Learning To Build The Wright Community
Serafina Ha
Issue date: 2/1/10 Section: News
More than 200 students enrolled in the Learning Communities program this semester at Wright College, which has grown since the Fall 2009 semester. It connects two courses from different subject areas with integrated themes and assignments for students to take concurrently. It's designed so that they, "can gain both a deeper and broader appreciation for the course materials by seeing how different subjects relate to each other," according to the course catalog.
Of his motives behind establishing the program at Wright, Dean of Instructions Kevin Li said, "I firmly believe that knowledge cannot be compartmentalized and that deep learning occurs for students when they are able to apply knowledge learned in one discipline to another. In my view, that is the ultimate promise of interdisciplinary learning." According to a research paper from the National Center for Postsecondary Research, "students in learning communities at Kingsborough Community College progressed more quickly through English courses that were required for graduation and were more likely to be enrolled in college three semesters later." The evaluation of forty learning communities at the school compared thousands of students taking the course with thousands that did not.
Li researched methods used in community colleges and four-year institutions that had already taken it up nationwide. He then obtained the support of a team of fifteen full-time and part-time faculty members after they attended a regional conference hosted by the Illinois Consortium of Learning Communities. The team then invited the Consortium to present the idea to all faculty members and adjuncts at Wright during their Fall 2009 Orientation.
The activity offers eight linked course groups with detailed information listed in the Spring 2010 course catalog. Common themes bond the coupled courses, like "Chemistry of Life," which connects Biology 121 (General Biology) and Chemistry 121 (Basic Chemistry) by studying chemical principles underlying cells. Usual credit hours and tuition stay the same as they remain two different classes.
Of his motives behind establishing the program at Wright, Dean of Instructions Kevin Li said, "I firmly believe that knowledge cannot be compartmentalized and that deep learning occurs for students when they are able to apply knowledge learned in one discipline to another. In my view, that is the ultimate promise of interdisciplinary learning." According to a research paper from the National Center for Postsecondary Research, "students in learning communities at Kingsborough Community College progressed more quickly through English courses that were required for graduation and were more likely to be enrolled in college three semesters later." The evaluation of forty learning communities at the school compared thousands of students taking the course with thousands that did not.
Li researched methods used in community colleges and four-year institutions that had already taken it up nationwide. He then obtained the support of a team of fifteen full-time and part-time faculty members after they attended a regional conference hosted by the Illinois Consortium of Learning Communities. The team then invited the Consortium to present the idea to all faculty members and adjuncts at Wright during their Fall 2009 Orientation.
The activity offers eight linked course groups with detailed information listed in the Spring 2010 course catalog. Common themes bond the coupled courses, like "Chemistry of Life," which connects Biology 121 (General Biology) and Chemistry 121 (Basic Chemistry) by studying chemical principles underlying cells. Usual credit hours and tuition stay the same as they remain two different classes.
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