INTRODUCTION:
Learning Community is where a group of people shared common interest and actively engaging in learning together from each other. Learning Community is where groups people gaining and sharing knowledge to meet a common goal. Learning Community can be enhance through partnering with students on projects, brain storming and group reporting. Learning Community may be Residential or Non-residential. In residential, students are involve in meeting people which of the same interests interacting in campuses or classrooms. In non-residential, students may not be on the in the same community but still interacts and learns from each other through online learning. Students mostly undergraduate spend a lot of their time sitting in the classroom listening to lectures and discussions. We learn through the use of books and exchange of ideas from our classmates and teacher.
Learning means gaining knowledge of or skill. Community is a body of people in the same locality; the general public, society; any group having work, interests, etc. in common.( webster, 2007). Community is a circle of people who live together, share knowledge and exhibit common values. ( Guinnes, 1993). Learning communities help students link their academic work with active and increased intellectual interaction with each other and with faculty. Learning communities also promote coherence among students and create a sense of common purpose and community. Alexander Astin (1985, p. 161) in Schroeder & Mable (1994, p. 167).
From the existence of mass media through the inventions of new technology, both of which have greatly affects our Learning Community. Twentieth century has been described as the "century of the individual" according to Piaget's developmental theories where the learner is viewed as the " Lone seeker of Knowledge" ( Feldman, 2000). By contrast, a movement from the "Age of the Individual to the Era of Community", by the influenced Vygotsky (1978) by his theory of Social Constructivism.(Feldman, 2000). E-learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching, which are procedural in character and aim to effect the construction of knowledge with reference to individual experience, practice and knowledge of the learner.
The definition of learning Community continues to evolve in response to the needs of the learners and the communities to which they work.(Google, defining learning community par.4). There are five major types of college learning-community curricular models these are : linked courses; learning clusters; freshman interest groups; federated learning communities; and coordinated studies. Characteristics of each model are outlined concerning institution size, basic unit of instruction, number of students involved, faculty roles, faculty co-planning, student seminars, faculty seminars, and community-building mechanisms. (MSE). The learning community curricular model links coursework to promote coherence and intellectual interaction for a group of students.
BODY
What Is a “Professional Learning Community”?
According to Richard Dufour, a professional learning community (PLC) is an extended learning opportunity to foster collaborative learning among colleagues within a particular work environment or field. It is often used in schools as a way to organize teachers into working groups.
The professional learning community model has now reached a critical juncture, one well known to those who have witnessed the fate of other well-intentioned school reform efforts. In this all-too-familiar cycle, initial enthusiasm gives way to confusion about the fundamental concepts driving the initiative, followed by inevitable implementation problems, the conclusion that the reform has failed to bring about the desired results, abandonment of the reform, and the launch of a new search for the next promising initiative. Another reform movement has come and gone, reinforcing the conventional education wisdom that promises, “This too shall pass.” The movement to develop professional learning communities can avoid this cycle, but only if educators reflect critically on the concept’s merits. What are the “big ideas” that represent the core principals of professional learning communities? How do these principles guide schools’ efforts to sustain the professional learning community model until it becomes deeply embedded in the culture of the school?
The five major types of college learning-community are as follows:
Linked courses; learning clusters; freshman interest groups; federated learning communities; and coordinated studies. Linked courses are put together cohort of students with two common courses. One course is typically content-based (science, math) and the other is an application course (writing, speech). The faculty of each course may teach independently or together and coordinate syllabi and assignments so that the classes compliment each other. The Linked Courses Model provides a shared experience for students that focuses on a content-based course that is actively supported by a skills course( Kellog, 1999). The Learning Cluster Model is similar to the Linked Course Model except that instead of linking two courses together, three or four courses are linked with one cohort, often serving as the students' entire course load. However, in Learning Clusters, the courses are usually based on a theme, historical periods, issues, or problems. The degree to which the three or four faculty work together depends on the institution but can vary from common syllabi, joint assignments to team teaching. Often, Learning Clusters have a seminar component in which the students meet weekly or bi-weekly to discuss class work and shared experiences. Students in Learning Clusters may also have planned social events, field trips, or common readings. Freshman Interest Groups is a unique program for freshmen that extends learning from the classroom to the residential hall. A FIG consists of a group of 10-15 students that take 2-3 courses together, and enroll in COLL-X111, a one-credit seminar that is built around a common theme. The FIG's Seminar is a small discussion-based course in which you develop skills that enhance academic achievement and discover how disciplines relate to one another. Each seminar creates a rich educational experience with the help of specially selected and trained graduate students that serve as Seminar Instructors. Federated Learning Communities,this model is the most complex Learning Community Model because a cohort of students takes three theme-based courses in addition to a three credit seminar taught by a Master Learner. The Master Learner is a professor from a different discipline who takes the courses and fulfills all the requirements of the classes along with the students. He or she then leads the seminar and assists students in synthesizing and exploring the opinions and points of view of students from the three courses. Faculty in Federated Learning Communities are relieved of their other teaching responsibilities. In Coordinated Studies, faculty and students participate in full-time active learning based on an interdisciplinary theme. This curriculum can last an entire year and the faculty have the opportunity to redesign the entire curriculum, providing extensive professional development for faculty. Coordinated Studies provide 16 credits per semester and are team taught by several faculty members in set blocks each week. These Learning Communities are thematic and can be broad or narrow in scope. This model is most closely tied to the Meiklejohn Model.
The benefits of learning communities to students are numerous but extend beyond students to faculty and the entire institution. Students involved in learning communities show an increase in academic achievement, retention, motivation, intellectual development, learning, and involvement and community. Learning communities also reinforce positive views of the institution. (Kellogg, Karen). The professional community of learners, in which the teachers in a school and its administrators continuously seek and share learning and then act on what they learn. The goal of their actions is to enhance their effectiveness as professionals so that students benefit. This arrangement has also been termed communities of continuous inquiry and improvement.( Astuto and colleagues (1993)).
CONCLUSION
learning Community is very important specially for us undergraduate students. We commonly sit on our classroom listening to our teachers discussions and lessons. Being in the Learning Community doesn't mean learning could take place, each participation we did made learning more interesting. Our participation in Learning Community helps us a lot. Mostly those who are actively participating excel in academics. Learning Community has played a big rule in developing our knowledge and skills. We can express our thoughts, feelings and opinions through this. As our whole being develops we tend to find more ways how our learning could be satisfied. We usually find our comfort zone from our co-students and friends to which each of us could relate. There are also many ways how we understand the true meaning of community to which we belong. Another way that made learning more easy is through the use of technology, like
E-learning. E-learning is essentially the computer and network enabled transfer of skills and knowledge. With the help of this we can have easy access and faster research. We can also communicate even without facing to them directly. Today , our learning community continues to evolve and many various aspect had already influencing it.
May this paper gives you information how Learning Community takes place.
thank you and more power.Godbless
REFERENCES
Learning Community is where a group of people shared common interest and actively engaging in learning together from each other. Learning Community is where groups people gaining and sharing knowledge to meet a common goal. Learning Community can be enhance through partnering with students on projects, brain storming and group reporting. Learning Community may be Residential or Non-residential. In residential, students are involve in meeting people which of the same interests interacting in campuses or classrooms. In non-residential, students may not be on the in the same community but still interacts and learns from each other through online learning. Students mostly undergraduate spend a lot of their time sitting in the classroom listening to lectures and discussions. We learn through the use of books and exchange of ideas from our classmates and teacher.
Learning means gaining knowledge of or skill. Community is a body of people in the same locality; the general public, society; any group having work, interests, etc. in common.( webster, 2007). Community is a circle of people who live together, share knowledge and exhibit common values. ( Guinnes, 1993). Learning communities help students link their academic work with active and increased intellectual interaction with each other and with faculty. Learning communities also promote coherence among students and create a sense of common purpose and community. Alexander Astin (1985, p. 161) in Schroeder & Mable (1994, p. 167).
From the existence of mass media through the inventions of new technology, both of which have greatly affects our Learning Community. Twentieth century has been described as the "century of the individual" according to Piaget's developmental theories where the learner is viewed as the " Lone seeker of Knowledge" ( Feldman, 2000). By contrast, a movement from the "Age of the Individual to the Era of Community", by the influenced Vygotsky (1978) by his theory of Social Constructivism.(Feldman, 2000). E-learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching, which are procedural in character and aim to effect the construction of knowledge with reference to individual experience, practice and knowledge of the learner.
The definition of learning Community continues to evolve in response to the needs of the learners and the communities to which they work.(Google, defining learning community par.4). There are five major types of college learning-community curricular models these are : linked courses; learning clusters; freshman interest groups; federated learning communities; and coordinated studies. Characteristics of each model are outlined concerning institution size, basic unit of instruction, number of students involved, faculty roles, faculty co-planning, student seminars, faculty seminars, and community-building mechanisms. (MSE). The learning community curricular model links coursework to promote coherence and intellectual interaction for a group of students.
BODY
What Is a “Professional Learning Community”?
According to Richard Dufour, a professional learning community (PLC) is an extended learning opportunity to foster collaborative learning among colleagues within a particular work environment or field. It is often used in schools as a way to organize teachers into working groups.
The professional learning community model has now reached a critical juncture, one well known to those who have witnessed the fate of other well-intentioned school reform efforts. In this all-too-familiar cycle, initial enthusiasm gives way to confusion about the fundamental concepts driving the initiative, followed by inevitable implementation problems, the conclusion that the reform has failed to bring about the desired results, abandonment of the reform, and the launch of a new search for the next promising initiative. Another reform movement has come and gone, reinforcing the conventional education wisdom that promises, “This too shall pass.” The movement to develop professional learning communities can avoid this cycle, but only if educators reflect critically on the concept’s merits. What are the “big ideas” that represent the core principals of professional learning communities? How do these principles guide schools’ efforts to sustain the professional learning community model until it becomes deeply embedded in the culture of the school?
The five major types of college learning-community are as follows:
Linked courses; learning clusters; freshman interest groups; federated learning communities; and coordinated studies. Linked courses are put together cohort of students with two common courses. One course is typically content-based (science, math) and the other is an application course (writing, speech). The faculty of each course may teach independently or together and coordinate syllabi and assignments so that the classes compliment each other. The Linked Courses Model provides a shared experience for students that focuses on a content-based course that is actively supported by a skills course( Kellog, 1999). The Learning Cluster Model is similar to the Linked Course Model except that instead of linking two courses together, three or four courses are linked with one cohort, often serving as the students' entire course load. However, in Learning Clusters, the courses are usually based on a theme, historical periods, issues, or problems. The degree to which the three or four faculty work together depends on the institution but can vary from common syllabi, joint assignments to team teaching. Often, Learning Clusters have a seminar component in which the students meet weekly or bi-weekly to discuss class work and shared experiences. Students in Learning Clusters may also have planned social events, field trips, or common readings. Freshman Interest Groups is a unique program for freshmen that extends learning from the classroom to the residential hall. A FIG consists of a group of 10-15 students that take 2-3 courses together, and enroll in COLL-X111, a one-credit seminar that is built around a common theme. The FIG's Seminar is a small discussion-based course in which you develop skills that enhance academic achievement and discover how disciplines relate to one another. Each seminar creates a rich educational experience with the help of specially selected and trained graduate students that serve as Seminar Instructors. Federated Learning Communities,this model is the most complex Learning Community Model because a cohort of students takes three theme-based courses in addition to a three credit seminar taught by a Master Learner. The Master Learner is a professor from a different discipline who takes the courses and fulfills all the requirements of the classes along with the students. He or she then leads the seminar and assists students in synthesizing and exploring the opinions and points of view of students from the three courses. Faculty in Federated Learning Communities are relieved of their other teaching responsibilities. In Coordinated Studies, faculty and students participate in full-time active learning based on an interdisciplinary theme. This curriculum can last an entire year and the faculty have the opportunity to redesign the entire curriculum, providing extensive professional development for faculty. Coordinated Studies provide 16 credits per semester and are team taught by several faculty members in set blocks each week. These Learning Communities are thematic and can be broad or narrow in scope. This model is most closely tied to the Meiklejohn Model.
The benefits of learning communities to students are numerous but extend beyond students to faculty and the entire institution. Students involved in learning communities show an increase in academic achievement, retention, motivation, intellectual development, learning, and involvement and community. Learning communities also reinforce positive views of the institution. (Kellogg, Karen). The professional community of learners, in which the teachers in a school and its administrators continuously seek and share learning and then act on what they learn. The goal of their actions is to enhance their effectiveness as professionals so that students benefit. This arrangement has also been termed communities of continuous inquiry and improvement.( Astuto and colleagues (1993)).
CONCLUSION
learning Community is very important specially for us undergraduate students. We commonly sit on our classroom listening to our teachers discussions and lessons. Being in the Learning Community doesn't mean learning could take place, each participation we did made learning more interesting. Our participation in Learning Community helps us a lot. Mostly those who are actively participating excel in academics. Learning Community has played a big rule in developing our knowledge and skills. We can express our thoughts, feelings and opinions through this. As our whole being develops we tend to find more ways how our learning could be satisfied. We usually find our comfort zone from our co-students and friends to which each of us could relate. There are also many ways how we understand the true meaning of community to which we belong. Another way that made learning more easy is through the use of technology, like
E-learning. E-learning is essentially the computer and network enabled transfer of skills and knowledge. With the help of this we can have easy access and faster research. We can also communicate even without facing to them directly. Today , our learning community continues to evolve and many various aspect had already influencing it.
May this paper gives you information how Learning Community takes place.
thank you and more power.Godbless
REFERENCES
- http://www.google.com.ph/#hl=en&q=major+types+of+learning+community
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-learning
- http://www.google.com.ph/#hl=en&q=learning+community
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_learning_community
- http://www.aare.edu.au/03pap/jon03441.pdf
- http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/currclum/cu3lk22.htm
