Terry O’Banion, a leading proponent of the Learning College movement, lists several of its core characteristics:

•   Learning is collaborative and offers many options.
•   Learners are full partners and assume responsibility for their own choices.
•   The process focuses on the needs and requirements of the learner.
•   The central focus is on the outcome, not the process.
•   The ability to demonstrate that a change has been effected.

This new vision of the Learning College at Montgomery College:

•    is built on our student-centered mission of caring, commitment to quality, and service to community that holds us “accountable for key results centered around learning.”
•   identifies clear priorities for the future: continued access, retention, achievement, and collaborative learning.
•   recognizes the challenges of shrinking capacity and a continuing need to maintain affordability.
•   keeps learning – continuous, creative, and compelling learning – at the center of our collective vision.

We have:

•   dedicated our energy and our resources to bringing positive change into the lives of our students, our College community and our larger community.
•   heard the message of “Greater Expectations” and are preparing to engage the intentional learners of the new global environment with rigorous, yet relevant, educational challenges.
•   our tradition of strong commitment to learning and are affirming a new focus on the measurable, tangible, and rewarding outcomes of our endeavors.

The Learning College at Montgomery College is comprised of five pillars led by the Vice Presidents and Provosts and a Dean of Student Development. These pillars are the:

•   Learning Communities (Blue Team) – The development of learning communities within our Collegewide instructional programs.
•   First-Year Experience (Red Team) – The development of a pilot program for providing multiple orientation opportunities for appropriate incoming students.
•   Service Learning (Orange Team) – The development of strategies to incorporate service learning for students and professional development centered around learning for our faculty.
•   Student Achievement and Retention (Green Team) – The development and exploration of possible strategies and models for focusing our resources on student achievement.
•   Outcomes Assessment (Purple Team) – The development of an evaluation strategy that will allow us to assess the impact of this focus on learning, and provide the information we need to demonstrate the effectiveness of our initiatives to promote greater student learning.

The teams continue to evolve as the pillars become part of our culture, strategic planning and budgeting.

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Please remember that the documents contained in this website are a "work in progress."    Last updated 7/18/05