General Thoughts about FIGs and Learning Communities

This section provides some information on the rationale for and pedagogical implications of learning communities as well as some of the potential tensions and contradictions that emerge in their implementation.

I. Positive Features of FIGs / Learning Communities. Variants of the Freshman Interest Group are being widely adopted across university and college campuses. In advancing these models, the following positive features are typically cited:

Smaller classes that allow greater opportunity for group work as well as greater interaction between and among faculty and students
Greater integration of freshman general education curriculum
Academic and social support based on the student peer group
Bringing faculty together in a way that produces conversations about teaching, learning, integrating disciplinary perspectives
Encourages appreciation of learning as a social process involving learning from each other and sharing knowledge
Eases the transition from high school to college thus enhancing retention prospects

II. Pedagogical Implications of FIGs/Learning Communities. FIGs serve to increase awareness of where and how students learn. The three following quotes address the critical components of learning communities.

"Most student learning occurs outside the classroom. This is both a humbling and reassuring thought for the beginning teacher. It means that the student's education will neither succeed nor fail simply because of what you do or don't do in the classroom. At the same time, it reminds one to direct attention to stimulating and guiding student learning outside class even more than to preparing a dazzling classroom performance."

--Wilbert McKeechie, Teaching Tips

"Perhaps the strongest conclusion is the least surprising. Simply put, the greater the student's involvement or engagement in academic work or in the academic experience of college, the greater his or her level of knowledge acquisition and general cognitive development."

--Ernest Pascarella and Patrick Terenzini, How College Effects Students

"Systematically addressing the kind of dynamic 'knowing' that makes a difference in practice requires the participation of people who are fully engaged in the process of creating, refining, communicating, and using knowledge...Members of a community are informally bound but what they do together -- from engaging in lunchtime discussions to solving difficult problems -- and by what they have learned through their mutual engagement in these activities."

--Etienne Wenger, Communities of Practice: Learning as a Social System

These commentaries suggest that student engagement and involvement, not just in class but out of class, within communities of learners, can promote academic success, retention, and genuine learning.

III. How to Foster Learning Communities

Encourage the "learning" and "academic" side of the community as much as or more than the "social."
Structure assignments both in-class and out of class that involve problem solving and collaborative inquiry.
The Blackboard web-based tool can be used as a way to extend the classroom community beyond the restricted time period and classroom space, in an academic direction. Post assignments, problems, and discussion items.
Ideally, FIG faculty should meet both within their FIG units and across all FIG units to discuss the teaching and learning issues and challenges.

IV. Further Implications for Teaching and Learning

The learning process in your class should be extended into and supported by the other courses in the FIG.
An emphasis on the GE learning outcomes and particularly the skills component requires greater attention to active forms of learning that allow skill development and demonstration in the areas of critical thinking, demonstrated competence in use of info tech, and effective communication
Authentic assessment - measure students performance on the skills you want them to develop rather than the recall of information
The distinction between knowledge and understanding, and a desire to establish the latter, should encourage activities that require application and transfer of ideas to unfamiliar contexts.
Emphasis on values requires some reflection and discussion of where students are, how they differ, and where they want to move
Writing assignments - take advantage of the small class size by giving students the opportunity to write: in-class, out-of-class, graded, ungraded, free/expressive. Help students develop peer review/critique skills that allow them to review and evaluate each others' work

V. Tensions and Contradictions Generated by FIGS/Learning Communities

Generally, FIGs do not fit smoothly into the traditional organization of teaching and learning. It is often the case that the most innovative programs will create the greatest tensions and conflicts when implemented
FIGs conflict with bureaucratic scheduling of courses into separate time slots, locations, instructors, departments, and into classrooms with fixed chairs
The FIGs stimulate a consideration of what and how students learn as opposed to the traditional focus on what and how faculty teach
FIGs conflict with the tradition of "privatized faculty practice" -- teaching and learning becomes part of a more public dialogue via faculty collaboration and discussion
FIGs conflict with the notions of pure academic autonomy as linked courses must acknowledge one another and disciplinary material and content should be restructured so that it can be integrated into a broader theme
FIGs conflict with notions of knowledge and information organized into discrete academic disciplines
GE courses that serve as content pre-requisites for major courses are now restructured around a theme -- tension between the survey of the discipline and the connection to FIG theme
Student cohesion in FIGs can produce social interaction dynamics among students, and between students and instructors, that are not necessarily conducive to learning