A newsletter for the students, faculty and staff of the Collin County Community College District. Published monthly. For information or submissions, call 972.599.3142. Cougar News welcomes student and faculty submissions. Next deadline: April 10 All submissions are due by 5 p.m. on the due date. Photos cannot be returned. Text should be e-mailed to mrobinson@ccccd.edu or sent on disk. Please submit copy that is proofed, edited and saved in Word format. Cougar News staff: Lisa Vasquez, director; Mark Robinson, editor; Marcy Cadena-Smith, contributor; Sydney Portilla-Diggs, student correspondent; Stephanie Hall, student correspondent; Lydia Gober, special contributor; Nick Young, photographer.
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Learning Communities put new spin on the classroom experience
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| Professors Pam Gaiter and Larry Collins collaborate in teaching a Learning Communities class. |
Professors and students are bringing collaborative learning to Collin.
Learning Communities combine two different classes, two professors, six credit hours into one classroom. These hybrid classes take a course from one discipline and pair it with a class in another discipline and discuss a mutual issue.
For example, in the Spring 2006 “From Napoleon Dynamite to Desperate Housewives: The Influences of Film and Television on Communication” paired English 1302 and Speech 1311.
Students were able to earn six credit hours for each Learning Communities class – three for English and three for speech, but the learning experience is the true draw of Learning Communities.
With selections that combine photography and anthropology, English and philosophy, math and psychology and much more, students are connecting the dots between disciplines and getting a full picture of a certain subject.
“From an academic perspective, it shows what they are learning in different classes and where they connect,” sociology professor Dr. Tracey Elliott said.
Elliott said the collaboration “enriches and deepens what I am able to do” by showcasing the different points of view.
For example, a history class may be studying the Vietnam War. In a Learning Communities class, a sociology professor would discuss the social implications of the war and highlight the social climate. Or, a political science professor would discuss the policies and political events that pre-empted the war and governmental issues.
“You give a global perspective, which is important because we live in a global society,” political science professor Dr. Debra St. John said. “They see how it connects. It gives you a chance to be experimental and it gives intellectual stimulation to the professor.”
Oscar Moreno, a Collin student, has taken one Learning Community course and he said he would recommend it to any of his peers.
“It gets pretty exciting because you have one professor lecturing and one sitting with the students and throughout the lecture the sitting professor would speak up and make a point and then the students would get involved,” he said. “It was a great learning experience because it gave you a chance to experience the different subjects.”
Student Sarah Beard of Plano took a Learning Communities course that combined History II and Introduction to Sociology after hearing about the classes from a fellow student.
“It is a wonderful way to learn,” she said. “The professors interact so beautifully and the students interact as well.”
The intellectual discourse thrives in a Learning Communities course. The class time exceeds three hours because the course is six credit hours, so there is plenty of time to engage in debate and discussion, shedding light on new perspectives and opening thought-provoking doors. Professors lecture and chime in to facilitate discussion. Students are encouraged to enter the parley with candor.
“It is a different setting than in a stand-alone class,” history professor Larry Collins said. “The professors and students are learning together. We are not the sage on the stage, but facilitators.”
Collins said the time frame professors have in a Learning Community course allows them to be more creative. Professors can provide multi-media presentations, collaborative research papers, special speakers, service learning projects and field trips. Past trips have included the African-American History Museum, the Latino Culture Center, the Holocaust Museum and the School Book Depository in Dallas.
“Learning communities offer a structure that is conducive to implementing various pedagogies such as problem-based learning and collaborative learning,” Elliott said. “It is a great platform for innovative teaching and learning techniques.”
“Learning Communities, personally, has kept me from being burned out as a teacher,” Collins said. “For a professor, it gets you excited and rejuvenated about education.”
Learning Communities will be available during the fall 2006 semester. For more information, visit www.ccccd.edu/learningcomm .
[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]
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