A learning community is a group of people who share common academic goals and attitudes and meet on a regular or semi-regular basis to collaborate on their coursework. Such communities have become a template for a cohort-based, interdisciplinary approach to higher education, often grounded in deliberate pedagogical design. Drawing on the community psychologists David McMillan and David Chavis, who identified membership, influence, the fulfillment of individual needs, and shared events and emotional connections as the four key factors of a sense of community, a learning community depends on participants feeling a sense of belonging that sustains their engagement, having genuine influence on what happens within the group, having their own needs met through participation, and sharing experiences and emotional ties with fellow members. Learning communities are now common at colleges and universities in the United States and are also found in Europe.
Facts
Core ClaimA learning community's sustained engagement depends on members experiencing a genuine sense of community: felt membership and belonging, real influence over what the group does, needs met through participation, and shared emotional experience with fellow members, the four factors McMillan and Chavis identified as defining a sense of community. 1 Classification
Education LevelBachelor or Equivalent (ISCED 6) 1 FAQs
What keeps people engaged in a learning community?
Belonging and real influence over what the group does keep members engaged.
The community psychologists McMillan and Chavis, writing in 1986, named four key factors that define a sense of community: membership, influence, fulfilment of individual needs, and shared events and emotional connections. Applied to a learning community, participants need to feel loyalty and belonging to the group, which drives their desire to keep working and helping others. What they do must affect what happens in the community, so their part is active rather than only reactive. The community must also let them meet particular needs, for example by expressing opinions, asking for help or information, and sharing stories of events with emotional connections.
Sources
1. Learning community (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia- lead section, sense-of-community factors
body text citing McMillan and Chavis
McMillan, David W.; Chavis, David M. (January 1986). "Sense of community: A definition and theory". Journal of Community Psychology. 14 (1): 6-23.
Lead paragraph, education-level
A learning community is a group of people who share common academic goals and attitudes and meet semi-regularly to collaborate on classwork.
Article text
Such communities have become the template for a cohort-based, interdisciplinary approach to higher education.
In Group: Learning Communities and Networks, Lead
A learning community is a group of people who share common academic goals and attitudes and meet semi-regularly to collaborate on classwork.
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