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Student Communities

Learning Communities

Enroll in a learning community!

Become part of a community with your instructors and colleagues, gain a cross-curricular perspective and have fun while learning!

In our learning communities, you'll enroll in two or more linked courses alongside a group of peers. This unique structure fosters a collaborative learning environment that includes:

  • Peer support: Students become part of a community as they attend two classes with the same group of students. They get to know the other students, make friends and network.
  • Teacher support: Students have the support of two teachers who care very deeply about their academic success.
  • Integrated coursework: Rather than work on completely different assignments in the two classes, learning community students have assignments that combine the topics and materials in both classes. In this way, students save time while increasing their learning.
  • Preparation for future classes: Through analyzing the connections between the two different courses, students strengthen their higher-level thinking skills, which prepares them for more challenging classes in the future.
  • Convenient schedule: Most learning communities are scheduled back-to-back, so students have fewer “free” hours between classes.
  • Special activities: Learning communities often have a theme, and teachers often arrange special activities such as service learning, on-campus theater productions and other events, guest speakers or field trips.

Examples of learning communities

Our offerings vary per semester, but here are some of our previous course pairings:

Communications 101 and Sociology 101

Students give speeches on sociology topics.

Academic Development 101 and English 101

Students apply Academic Development strategies to English 101.

Psychology 101 and Math 153

Originally created with nursing majors in mind but open to everyone, this learning community gives students a chance to apply their new knowledge of statistics and deepen their understanding of psychology content.

English as a second language (ESOL) and Communications 101

ESOL students write papers for ESOL 052 and give speeches in CMNS 101 on the same topic, while earning academic credit for CMNS 101.

Success stories

Here's what students have said about learning communities:

Working together with the same students was what made my learning community great. My teachers were very good friends, and they just blended the two courses so that we can work together on two different courses at the same time. I was totally amazed at how much effort our teachers put in to help students.

The community helped me to feel encouraged in my assignments, and I was even excited when arriving to class, eager to interact with my classmates. The learning community was much more than just a class.

Get started

Students can enroll in person or online. To enroll online in a learning community, contact us!

Stacie Miller

Coordinator, Learning Communities