My Personal View On Learning Community

Introduction


One of the problem usually encountered by teachers in their students is how they can help their students to communicate in class discussions or lessons. But with the help of groupings students may understand each other and be able to communicate more effectively.
Groupings aims to provide opportunities for the students to become more active in engaging their selves in learning. Grouping can enhance cooperation by contributing their own ideas. It can also develop the self confidence of students to speak out their own thoughts and opinions. I t can also enhance the social skills by communicating and sharing in groups or in class that encourage them to express their own ideas,thoughts or opinions with out any hesitations.

History of Learning Community


Wolff-Micheal Roth and Lee Yew Jin(2006) the concept of of Learning community is engaging the students to share their ways of doing mathematics, history, science and English with each other. In other words the students take part in constructing consensual domains and also participate in the negotiation and institutionalization. In effect they are now participating in learning communities. Learning communities began to become popular at the united states of the American colleges and universities during the late 80's up to 90's. The Washington Centers National Learning Common Directory has already 250 learning communities initiatives in colleges and universities throughout the nation.

What is learning community?


What is learning community? What an interesting question to ask but a difficult one to answer. Many people already define what is the meaning of the learning community. But of their ideas are just the same. Learning community for hem is a group of people who shares the same beliefs , same values and same interest which are actively engaged in learning from each other.
According to the community psychologist Mcmillan and Chavis (1986) there are four key factors that defines the sense of community namely: membership, influence, fulfillment of the individual needs and the shared events and emotional connection. The first factor which is the membership helps the students feels the sense of being loyal to a group. The second factor which is influence means influencing the students to keep on studying,working,sharing and helping others.
The third is the fulfillment of individual needs which means to allow the students to express their own thoughts ideas, thoughts or opinions and also to gain ideas, thoughts and opinions from other students. And the last factors which is the sharing of events and emotional connections means allowing students to share stories and events and experiences with other students.
Barbara Leigh Smith(1993) learning community restructures the curriculum, time and the space of the students. There's a lot of curricular restructuring in the learning community that are being used. But all of it have the same aims which is to provide greater curricular coherence, more opportunities for the students to be active in a group or in team and stronger and often interaction between teachers and students.



Why have learning Community?

The learning community have been show to increase the students academic achievements, increase the students involvements and motivations in everything they do. They are more determine and focus. It enhances students intellectual development.
Palmer(2000)students that are involve in the learning community become more intellectually mature and more responsible for their own learning and the learning communities also help to develop their capacity to care about the learning of their peers. The faculty members that are involve in the learning community are expanding their repertoire of teaching approaches, continually revising their course content or their course syllabus in order for their students to learn more things and to improve or to develop them to more active in grouping activities and also to have a stronger and often interactions. Learning community faculty members also building a mentoring relationship with each other.
Institution uses learning community as sites of testing out new curricular approaches and strategies for it to be more effective in teaching and as well as learning. Learning community program offers more opportunities for effective teaching of literacy such as reading,writing and speaking. It also engaging students to be more discipline and coordinated in studying there lessons. Learning community helps students to socialize with other people and gain more information.
Learning communities are led by collaborative leadership teams namely: faculty members, vice president for the students affairs and staff, academic advisers, admission and orientation staff members, registrars office, individuals who have develop the institution course catalog and those who have schedule classroom space, senior academic leaders, individual involved with the assessment, residence life staff, librarians, computer technology specialist, students, representatives of institutions teaching and learning or the faculty development center.
In learning community class you can expect to experience a conducive and collaborative learning environment. You can also expect active learning that connects you to the real world. Learning community class gives you the best of all the best. And most of all learning community gives you opportunities to learn , collaborate, and socialize with other students and faculty members even if it is during class hours.

Benefits in Learning community

Students and faculty members benefits a lot in involving their selves in the learning community. And examples to this are; Students and caring faculty can experience connected classes that meets their needs. Caring faculty are more dedicated to students success. Students and teachers have their chances to enjoy and bond anytime. There's more dynamic interaction in classes. Caring faculty and staff members supports and encourage their students to pursue their dreams in life. Teachers and their students may build friendly relationship. Students and teachers ar4e more competitive and have lot of opportunities in field trips and other activities.





Conclusion


learning community has a powerful effect on us and has a big role in our life. Learning community is molding us into a competitive and a better person. It encourage us to have self confidence in ourselves that we should not let shyness put us down or stop us from sharing our own thoughts, ideas, and opinions with others. It help us to socialize with others without any hesitations. It help us fit our selves and made us feel that we belong. It provides us things that help us a lot. Learning community didn't made us illiterate but a person that is full of information. Learning community provide us things that we need. It encourage us to be more determine and focus. And most of all it help us to be mature intellectually and emotionally and be responsible to pursue our dreams and goals in our lives.












References:


*Roth, W-M. and Lee, Y-J. (2006) Contradictions in theorising and implementing communities in education. Educational Research Review, 1, (1), pp27-40.

*Smith, B. L. (1993). Creating Learning Communities. Liberal Education, 79(4), 32-39.

*Learning communities: Reweaving the Culture of Disconnection, by Parker J. Palmer, Washington Center News.
Excerpts from a keynote address by Parker J. Palmer. " I believe that we educators hold in our hands the power to form, or deform, students� souls, their sense of self and their relation to the world. "

*Goodyear, P., De Laat, M., and Lally, V. (2006) Using Pattern Languages to Mediate Theory-Praxis Conversations in Designs for Networked Learning. ALT-J, Research in Learning Technology, 14,(3), pp211-223.

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