Creating Sustainable Learning Communities: Continuous Innovation in a Learning Community
as a Key to Success
11-11:50 a.m.
Location: Warhol A
Type: Facilitated dialogue
Audience: Linked Courses, Coordinated Studies
Presenters: John Garcia and Julie Ellefson-Kuehn, Harper College
Five years ago Harper College Professors Julie Ellefson and John Garcia accompanied
students in the Honors Program on a Study Abroad trip to a Sustainability Education
Center in Costa Rica. While on the trip, they began to see potential for a Learning
Community connecting Ethics to Chemistry, with a focus on sustainability. The course,
"Living Sustainable Lives," has provided students an opportunity to see not only how
Philosophy and Science connect, but also to connect course content to their everyday
lives. But, it has also provided the instructors something unexpected - the chance
to feel "sustained" in our teaching by continually finding ourselves forced, by each
other, and by our students, outside of our comfort zone. This session will focus on
how to approach the teaching of a Learning Community with an eye toward continual
evolution as a way to remain energized about a course. The target audience is anyone
interested in the teaching of Learning Communities, with a focus on students and faculty.
