Auburn University - About Learning Communities at Auburn University

About Auburn Learning Communities

The learning community concept was first introduced at Auburn University in the College of Engineering in 1973. Faculty and administrators were concerned about retention within the college and developed an engineering living-learning community to provide their students with an academic and social support group. The results were positive and the program sustained but eventually the residence hall was torn down. An Engineering Living-Learning Community was revived later in the mid eighties when it took over the home economics residence hall. Again the program sustained until the residence hall was removed.

Learning Communities were reintroduced at Auburn in fall, 1998 as pilot programs to address overall freshmen retention. The initial cohort group was in the College of Liberal Arts, followed by the second in the College of Business. By fall of 1999, there were 50 freshmen in both groups. The next college to join the program was the College of Agriculture with one group of 20. Today, Agriculture, Business, Human Sciences, Liberal Arts, Forrestry, and Nursing all have Learning Community programs. Approximately 25 to 50 students participate in each Learning Community. They take two core courses together and a University course taught by the sponsoring faculty member/academic advisor or an administrator in Educational Support Services.

New Living-Learning Communities were piloted in 2006-2007 led by the efforts of Dr. Linda Glaze, Associate Provost for Undergraduate Studies; Dr. Sharon Roberts , COSAM; Dr. Gisela Buschle-Diller, Engineering; Dr. Kathryn Jarvis, Director of Academic Support Services; and Chris Wyckoff, Program Coordinator of Learning Communities. The team started with a non-residential Learning Community in 2004-2005 funded by a Breedin grant to test the idea of an Earthsmart Learning Community. They made adjustments to the course structure in 2005-2006 and made it a residential Living-Learning Community in 2006-2007. Earthsmart along with the Liberal Arts Living-Learning Community, also piloted in 2006-2007, were continued this year, 2007-2008. Students in the LLCs take two core courses together along with UNIV 1050 in the Liberal Arts LLC under the leadership of Dr. Tony Carey and Dr. David Carter from History, and take a UNIV 1100 Special Topics. Earthsmart students in the Engineering/COSAM LLC, with Drs. Roberts and Buschle-Diller also participate in a UNIV 1100 Special Topics course.