Building Community

Learning communities are now an integral part of campus life at colleges and universities. They help to create smooth transitions for first-year students, positively influencing intellectual and social development and leading to greater satisfaction with the undergraduate experience. The essays collected here bring into focus the challenges, lessons, and practices that emerge from this effort. The first section of the book examines the history of the learning community movement and strategies for assessing the effectiveness of programs. The second shows learning communities in operation from a variety of perspectives.