Learning in a Community: Evidence of the Effectiveness and Challenges of Learning Communities

Abstract

Research on pedagogy has established the benefit of High Impact Practices (HIP) for student outcomes. Learning communities are a specific HIP that can vary widely in their structure. Learning communities appear to have a positive impact on academic outcomes and student perceptions. While research appears to support the use of learning communities, research has yet to fully explore the impact of the learning community on specific student skills. Given the increased popularity in their use, particularly in the field of criminal justice, the purpose of this study is to examine the effect of a linked-course freshman learning community (FLC) on student engagement and transferrable academic skills, including information literacy, critical thinking, and written communication. Differences were found between the FLC students and their non-FLC counterparts for some of the transferrable academic skills, but not overall engagement with the courses and campus. Implications for findings are discussed.

Keywords:

• High impact practices
• learning communities
• criminal justice pedagogy
• critical thinking skills
• higher education

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Margaret Pate

Margaret Pate is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Radford University. She earned her PhD in Criminology, Law & Society from the University of Florida. Her main research interests include studying the effects of active learning pedagogies, as well as issues that face undergraduate students, such as substance use.

Shelly M. Wagers

Shelly M. Wagers is an assistant professor of criminology at University South Florida St. Petersburg. Her research focuses on the empirical testing of domestic violence (DV) theories, with an emphasis on evaluating DV policies and batterer intervention programs. In addition, she researchers the effectiveness of high impact pedagogical practices for criminal justice students.

Stephen Owen

Stephen Owen is a professor of criminal justice at Radford University (Radford, Virginia). Dr. Owen holds a B.S. in criminal justice from Southeast Missouri State University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. Dr. Owen is a recipient of the Radford University Distinguished Creative Scholar Award and has authored numerous articles on the subjects of institutional corrections, criminal justice pedagogy, interpersonal violence, and law enforcement policy issues; he is also a co-author of the introductory text, Foundations of Criminal Justice.

Courtney Simpkins

Courtney Simpkins is an adjunct instructor at Radford University in the Department of English. Courtney received her M.A. in English from Radford University with a concentration in British literature and her B.A. in English from Longwood University with a concentration in Creative Writing. She has interests in 18th and 19th century British and Irish women’s literature, composition, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies.