Learning Communities

Why is there so much interest in learning communities? I think the reasons can be divided into three broad categories: philosophical (because learning communities fit into a changing philosophy of knowledge); research based (because learning communities fit with what the research tells us about learning); and pragmatic (because learning communities work).

~ K. Patricia Cross,“Why Learning Communities? Why Now?” About Campus, July-August 1998.

National Resource Center for Learning Communities

History & Publications

"In 1985 the Washington State Legislature established the Washington Center as a public service center of The Evergreen State College, with a mandate to work with two- and four-year institutions to improve the quality of undergraduate education. In its first years, Washington Center worked in collaboration with colleagues from the state’s higher education community to foster highly effective, low-cost curricular improvements through faculty development, mainly focused on learning communities.

By the 1990s, state-wide initiatives included a three-year cultural pluralism project, funded by the Ford Foundation, and a project focused on calculus reform, funded through a National Science Foundation grant. In 1996, a three-year Learning Communities Dissemination Project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education, provided support to participating campuses as they developed, strengthened, and evaluated their learning community programs.

From 2000 to 2003, The Pew Charitable Trusts funded The National Learning Communities Project, which extended the work to more college and university campuses while establishing regional communities of practice. This project brought together learning community practitioners from across the country, shaping the identity of an emerging national movement and field. In 2004, Washington Center became the National Resource Center for Learning Communities, providing resources and support to two- and four-year institutions throughout the United States and beyond its borders."

Pima Library Books on Learning Communities

Sustaining and Improving Learning Communities by Jodi Levine Laufgraben; Nancy S. Shapiro
Call Number: LB2341.L245 2004 (Desert Vista Library)
ISBN: 9780787960544
Sustaining and Improving Learning Communities is the long awaited follow-up to the groundbreaking book Creating Learning Communities. The authors continue their exploration of the concept of learning communities as an innovation in undergraduate curricular instruction that allow students to actively participate in their own education, and deepen and diversify their college experience. Jodi Levine Laufgraben and Nancy S. Shapiro address a wide range of topics such as campus culture for sustaining learning communities, learning communities and the curriculum, pedagogies, and faculty development.
Creating Learning Communities by Nancy S. Shapiro; Jodi H. Levine
Call Number: LB 2331.S473 (1999) West Campus
ISBN: 0787944629
"One of the most powerful ideas in higher education today is transforming campuses into learning communities. At last, Shapiro and Levine have given us--faculty, students, and administrators--a handbook on how to accomplish this. It is one of those too rare and much-needed volumes on translating theory into practice by authors who have actually done it." --Arthur Levine, president, Teachers College, Columbia University
Beyond the Common Core by Juli K. Dixon; Thomasenia Lott Adams; Edward C. Nolan; Timothy D. Kanold (Editor)
Call Number: QA 139.6 D59 (2015) Desert Vista Library
ISBN: 9781936763467
Publication Date: 2011-07-01
Focus your curriculum to heighten student achievement. Learn 10 high-leverage team actions for grades K-5 mathematics instruction and assessment. Discover the actions your team should take before a unit of instruction begins, as well as the actions and formative assessments that should occur during instruction. Examine how to most effectively reflect on assessment results, and prepare for the next unit of instruction.

Learning Communities: Learning Communities Resources

Learning Communities

National Resource Center for Learning Communities

History & Publications

Collaborative Learning Ebooks

Pima Library Books on Learning Communities

Learning Communities Research and Practice Journal