An Evaluation of Learning Communities at SAU

Rich Legg, Director of General Education

The recommendation to create formal "Learning Communities" by creating linkages among courses and requiring co-registration by students dates back almost two decades (1). Loosely defined, Learning Communities consist of groups of courses that have been linked together for the purposes of increasing student intellectual interactions with one another and with faculty, and of increasing the likelihood of students experiencing coherence in their studies (2). Their ultimate goal is to improve student learning but ancillary effects such as improved student retention as a result of higher student satisfaction also have driven the movement to adopt the Learning Community model on many campuses.

Several models exist for the ways in which courses may be linked to form a Learning Community, ranging from casual linkage of courses from which student co-registration alone is expected to improve coherence and learning, to complete integration of courses. At St. Ambrose, Learning Communities have been defined as consisting of the linkage of two or three general education courses and a section of New Student Seminar. The extent of course integration has been left to instructors' discretion. Named ACE, "Ambrose learning Communities for Excellence", the pilot Learning Communities project was begun in Fall 1998. In Fall 1999, four Learning Communities were established and enrolled approximately one-fourth of St. Ambrose's first-year class (3). Learning Community courses spanned the range of courses available to entering students and included developmental courses to which students were referred by entrance testing, general education courses taken as part of typical first-year students' programs, and introductory courses within majors' sequences.

Anecdotal evidence from the first round of Learning Community courses suggested that the concept was well received both by students and faculty. In Fall 1999, a systematic effort was made to gather information about student perceptions of the SAU Learning Community experience. Using an instrument modified from one originally developed by Vincent Tinto of Syracuse University for the purpose of studying the effects of Learning Communities (4), all first-year students registered for New Student Seminar were surveyed. In addition to items directed at learning about general attributes of the first-year student experience, twelve items were specifically targeted at learning student responses to Learning Communities. The purpose of this report is to present preliminary analysis of the Learning Community component results of this survey to the St. Ambrose community. A complete analysis of the full survey's results will be forthcoming at a later date.

A total of 79 questionnaires was distributed for administration in the New Student Seminar section associated with each Learning Community. A total of 72 (91%) was returned for inclusion in this analysis. In the survey, students were asked to directly respond to statements about whether or not participation in a Learning Community affected their learning or other aspects of their academic and social experience at SAU. The part of the survey dedicated to the Learning Community experience is reproduced below. Two global questions asked of all students are included also.

Directions: The following questions ask about how participation in the Ambrose learning Communities for Excellence (ACE) Program may have affected you.

PARTICPATING IN A LEARNING COMMUNITY HAS:

1. improved my learning
1 = Very Little 2 = Some 3 = Quite a bit 4 = Very much

2. offered me a satisfactory intellectual environment
1 = Very Little 2 = Some 3 = Quite a bit 4 = Very much

3. offered me a satisfactory social environment
1 = Very Little 2 = Some 3 = Quite a bit 4 = Very much

4. helped me develop a strong sense of community and attachment to St. Ambrose
1 = Very Little 2 = Some 3 = Quite a bit 4 = Very much

5. helped me to build support groups that enhanced my academic experience
1 = Very Little 2 = Some 3 = Quite a bit 4 = Very much

6. increased my interactions with faculty
1 = Very Little 2 = Some 3 = Quite a bit 4 = Very much

7. helped me to develop more effective study habits
1 = Very Little 2 = Some 3 = Quite a bit 4 = Very much

8. helped me to attend class regularly
1 = Very Little 2 = Some 3 = Quite a bit 4 = Very much

9. allowed me to more actively participate in classroom activities
1 = Very Little 2 = Some 3 = Quite a bit 4 = Very much

10. increased my participation in social activities at St. Ambrose
1 = Very Little 2 = Some 3 = Quite a bit 4 = Very much

11. helped me to make better use of St. Ambrose facilities and services
1 = Very Little 2 = Some 3 = Quite a bit 4 = Very much

12. If you could start over again, would you enroll in a learning community
1 = Yes 2 = Maybe 3 = No

13. If you could start over again, would you enroll at St. Ambrose University?
1 = Yes 2 = Maybe 3 = No

Do you plan on graduating from St. Ambrose University?
1 = Yes 2 = Maybe 3 = No

Results

A summary of student responses is presented in Table 1. Overall student response to Learning Communities at St. Ambrose is very positive. This can be seen most clearly in their responses to being asked whether or not they would enroll in a Learning Community were they to start their academic careers again. Nearly nine in ten Learning Community students (64/72, 88.9%) would definitely opt to re-enroll. Only a small fraction (4/72, 4.2%) indicated that they definitely would elect not to participate were they to begin again. This strong approval of the Learning Community experience is especially noteworthy in that it far exceeds the degree to which students indicated their willingness to re-enroll at SAU were they to start over (45/71, 63.4%). While many factors may account for students' stated disinclination to re-enroll at SAU, it's clear that the Learning Community experience is viewed very positively regardless of students' feelings about re-enrollment.

In students' views, the Learning Community setting provided an intellectual setting that promoted improved learning (see Table 1, questions 1 and 2). Only a very small fraction of Learning Community participants found it not to offer a satisfactory intellectual environment (2/72, 2.8%) or to have very little effect upon their learning (3/73, 4.2%). While students cite increased interactions with faculty and the development of effective study habits as consequences of Learning Community participation, the facilitation of social interactions among students may be more responsible for student response to and development from the Learning Community experience. In a separate open-ended survey mailed to Learning Community participants in Fall 1999, students were asked to identify the most significant advantage of being in a Learning Community. Almost all respondents (16/18, 88.9%) cited social benefits as the principal advantage of participation (5).

Chi-square tests of independence between the variable "improved learning (Q1)" and all other remaining variables were performed to determine which components of the Learning Community experience students identified with their self-reported improved learning. All remaining variables except "helped make better use of Ambrose facilities (Q10)" were highly significant (p<.01). Kendall-tau correlations indicated that high rankings of improvement in student learning were most associated with, in descending order of importance, "development of community (Q4)", "class attendance (Q8)", "increasing faculty interaction (Q6)", "increasing class participation (Q9)", "offered satisfactory social environment (Q3)", and "helped build support groups (Q5)". While all correlations other than that with the variable "helped make better use of Ambrose facilities (Q10)" were highly significant (p<.001), students most closely associate their improvement in learning primarily with social factors associated with Learning Communities.

Chi-square tests of association between the variable "starting over (Q11)" and all other remaining variables also were performed. These tests were done to determine which elements of the Learning Community experience were most closely associated with students' expressed desire to re-enroll in a Learning Community when offered the hypothetical opportunity to start over. Desire to re-enroll was independent of Learning Community, indicating that Learning Community course composition and individual instructor effects are negligible. "Starting over" was also independent of "helped attend class (Q8)". There were significant associations between "starting over" and all other variables. Kendall-tau rank order correlations indicated that high rankings of desire to re-enroll in a Learning Community (Q11) were most associated with, in descending order of importance, "satisfactory intellectual environment (Q2)", "increased class participation (Q9)", "satisfactory social environment (Q3)", and "development of community (Q4)"

In their responses, SAU first-year students strongly endorsed the Learning Community model of course linkage and delivery. They reported improved learning and a greater sense of community with the institution as direct products of their participation, the latter of which may result in increased retention. These effects are seen across a diversity of students and class settings, a pattern consistent with the results seen in the analysis of Learning Communities on other campuses (6). Gains from the use of the Learning Community model are achieved with high efficiency as virtually no new institutional investment in resources or personnel is required—Learning Communities use resources and people already in place. Although not a part of the current study, it is clear that participation in Learning Communities also offers faculty opportunities for development and improvement of their own sense of institutional community.

The use of first-semester Learning Communities should be expanded to provide an opportunity for the majority of entering students to elect a Learning Community within their initial registration. Learning Communities should be constructed across all types of courses, including typical general education courses, developmental courses, and introductory courses targeted to majors with significant numbers of first-semester declared students. Given the benefits to students and potential long-term benefits to the institution, advisors of first semester students should strongly encourage advisees to consider participation in a Learning Community. Study of the effects of Learning Community participation should continue, particularly of possible long-term effects.

Table 1. Summary statistics for student responses to eleven questions about Learning Community experiences and two additional questions about global perceptions of SAU.

1. Study Group on the Conditions of Excellence in Higher Education. Involvement in Learning:Realizing the Potential of Higher Education. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Education, 1984.

2. Gabelnick, F., et al. Learning Communities: Creating Connections Among Students, Faculty and Disciplines. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass Publishers, Inc., 1990.

3. ACE 101A - THEO 101, ENGL 101, SOC 101 and NSS 101; ACE 101B - BIOL 103, PSYC 105, and NSS 101; ACE 101 C - LS 100, ENGL 100, and NSS 101; and ACE 101E - BIOL 101, PED 149, and NSS 101. These four Learning Communities enrolled 79 students at their outset, 25.1% of the Fall 1999 entering class of 315 students.

5. Typical comments were, "…meeting people who you can ask for help…", "…it was easy to find study groups…", "…it helped me get to know them and talk with them about our area of study…", and "…allowed me to form new relationships with people…we were able to form study groups…"

6. Tinto, V., et al. Building Learning Communities for new College Students: A summary of Research Findings of the Collaborative Research Project, Syracuse: National center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, Syracuse University, 1994.