Immersing students in education
Some students may find themselves coming across a certain topic that they become utterly engulfed in. A topic that they wish they could know more about. Students try to understand every single aspect of these topics, but unfortunately it takes a great deal of time, time students don’t have after all the work they do for classes.
Starting in the Spring 2010 semester, the University will give students the opportunity to partake in an in-depth study combining politics, history, and literature. These Advanced Learning Communities are composed of Ireland: History and Politics; Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Creation of Regional Identities; American Vistas: Early American History and Literature; and Studies in American Life.
Years ago the University had a cluster program, which was a group of courses, part of the General Education Requirements, but at upper levels. The University has given the concept a facelift and is attempting to revitalize it in the form of these Advanced Learning Communities.
The concept is similar to the new block scheduling system for freshman, by having the same students take a few of the same courses together, there are hopes of a small community to form amongst these students.
“Learning Communities are being done in a lot of different schools and we want them available for students at upper levels, not just freshman,” said Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education Charlotte Mandel.
Unfortunately, the Advanced Learning Communities are currently facing a problem similar to what the cluster program had faced, low enrollment. Not too much time has elapsed since the beginning of registration for the spring semester, but the enrollment for the course would preferably be higher.
“Taking two related courses at the same time gives the student an opportunity to really delve deep into the subject,” said Director of Academic Programs for the Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Francis Talty.
Director Talty will be teaching Irish Politics as part of the Ireland: History and Politics Advanced Learning Community. “Students interested in Ireland will have an opportunity to see how its history has shaped its politics. Few places in the world have experienced the inextricable connection between history and politics that has developed in Ireland,” said Director Talty.
Vice Provost Mandel refers to the Advanced Learning Communities as “mini-minors.” The communities provide students with the opportunity to learn a subject in depth, but unlike most minors, the Advanced Learning Communities are all interdisciplinary and so provide students with a multi-faceted education.
There are hopes that students will take advantage of the opportunity they are receiving to learn so much about specific subjects. If the Advanced Learning Communities program emerges successful, there are hopes to expand it. An example is to take a criminal justice course and have it be accompanied by a computer science course to create a Cyber-crime learning community.
For those expansions to occur, however, students and faculty alike cannot allow the program to end in the same manner as the past cluster program.
The Advanced Learning Communities provide students with a unique opportunity to study a topic in depth and have a distinctive understanding of the subject. Vice Provost Mandel says that through this manner “students will learn more than just the sum of the parts.”
People know it is easy to break a single stick; it is a pretty weak stick. However, people notice that it is more difficult to break ten sticks at once. It is even harder to try and break twenty sticks at once. As the number of sticks grows, so does the strength. When students learn about a subject from a variety of perspectives, it is like gathering sticks; the more facts they know, the stronger their knowledge of a topic is.
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