What is a Learning Community?

Classes that are linked during an academic term around an interdisciplinary theme and that enroll a common cohort of students.  Learning communities intend to restructure the students' time, credit, and learning experiences to build community among students, between students and their teachers, and among faculty members and disciplines.

Learning communities…

• Result in higher student persistence and achievement rates than in stand-alone courses
• Give students a sense of group identity, cohesion, and specialness, especially at commuter schools
• Lead to an understanding of the pluralism of people and perspectives
• Provide a way to overcome the isolation of faculty from one another
• Encourage faculty to relate to each other as both specialists and educators
• Encourage continuity and integration in the curriculum
• Make a place for important interdisciplinary topics to be addressed
  

Examples of Learning Communities/Paired Courses at Montgomery College:

• Race and Immigration in the U.S.: Past, Present, and Continuous (EL101 and RD 101)
• What Rocks Your World: Exploring Gender, Race, and Culture Through Reading and Writing (SO101 and EN101A)
• African-American Voices: From Queen Hapshesut to Fredrick Douglass (HS129 and EN102)
  

For current Learning Community/Paired Courses: http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/pairedcourses/forme.htm