Project Renaissance

The "Infused Learning Community" Pilot Meeting Students Where They Are

What’s an "Infused Learning Community?
In their pioneering work at the Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education, MacGregor, Smith, Mathews and Gabelnick provide a concrete definition of what a Learning
Community is:

"A variety of approaches that link or cluster classes during a given term, often around an interdisciplinary theme, that 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, among students and their teachers, and among disciplines."

The "Infused Learning Community” (ILC) model at Florida Community College works to "foster explicit connections” from within a college preparatory classroom. The ILC creates an "interdisciplinary theme” by introducing course content from the SLS 1103 – Strategies for Success in College, Career and Life into the college preparatory classroom.

One of the major issues facing learning community success at a commuter college is the ability to keep students on campus and engaged before or after class time. As a commuter college students often arrive just in time for their college classes and then leave immediately after. The ILC is able to work from within the students’ college preparatory classes to offer interactive student success content and thus "build community” among students.

College prep faculty members make 15 minutes available every other week (9 sessions or the optional 5 session - SILC) to allow for Student Life Skills (SLS) topics to be covered (either by ILC Facilitator or the faculty member).

The benefits of this approach are many. First off, students participate in a learning community from within a college preparatory class. This encourages student-to-student engagement within a class and provides a support network from within a class (where students share the same schedule and short-term academic goals). Students participating in the ILC also then have access to Student Success materials, such as handouts provided at the completion of each ILC that provide practical suggestions for improving student success.

The ILC curriculum is designed to aid in student persistence and retention. The short class-room visits are minimally invasive to the class room routine. Facilitators utilize the On Course Workshop developed by Dr. Skip Downing (www.oncourseworkshop.com) which has been proven to improve student retention at a variety of institutions (http://www.oncourseworkshop.com/Data.htm). The curriculum draws on 8 "student success qualities” that engender student persistence and retention:

• Self-Responsibility
• Self-Motivation
• Self-Management
• Interdependence
• Self-Awareness
• Life-Long Learning
• Emotional Intelligence
• Believe in Themselves

These ILC components are organized to create the ideal learning community. Paloff and Pratt (1999) provide "indicators" of learning community such as: active learning, sharing of resources and socially constructed meaning. The highly interactive activities used in the ILC promote each of these indicators.

Who Facilitates the ILC?
The facilitators for the ILC can vary by campus need and availability. Recommended facilitators to present the ILC include:

• Student Learning Specialists
• SLS 1103 / 0001 Training Faculty
• College Prep Faculty
• Student Ambassadors - Recent research by John Gardner suggests peer presenters can have a more significant effect on retention and student success behaviors.

What is the Role of College Prep Faculty Members?
Faculty who participate in the ILC are an integral key to the success of the process. We strongly encourage faculty to actively participate in each of the ILC activities. This helps each of the students to witness the importance of the time and the activity taking place. Faculty should also feel welcome to interject comments about student success as needed.

What's Covered at Each Each ILC Meeting?
All meeting times are approximately 15 minutes.

• Meeting #1 - Welcome and Pre-Test
• Meeting #2 - Interdependence
• Meeting #3 - Self-Responsibility and Self-Motivation
• Meeting #4 - Self-Management
• Meeting #5 - Self-Awareness
• Meeting #6 - Life-Long Learning
• Meeting #7 - Emotional Intelligence
• Meeting #8 - Believe in Themselves
• Meeting #9 - Post Test

What If There Isn't Enough Time?
The Shortened Infused Learning Community (SILC) provides and abbreviated version of the more robust ILC. Facilitators visit the classroom five times to provide comprehensive coverage of the 9 essential ILC topics. This curriculum may be best suited for a faculty member who cannot commit the amount of class time necessary for the ILC. Shortened terms (4 week, 8 week or 12 week) may also benefit from a truncated program.

• Meeting #1 - Self-Responsibility and Self-Motivation
• Meeting #2 - Interdependence
• Meeting #3 - Self-Management
• Meeting #4 - Life-Long Learning
• Meeting #5 - Emotional Intelligence

How Will This Program Be Evaluated?
An evaluation form is provided for dissemination to all students who participated in the Infused Learning Community. This information will be provided to the Project Renaissance office for evaluation. In addition to the evaluation in this curriculum, additional evaluation will be made by:

• Tracking term-to-term retention of students who participate in the ILC
• Tracking Fall-to-Fall retention of students who participate in the ILC
• Tracking pass rates of students in the ILC course compared to control group courses
• Tracking subsequent course pass rates
• Tracking completion and graduation rates as needed.

For more information or to schedule the start of an ILC in your college prep course, contact Toni Southerland.

This pilot is made possible by a Title III grant at Florida Community College.