining academic concepts, team building, fun and pizza, took place Nov. 21 in the Jade Room of Shreve Hall. (Photo by Mark Simons)