Breakout Sessions

Thursday

9 a.m.

If These Walls Could Talk ...

9-9:50 a.m.

Location: Warhol B

Type: Interactive

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: Christopher Reider and John Dean, Chandler-Gilbert Community College

In our Storytelling / education course and English 101 LC, students were required to write a story from the perspective of an inanimate object. It was developed as an opportunity to get a sense of our students' varied experiences and diverse backgrounds. The project evolved by collaborating on a rubric with a creative writing faculty colleague. We expected comedic sincerity, but we were pleasantly surprised to see how the project was embraced so enthusiastically; students shared their traumas, revealed their embraced identities, and critiqued society. What we discovered was a roadmap for a project that we are excited to share with session participants. This project can be adapted for any discipline. It can evoke innovation, encourage meaningful research, expand empathy, and challenge your students to use their authentic voices. Session participants will develop their own version of the project, perfect for anyone team teaching or planning integrative assignments.

Moving from "I" to "We": One Campus' Learning Community Adventure

9-9:50 a.m.

Location: Cassatt B

Type: Informative/panel

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: Kathleen Klompien, Susan Lefevre, and Emily Spitler-Lawson, California State University Channel Islands

What happens when a university president makes a mandate that impacts everyone who teaches first year students? For some faculty this change played to their strengths and areas of interest. For others, the change dismantled a much-loved home. And what is the program director to do? Last year, at CSU Channel Islands, the president mandated that all first-year students enroll in a first-year learning community. At the same time, he and the provost determined that the existing first year seminar be eliminated. This interactive session will explore how each of us responded to the LC mandate on our campus. The perspectives included here are from: a long-term LC faculty member/faculty co-lead, a faculty member who was able to propose a community of her choice, her partner in the new community, and the faculty director of the program.

20 Years of University College: An LLC Case Study

9-9:50 a.m.

Location: Pollock B

Type: Informative/Panel

Audience: Living Learning Communities

Presenters: Krysten Novencido, American University

University College is a first-year Living-Learning Community available for students at American University. Boasting a nearly 20-year legacy as a singular Living-Learning Community, this session takes an overall retrospective view on University College's inception, year-to-year adaptation and today's practices. By delving into the program's rich history, we aim to set the stage to explore about three factors: 

Faculty Impression: What brings faculty to LLCs-and keeps them engaged?  
Student Impression: What lasting impression does an LLC leave on students?  
University Impression: What is the impact of LLCs on a university-wide level?

By addressing these varied audiences, we can celebrate and reflect on the program's successes but also identify opportunities for improvement. This session's reflection will provide contextual knowledge for those new or familiar with the creation of a Living-Learning Community.

Is There a Crisis in Learning Communities at the Community College?

9-9:50 a.m.

Location: Warhol A

Type: Interactive / Facilitated dialogue

Audience: Linked Courses, Coordinated Studies

Presenters: Robert Soza, David Finley, Dawn McKinley, Kate Midday, and James Allen, Chandler-Gilbert Community College, Harper College, McHenry County College, College of DuPage

This panel proposal stems from a series of discussions about the state of transition and/or decline that we have observed in our Learning Community programs. At the community college, unlike our colleagues at residential colleges and universities, students are highly transitory, are often hyper-focused on career goals, or completely scatter-brained about their academic pathways. Also, our advising teams are often over-extended and under-resourced. We cannot readily capture a cohort of students and steer them into LCs.

Maybe most alarming, we are observing a decline in interest in the once very popular LCs that centered Humanities and Social Science courses coupled with General Education/Transfer requirements. This decline exists alongside irregular enrollment patterns in LCs with a STEM focus.

Needless to say, we spend a lot of time pouring over data, hand ringing, and wondering aloud if LCs have run their course? Are these pedagogical models for a student experience that is no longer a norm at the community college? Has the economics of higher education and the accompanying change in student focus and behavior eclipsed the well-documented benefits of LCs?

While we are ""true believers"" in the LC model and its educational benefits, we are also sometimes at a loss on how to ensure not just the mere survival of these programs, but their thriving (as both intellectual experiences for students and sustainable economic models for our institutions). It is our hope that this panel will serve as a gathering of those with the same questions and experiences, and this gathering will produce a critically generative discussions that begins to articulate a vital foundation for the future of LCs at the community college.

Creating, Maintaining, and Sustaining Living-Learning Communities

9-9:50 a.m.

Location: Pollock A

Type: Informative/panel Interactive

Audience: Living Learning Communities

Presenters: Jody Jessup-Anger and Karen Inkelas, Marquette University, Univeristy of Virginia

During this session, authors of the book, Living-Learning Communities in Practice: A Guide for Creating, Maintaining, and Sustaining Effective Programs in Higher Education will present a practitioner-guided revision their 2018 Best Practices Model - advancing the original research-based model based on practitioner feedback of the model in practice. In addition, drawing on interviews with LLC practitioners throughout the country, the presenters will engage participants in a discussion about examples of the model in practice, share typologies developed for each element of the model, and a discuss the use of logic models for assessment.

10 a.m.

Listening and responding to the campus community: How feedback informs improvement in LCs

10-10:50 a.m.

Location: Warhol B

Type: Informative/panel Interactive

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: Nathan Phelps, Kari Fernholz, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The First-Year Interest Groups (FIGs) program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed a process that elevates the voices of students and advisors with the goal of using this feedback to drive continuous improvement in the program. This session will provide examples of strategies and survey instruments developed to solicit feedback and how these have resulted in specific changes in the types of FIGs offered, the courses they include, how they are marketed, and how the advising and enrollment processes work. Program administrators will facilitate discussion among session participants about how these processes-and others-- might be usefully applied in other institutional contexts. Participants will be encouraged to share their own ideas and challenges related to data-driven improvement efforts on their campuses.

Utilizing Flex Technologies and Digital Resources to Strengthen our Classroom Community

10-10:50 a.m.

Location: Cassatt B

Type: Informative/panel

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: Stephanie Whalen, Janet Woods, Jennifer Lau-Bond, Harper College

During the rapid online transition brought about by the pandemic, students and faculty struggled to stay connected in fully online, asynchronous experiences. Campuses are now open, but we still continue to offer more online, asynch courses than before to accommodate busy schedules and balance multiple needs. Hy-Flex learning communities offer students a way to return to the classroom community in a format that still allows them to attend via live stream or catch up on missed courses asynchronously if needed with the support of a cohort of students, two faculty to provide academic coaching, embedded college support services, and an integrated learning experience. Join us for an overview of a First Year Seminar and English 101 Learning Community in which the faculty ask students to take ownership for their choices to help increase their awareness of the many ways they can engage and form connections.

Living Learning Communities at an Urban Hispanic-Serving Institution: Opportunities and challenges

10-10:50 a.m.

Location: Pollock B

Type: Informative/panel Facilitated dialogue

Audience: Living Learning Communities

Presenters: Pam Geddes, Veronica Rodriguez, Northeastern Illinois University

Living Learning communities (LLCs) have been touted as a high-impact practice and there are plenty of data that support such claim. However, the majority of LLCs that have contributed to the data are from traditional institutions that cater to a primarily white student body. In this proposed session, we will present information on a relatively new LLC program at an urban Hispanic-Serving Institution where the majority of our student body comes from underrepresented and marginalized populations (37% Latinx, 11% African American, 9% Asian), are first-generation college attendees, and are Pell Grant recipients. We will highlight how our LLC program explicitly embeds strategies to remove equity barriers that affect our student population and the opportunities and challenges that come with this work.

The Chicago Novel as Historical Artifact: Teaching LC Students the History of Our City through its Great Literature

10-10:50 a.m.

Location: Warhol A

Type: Informative/panel

Audience: Linked Courses, Coordinated Studies

Presenters: Timothy Henningsen, Sam Mitrani, College of DuPage

The history and growth of Chicago is reflected in the communities and neighborhoods that make up the city, and the rich literature made throughout Chicago's tenure also captures this dynamism. This session will provide an overview of an Honors Learning Communities Seminar taught at the College of DuPage by Professor of History V. Sam Mitrani, and Professor of English Timothy Henningsen. Two courses, taught in a singular modality, highlight the city's proud, though troubled, history. Called "The Literary History of Chicago," the course asks students to read a wide array of novels written in Chicago, about Chicago, by Chicago writers. Professors Mitrani and Henningsen will describe their course, their multidisciplinary approach, and the benefits to a community of students who are taught to discern history through reading fiction.

Building Support: Training Residential Life Staff on How to Promote Academic Success in the Residential Halls

10-10:50 a.m.

Location: Pollock A

Type: Informative/panel Interactive

Audience: Living Learning Communities, Residential Colleges

Presenters: Shayla Schumacher, Louisiana State University

LSU Residential Life staff wear many hats. One of those hats is student/academic success. In the session, we will discuss how we have incorporated academic success procedures into the Residence Coordinator role. This includes the training sessions we provide for our professional staff and resident assistants both during summer training and throughout the academic year. There are also training sessions on academic programming, working with partners across campus, and working with our two Faculty in Residence.

11 a.m.

CGCC's Linked LCs: A 14-Year Longitudinal Study

11-11:50 a.m.

Location: Warhol B

Type: Informative/panel Facilitated dialogue

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: David Finley, Chandler-Gilbert Community College

This session will continue to examine annual student success and student retention data from the last 14 years of Chandler-Gilbert Community College's long-standing 25+ year Learning Communities Program. The focus will include all CGCC LCs with a primary focus on linked LCs, which usually combines two courses: an ENG 101 First-Year Composition course with a second course from either the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, or sciences. This presentation will show the consistency of LC student success and retention compared to the same non-LC courses from 2010-2023, including our largest cohort of ENG 101 LCs, as well as the consistency across three different set of teaching partners for two separate LCs pairing GBS 151 Intro. to General Business and PSY 101 Intro. to Psychology with English.

The session will also show the increased student success and retention for those ENG 101 LC students in the subsequent ENG 102 course compared to students who completed their prerequisite in a non-LC ENG 101 course over the same 14-year period.

Building Equity-Focused Communities: Innovative Campus Designs for Uplifting Black and Brown Students

11-11:50 a.m.

Location: Cassatt B

Type: Informative/panel Facilitated dialogue

Audience: Linked Courses, Coordinated Studies, Living Learning Communities, Residential Colleges

Presenters: Aracelis Marie Sanchez-Guerrero, Dominican University

This session addresses the unique challenges faced by Black and Brown students in higher education and how innovative designs can create access, close equity gaps, and uplift students authentic selves. This session will highlight Dominican University’s Chicago Campus project, which exemplifies the power of a living, learning community integrated within the students' actual community. Learning communities, as defined by the National Learning Communities Association (NLCA), intentionally integrate curriculum and co-curriculum, emphasizing community-building among faculty, staff, and students. The Chicago Campus model includes innovative designs such as utilizing the city of Chicago as a campus, living and learning in the communities students came from, leveraging strategic corporate and community partnerships for support, and providing wrap-around support services addressing social determinants of health. Participants will engage in activities and access resources to consider the needs of Black and Brown students through a trauma informed lens, and be challenged to think through the ways they can build holistic equity-focused systems in their own work.

Wowsers!!! Experiences (Both Good and Bad) with a Learning Community between a 100-level Introduction to Business Class and 200-level Computers in Business Class

11-11:50 a.m.

Location: Pollock B

Type: Informative/panel Facilitated dialogue

Audience: Linked Courses, Coordinated Studies

Presenters: Kenneth Harris and Ranida Harris, Indiana University Southeast

This session will provide experiences and outcomes, both positive (the large majority) and negative, of a recent learning community between a 100-level Introduction to Business class and a 200-level Computers in Business class. This learning community took place at Indiana University Southeast (IUS) and started with 39 students (huge by IUS standards) who took the two classes back-to-back. There were challenges experiences with one class being more discussion based and the other being more technical as well as some issues with one being a 100-level class and the other being a 200-level class. Overall, the experience was highly positive for the instructors, students as evidenced by both formal feedback and attitudinal outcomes that were assessed, and the university - as students in the learning community had a high persistence and re-enrollment rate. Ideas for enhancement and expanding to other disciplines and institutions will be discussed.

Building a Sense of Belonging in Living Learning Communities

11-11:50 a.m.

Location: Warhol A

Type: Informative/panel Facilitated dialogue

Audience: Living Learning Communities

Presenters: Garrett Tur, DeAnna Katey, Melissa Foreman, Pam Geddes, Ball State University

Through a panel with representatives from four universities in different geographic areas with distinct student bodies, we will provide our perspectives on how we build and cultivate a sense of belonging in the Living Learning Communities programs at our respective institutions. Although several similarities exist among our approaches, many differences make each institution unique. Looking closer at the strategies and methods we use to build that sense of belonging will allow us to share what works well and the challenges we face when implementing this work. In attending this session, attendees will gain a high-level understanding of how the institutional contexts of our practices led to the sense of belonging strategies we utilize-scaling practices through conversations and dialogue with different institutional contexts and partners.

Engaging Students and Alumni Through Executives in Residence

11-11:50 a.m.

Location: Pollock A

Type: Informative/panel

Audience: Living Learning Communities, Residential Colleges

Presenters: Bryan Austin, Michael Witt, Purdue University

Over the course of 10 years, Residential Academic Initiatives at Purdue University has invited 57 prominent alumni to return to live on campus and engage in meaningful interactions with students as a part of its Executive in Residence program. In this session, the director of the program and a faculty member will share their experiences in launching and growing the program, identifying and recruiting alumni to participate, structuring their visits to maximize their impact on students, and collaborating with learning community faculty to integrate the alumni into teaching that results in purposeful and immersive learning opportunities for students. Specific examples will be shared with lessons that were learned and best practices that were developed.

1:45 p.m.

Scaffolding Experiential Learning Activities to Maximize Student Development in a Learning Community

1:45-2:35 p.m.

Location: Warhol B

Type: Interactive

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: Chris Schnick, Dr. Paul Pretequin, Chandler-Gilbert Community College

Combining first-year composition and United States history, we created a learning community that pursued U.S. social justice. We began with identity exploration through art enabling students to express cultural experiences. After researching local poverty, students participated in a service learning project to explore and reflect on their community. We built on empathizing with others, through several role-playing activities. Then small groups of students chose a social concern, developed and implemented some action to address a part of the issue, and shared their learning with their peers. As we recount students' stories of their progression through in and out-of-class activities and engage you in a brief simulation, we will work with you to sketch the bare bones of how you might intentionally scaffold experiential learning and role playing activities to help students increase their understanding of themselves, their communities, and how actions can step towards solutions.

The Rise and Fall of the First-Year Learning Communities Program

1:45-2:35 p.m.

Location: Cassatt B

Type: Informative/panel

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: Carlos Huerta, Rita Sperry, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) launched the First-Year Learning Communities Program (FYLCP) in fall 1994 to welcome the inaugural class of first-year students. The program was an initiative to enroll all full-time first-year students in learning communities (LCs). The FYLCP evolved into a nationally recognized program with leadership and faculty emerging as LC national leaders. Members of FYLCP leadership were active with the NLCC and instrumental in the formation of the National Learning Communities Association. The FYLCP appeared to be fully institutionalized on campus and in the national LC landscape. However, in February 2024, the TAMU-CC president sent a campus-wide memo announcing that the linked classes of the FYLCP were ending in fall 2024 and a new college-based program would replace it. This presentation will tell the story of the rise and fall of the FYLCP and offer insight into warning signs of administrative betrayal.

Clubs, Workshops, and Make-a-thons (Oh My!): Two LLC Models for CoCurricular Engagement in Creative Communities

1:45-2:35 p.m.

Location: Pollock B

Type: Informative/panel Interactive

Audience: Living Learning Communities

Presenters: Scott Beal, Rachel Oti, Lindsay Fedewa, University of Michigan -- Ann Arbor

How do we create meaningful traditions of engagement for students beyond the classroom that stay relevant to their current interests? Two University of Michigan Learning Communities -- Living ArtsEngine and Lloyd Scholars for Writing and the Arts -- explain how they center both student voices and the greater values of their communities through their respective models of creative, interdisciplinary extracurricular programming. Participate in an imaginative activity that is exemplary of what these programs often look like, and leave with ideas of how to adapt our models to the needs of your own learning communities.

Why we like teaching in learning communities OR how to recruit your colleagues to LCs.

1:45-2:35 p.m.

Location: Warhol A

Type: Interactive

Audience: Linked Studies, Coordinated Studies

Presenters: Shawn Browers, Jeffrey Thomas, Queens University of Charlotte

Learning communities are a high impact practice with positive impacts on student learning. However, administratively, launching new LCs can present challenges in getting faculty buy-in. This session will guide participants through creative, narrative writing exercises to encourage participants to reflect on the joys, personal benefits, and professional growth that are often by-products of teaching in LCs. Guided prompts will also facilitate group discussions to share common themes and insights. By the end of this session, participants will have concrete examples of the perceived benefits of teaching in learning communities for faculty. For administrators, this session will provide new ways to consider personal benefits to the faculty as means of incentive and recruitment. For faculty, we hope this session will offer a way to think about teaching in LCs to explore new passions, find new collaborators, or deepen existing areas of interest.

Using Student Assessment to Maximize Our Impact

1:45-2:35 p.m.

Location: Pollock A

Type: Informative/panel Interactive

Audience: Living Learning Communities, Residential Colleges

Presenters: Shayla Schumacher, Louisiana State University

Student assessment. We all do it, but what matters is how we use it. In this session, we will discuss how LSU Res Ed utilizes student surveys and other assessment pieces to inform and implement academic initiatives both within and outside the Residential Colleges. We will provide concrete examples including implementing designated study spaces, focusing our midterm outreach efforts, and catering to each Res Colleges’ needs. We will discuss what assessments we do, why we do it, and what we have changed/learned from them, as well as our future direction of student assessment.

2:45 p.m.

Using Student Assessment to Maximize Our Impact

2:45-3:35 p.m.

Location: Warhol B

Type: Interactive

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: Jeffrey Thomas, Sarah Fatherly, Queens University of Charlotte

Teaching in linked-course learning communities is often a new experience for faculty and LC programs understandably typically focus professional development efforts on supporting these new colleagues. But for a strong program to thrive, it is important to offer support for returning faculty who face different challenges than first-time instructors and have the opportunity to deepen and enrich the LC experience for faculty and students alike.

In this interactive session, we will create space to explore what it means to design continuous professional development relevant for different stages of LC faculty experience. Participants will identify challenges more experienced faculty face and discuss examples of resources that can be useful with this audience. Together we will explore strategies for creating development activities that foster communities of continuous improvement. Participants will be able to walk away with concrete ideas for framing and delivering activities that can support LC faculty on their campuses.

A story slam retrospective: 30 years of summer institutes at the Washington Center

2:45-3:35 p.m.

Location: Cassatt B

Type: Interactive Facilitated dialogue

Audience: Linked Courses, Coordinated Studies, Living Learning Communities, Residential Colleges

Presenters: Julia Metzker, Washington Center for Improving Undergraduate Education

Many a learning community program has been launched or refined as the result of intensive action planning at the Washington Center summer institute. In this session, we want to collect stories from your engagement with the summer institute as we prepare to mark the 40th year of the Washington Center. If you served as resource faculty, convened a team, or were on a team, come reminisce with us - and possibly commiserate about dorm life. Washington Center staff will lead you through structured story building exercises to celebrate and preserve the collective experience and insights of our community.

Working Across Campus Silos to Support Student Engagement in LLCs

2:45-3:35 p.m.

Location: Pollock B

Type: Interactive

Audience: Living Learning Communities

Presenters: Ashlee Toomey-Flinn, Kimberly Blaise, Georgia Institute of Technology

Getting students engaged in programming is a challenge and it can be difficult to work across siloes in schools, departments, and across campus. Please join us for a session discussing how two different living learning communities at Georgia Tech use data, marketing strategies, and communication to engage Housing and Residence Life, other LLCs, and campus partners to support student programming and engagement.

Sharing Voices Beyond "Borders"

2:45-3:35 p.m.

Location: Warhol A

Type: Informative/panel Facilitated dialogue

Audience: Linked Courses, Coordinated Studies

Presenters: John Garcia, Rebecca Scott, Rich Johnson, Kim Jaeger, Meg King, and Karen Dailey, Harper College

One benefit of Learning Communities is that they break students (and faculty) free from the "silos" of thinking in terms of specific courses or departments. Yet it is more common, at least at our institution, for faculty within the same division to come together to create a Learning Community. In this panel discussion, a group of faculty from Harper College will talk about ways they have worked to go beyond the "academic division boundary" and developed courses that either connect classes in the Humanities to Match and Science courses or connect students at Harper to students around the world.

Come hear about how faculty have connected English to Chemistry, Philosophy to Statistics, and Harper College students to the global community!

Experiences and Outcomes Associated With Students Who SelfSelect into Living-Learning Communities at a R3 University

2:45-3:35 p.m.

Location: Pollock A

Type: Informative/panel

Audience: Living Learning Communities, Residential Colleges

Presenters: Linda Jena, Texas A&M University-Commerce

This will be an informative session where research findings from a concurrent mixed methods study exploring the experiences and outcomes of students who self-select into the various living-learning communities (LLCs) at a Carnegie-classified R3 university are presented. An LLC survey was administered to 220 participants over 21 weeks, where both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to assess the impact of LLC participation. The data analysis revealed a positive influence on student experiences and outcomes, thereby confirming the study's hypotheses. Additionally, thematic analysis of open-ended responses revealed key themes such as belonging and community, revealing the benefits of LLC participation even among students who self-select into these communities.

3:45 p.m.

Stacking High Impact Practices to create community through a Wellness Showcase featuring Wellness-themed English Learning Communities

3:45-4:35 p.m.

Location: Warhol B

Type: Informative/panel Interactive

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: Renée Rude, Colleen Wilkowski and Anna Loseke, Chandler-Gilbert Community College

This interactive session will explore how to empower students to share their research of Blue Zones, positive psychology, and sustainability practices in a Wellness Showcase. Presenters will share high impact practices, student artifacts, and how students prepared and presented their learning to the college and surrounding community, strengthening their personal and academic journeys in the process. We will invite participants to engage with wellness practices that they can take back to their own classrooms.

B is for Belonging: Building & Bonding Activities

3:45-4:35 p.m.

Location: Cassatt B

Type: Interactive

Audience: Linked Courses, Coordinated Studies, Living Learning Communities, Residential Colleges

Presenters: Rosena Beniste, Broward College

Join us for an interactive session led by experienced and paired Learning Community faculty from Broward College, Florida, who also serve as coordinators of the learning community program. Through engaging activities including icebreakers, competitive group games, and exploration assignments, you'll grasp the importance of belonging, share experiences with peers, and explore methods to promote inclusivity. You will also gain valuable insights into best practices for enriching your learning community framework by integrating resources that support student engagement and empowerment. Come discover practical strategies to cultivate a culture of belonging where every student feels valued and connected, both academically and personally.

Where the Magic Happens: A Student-centered Approach to Community Building in Faculty-led Interdisciplinary & Affinity Living/Learning Communities

3:45-4:35 p.m.

Location: Pollock B

Type: Informative/panel

Audience: Living Learning Communities

Presenters: Melissa Foreman, Chinenye Anyanwu, Jaci Van Heest, and Sara Dahlen, University of Connecticut

Chinenye Anyanwu, founding Faculty Director of UConn's newest Living/Learning Community, BSOUL (Black Sisters Optimizing Unity & Leadership) House, flipped her approach to implementing community building activities based on stories shared in a faculty director meeting by Jaci Van Heest, Faculty Director of Public Health House. This spring, student leaders were assigned a month to lead community building activities. The approach resulted in events students wanted and increased engagement and attendance. Student-led activities included a Black Student Organization Involvement Fair and a Health Innovation Hackathon. During this session led by students, faculty, and staff, participants will learn strategies to develop student leaders as a vehicle to ensure activities are relevant and have peer buy-in, which is where the magic happens in LC experiences. When directors craft scaffolded community and leadership development, students will dare to take risks, knowing that whether they fail or succeed, they have their community to lean on.

Assessing Learning Networks: Using Network-based Methods to Conceptualize, Measure, and Tell the Story of Your Community

3:45-4:35 p.m.

Location: Warhol A

Type: Informative/panel Interactive

Audience: Linked Courses, Coordinated Studies, Living Learning Communities, Residential Colleges

Presenters: Rachel Smith, Iowa State University

"Community" can be conceptualized as patterns of relationships, or networks, that shape students' meaning-making. Focusing on what drives students' relationship network formation and the educational outcomes such networks are associated with allows us to more intentionally shape environments to facilitate learning. However, most learning community assessment measures focus on individual behaviors, experiences, and outcomes. This session will draw on examples of social network analysis (SNA) based assessments of learning communities for students exploring majors to help you examine the relational mechanisms you use to form community, practice network-based assessment methods, and apply findings from network-based assessment to strengthen your learning community's subsequent development. Participants will gain a basic understanding of SNA, develop a network assessment activity for use with their LC students, and depart with a toolkit for further network-based assessment applications.

Wading The Waters of Parallel Partnerships between Faculty and Residential Life Staff

3:45-4:35 p.m.

Location: Pollock A

Type: Informative/panel

Audience: Living Learning Communities, Residential Colleges

Presenters: Shayla Schumacher, Louisiana State University

Collaborating between Academic and Student Affairs can be challenging, especially when it comes to managing budgets and programming. Come learn about how Res Life at LSU facilitates collaboration between the Res Life staff and Res College faculty. Find out what steps we have implemented to close gaps in knowledge and strengthen the services we provide for our on-campus students.

Friday

10 a.m.

Information Literacy Skills as Community Skills

10-10:50am

Location: Warhol B

Type: Informative/panel

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: Jennifer Lau-Bond, Harper College

Learning communities are opportunities to engage students, consider big questions, and connect with ideas beyond the classroom. Information literacy skills play a key role in all those goals. Incorporating information literacy into your learning communities can enhance the connections students make between the environment of your classroom and the wider world. In this session, you'll learn how librarians already collaborate with learning communities and how a partnership with your own campus library can enhance the student experience and be a perfect match for the larger aims of learning communities.

Welcoming Sister Institutions into the LC Fold: Institutional Mentorship Programs at the Regional College Level

10-10:50am

Location: Cassatt B

Type: Interactive

Audience: Linked Courses, Coordinated Studies, Living Learning Communites, Residential Colleges

Presenters: Kate Midday, Aaron Lawler, and Steven Zusman, McHenry County College, Waubonsee Community College

For six years, McHenry County College has mentored Waubonsee Community College in the creation of a Learning Communities Program. Through a collegial willingness to understand the unique dynamics of sister institutions, consistency, patience, and some old-fashioned persistence, Waubonsee Community College is in the pilot year of their own supported Learning Communities program. We encourage others to get on the path toward mentorship as they lay the groundwork for an LC program launch, specifically with a college that is similar in mission, scope, size, and programmatic possibility. There is a benefit to understanding the context of a program's growing ground, and a success that can come from that shared experience as faculty/program leadership. This session will lay out the unique challenges facing a community college in forming a new program, some strategies that were ineffective and effective in bringing the launch to life, and some steps for forming a mentorship with another institution.

Aligning Living-Learning Community Outcomes with Place-Informed Career, Community, and Industry Engagement Goals: Opportunity Areas.

10-10:50am

Location: Pollock B

Type: Informative/panel

Audience: Living Learning Communites

Presenters: Garrett Tur, Jeff Eads, Dixie Denton, Ball State University

This session is a collaborative effort, bringing together practitioners from Ball State Living-Learning Communities, Teachers College, and the Office of Industry Engagement. We aim to provide an interdivisional perspective on opportunity areas, emphasizing the importance of industry and community relations stakeholders in connecting with students through intentional and immersive experiences. Through community-engaged learning, we address the learning inequalities that arise from background and class differences and student career development outcomes through place-based learning (Holmes, 2024). This collaborative approach offers practical benefits for internal and external funding to support immersive pedagogy. It creates a pathway for increased buy-in from community and industry partners through student engagement with the community and region.

Supporting Faculty Connection using Institutional Research Tools to Develop the On-ramp to Full Integration

10-10:50am

Location: Warhol A

Type: Informative/panel Facilitated dialogue

Audience: Coordinated Studies

Presenters: Gregg Fields, Chandler-Gilbert Community College

This session will provide a 4-tiered on-ramp for developing buy-in and engaging faculty in the work of curricular integration. We will examine how we drew on campus data resources through our institutional research department connected to faculty schedules and student enrollments to encourage more low-stakes integration activities like short term professor swaps and on-campus events at a commuter oriented community college.

Fostering Successful Learning Communities Through Purposeful Assignment Design: Work Smarter, Not Harder

10-10:50am

Location: Pollock A

Type: Interactive

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: Heidi Giffin, Queens University of Charlotte

Are you overwhelmed by the amount of learning objectives that you need to address in your Learning Community course(s)? Course SLOs, Gen Ed SLOs, QEPs, and more - how can you address those in meaningful and relevant ways AND create community? This session is about how one teacher approaches course and assignment design in a purposeful way. If you are new to LCs or just need to refresh your course design, this working session can help you align objectives and consider the kinds of assignments that will best address those goals. Come prepared to share ideas and learn from others' experiences about how to address the many expectations of teaching and learning in a Learning Community.

11 a.m.

Crafting Pathways to Success: Promising Assessment Strategies to Deliver High-Quality Learning Communities

11-11:50 a.m.

Location: Warhol B

Type: Informative/panel Facilitated dialogue

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: Candace dePass and Angela Phillips, Howard Community College

The role of assessment has long been emphasized as a pivotal element that defines well-executed high-impact practices, but also has major implications for meeting an institution's accreditation requirements. Howard Community College's Silas Craft Collegians Program is one of two linked-course learning communities at the college that maintains a consistent assessment cycle to measure student learning outcomes, evaluate program quality, and make curricular improvements. This presentation will provide an in-depth look at the development and evolution of the program's assessment cycle, and the exciting step that Howard Community College is taking to bring high-impact practices to scale as a part of the college's strategic agenda.

Utilizing career exploration to encourage retention: How helping students explore can lead them to stay

11-11:50 a.m.

Location: Cassatt B

Type: Facilitated dialogue

Audience: Linked Courses, Coordinated Studies, Living-Learning Communities, Residential Colleges

Presenters: Keely Floyd, Indiana University - Indianapolis

Can encouraging students with declared majors to engage in career exploration actually lead to better retention? It may seem counter-intuitive, but we suggest that it can. This informal, discussion-based session will describe our initiative to utilize career exploration within a first-year seminar to generate an improved sense of identity, better community, stronger academic performance, and overall better persistence among our matriculated first-year students. Attendees will learn how empowering students to fully explore their major and career opportunities through targeted service-learning, cross-curricular faculty engagement, and intentional career reflection can generate improved persistence and "stickiness" to their chosen degree program or general field. This session will discuss how this approach was utilized in a stand-alone course and offer suggestions for application in full learning community settings.

Living, Learning, Launching: Guiding First-Year Interns

11-11:50 a.m.

Location: Pollock B

Type: Informative/panel

Audience: Linked Courses, Living Learning Communities

Presenters: Brad Knight, American University

Join us for an insightful session delving into AU Cornerstone D.C., an exclusive yearlong program tailored for first-year students eager to enhance their academic journey. Breaking convention, AU Cornerstone D.C. offers a unique opportunity for matriculated first-year students to delve into the professional world through internships, a privilege often reserved for upper-class students. Throughout the fall semester, participants collaborate closely with program staff and the Career Center, honing essential skills such as resume and cover letter crafting, while engaging in specialized internship preparatory events. Come spring, students embark on a supervised internship venture in the DC region, dedicating 12-15 hours weekly to real-world experience and earning three academic credits. What further sets AU Cornerstone apart is its integration with University College (UC), AU's largest first-year living-learning community. Discover how AU Cornerstone D.C. is breaking barriers, shaping future leaders, and cultivating a supportive environment for first-year success.

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, 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.

Let's talk dirt: The trials and tribulations of a fully integrated learning community

11-11:50 a.m.

Location: Pollock A

Type: Informative/panel Interactive

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: Christine Grela, Tim Seitz, McHenry County College

Talking Dirty is a co-taught, fully integrated learning community that combines PSY 175: Human Sexuality and PHI 161: Introduction to Ethics. This course was one of the founding learning community courses of the McHenry County College Learning Communities Program. It used to fill as soon as registration opened, but this is no longer the case. This session will focus on the challenges that any learning community course can face: enrollment, promotion, and student (dis)engagement, as well as challenges unique to a course focused on controversial issues in an increasingly polarized society.

1:45 p.m.

Creating a STEM-Liberal Arts Learning Community

1:45-2:35 p.m.

Location: Warhol B

Type: Informative/panel

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: Meg King, Karen Dailey, Harper College

In this session, we will detail how a Chemistry-English Learning Community was initially conceived and developed, and continues to evolve. The courses paired in this Learning Community are not traditionally viewed as complementary. English 101 is a first year College writing class required for all undergraduate students, while Chemistry 121 is a foundational course for most STEM majors. We have found that this Learning Community offers a number of benefits to students, such as: honing students' communication skills and highlighting why those skills are so important to convey STEM discoveries and developments to the general public; developing critical thinking skills particularly in relation to contemporary issues in STEM fields; and providing a community of like-minded individuals who support one another through very difficult coursework.

Black Men Thriving: Cultivating Belonging at a Midwestern PWI through a Living-Learning Community Program for Black Men (Man 2 Men)

1:45-2:35 p.m.

Location: Cassatt B

Type: Informative/panel Facilitated dialogue

Audience: Linked Courses, Living-Learning Communities, Residential Colleges

Presenters: Treon McClendon, Tiana Iruoje, Ball State University

"Black Men Thriving: Cultivating Belonging at a Midwestern PWI through a Living-Learning Community Program for Black Men" will explore the vital role of a midwestern living-learning community in fostering a sense of belonging and connection among Black men at a predominantly white institution. Through interactive discussions, participants will delve into strategies for creating supportive environments within these centers, addressing challenges, and leveraging resources to enhance Black male students' academic and social experiences. Activities will include small group discussions, brainstorming sessions for actionable initiatives, and sharing personal narratives to empower attendees in building strong, inclusive communities within their institutions. Join us in exploring the transformative potential of living-learning centers in nurturing a sense of rootedness and brotherhood among Black men on campus through an integrated curriculum, co-curricular programming, and holistic collaboration among residential life and academic affairs. This high-impact practice has yielded higher retention and completion rates for Black men at predominantly white institutions.

Faculty Mentors: Utilizing mentorship within learning communities to aid in the success of minority students

1:45-2:35 p.m.

Location: Pollock B

Type: Interactive

Audience: Linked Courses, Coordinated Studies, Living Learning Communities

Presenters: Angela Perez, Amanda Marquez, Texas A & M University - Corpus Christi

Research shows that Latina higher education students have some of the lowest enrollment and degree attainment percentages among college graduates, but also finds that relationships with family, peers, faculty, staff, and community can increase the likelihood of their persistence and graduation rates. First-year, first-generation, Latina students can highly benefit from the support of role models that include peer and faculty mentors. Mentoring relationships, such as those commonly formed within learning communities, which focus on the quality and frequency of interactions with faculty mentors of similar backgrounds can have a positive effect on student grades, improve persistence in higher education programs, graduation rates, and future career and professional development. This presentation will highlight some of the best practices Seminar faculty may employ to better engage with students in establishing a mentor/mentee relationship. This session intends to equip other faculty with some pedagogical tools to employ at their own institutions to better support underrepresented students.

Voices from the Community: LC Student Panel

1:45-2:35 p.m.

Location: Warhol A

Type: Informative/panel

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: Jim Allen, Kate Midday & Dawn McKinley, College of DuPage, McHenry County College, Harper College

Among all the voices represented at our conventions, one stakeholder's is often only heard from indirectly: the students who populate our learning communities. Our presentation will assemble a panel of students from area community colleges who will speak directly about their experiences in various LCs as well as their thoughts and suggestions regarding the benefits and drawbacks of LCs.

Interfaith Living-Learning Communities: Lessons Learned

1:45-2:35 p.m.

Location: Pollock A

Type: Informative/panel

Audience: Living Learning Communities

Presenters: JillAnn Knoneborg, Virginia Tech

In light of global events, more colleges and universities than ever want to create interfaith/interreligious living-learning communities. Engaging students' religious, secular, and spiritual identities is critical to both campus climate and individual sense of belonging. But this type of LLC presents challenges that others may not. In this presentation, participants will learn about potential pitfalls in both development and implementation, drawing on lessons learned from Aurora Interfaith Living-Learning Community at Virginia Tech (entering its fourth year in 2024-2025). All participants will leave having made a list of campus partners they need on their planning team.

2:45 p.m.

Supporting HBCU Students' Academic Identity Development: Understanding the Experiences of First Year Students Engaged in Freshmen Learning Communities

2:45-3:35 p.m.

Location: Warhol B

Type: Informative/panel Interactive

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: Tiffany Pogue, Albany State University

The contributions of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have been well documented (Gasman & Nguyen, 2014; Irvine & Fenwick, 2011; Perna et al., 2009; Reddick, 2006). While we know much of what these institutions contribute to the US workforce, economy, and knowledge base, less attention has been given to how these institutions operate. We also know that to promote student success, we must surround students with an environment of activities and opportunities to stimulate engagement (Li et al., 2020). University College (UC) and its learning communities at Albany State University were created to encourage student engagement and academic success. Our primary desired outcome is to contribute to students' successes through co-curricular activities designed by our learning community instructors and faculty (University College, 2022). This presentation will present findings from a year-long study to explore the experiences of UC students in these communities and their impact on their academic identities.

Every Voice, Every Session: Flipping the Script on Hyperbonding & Negative Behaviors in LCs

2:45-3:35 p.m.

Location: Cassatt B

Type: Interactive / Facilitated dialogue

Audience: Linked Courses, Living-Learning Communities, Residential Colleges

Presenters: Christopher Reider, Chandler-Gilbert Community College

Using best practices such as active learning, bodily kinesthetic movement, and iterative reflection and feedback we can invite our students in learning communities to feel engaged and empowered to mitigate counterproductive habits and behaviors. Learning communities forge peer to peer relationships that allow students to feel comfortable with one another - so much so, that "hyperbonding" (negative group behaviors) is often common. This interactive session will offer techniques and suggestions to help instructors of LCs and program directors of residential LCs feel more confident to address these situations productively, and proactively prevent them.

"So, how do you work with Housing?": Navigating Cross-Divisional LLC Partnerships, Strategies from Academic and Student Affairs

2:45-3:35 p.m.

Location: Pollock B

Type: Facilitated dialogue

Audience: Coordinated Studies, Living Learning Communities

Presenters: Garrett Turr, Joel Bynum, Joel Whitesel, Ball State University

This interactive session will guide attendees through the practical questions to answer before entering partnership opportunities across divisional boundaries. Drawing upon the institutional experience of growing an LLC model within Housing and Residence Life, the presenters from Ball State Housing and Residence Life and the Miller College of Business seek to shed light on the institutional realities that may impact how cross-divisional partners can take shape. Institutional realities such as budget allocations, personalities, and discipline-specific culture impact the approach and development of new or refreshed partnerships. The Best-Practices Model of LLC development (Inkelas et al., 2018) and thoughtful reflection on your institution's "Horizontal and Vertical Structures" (Keeling et al., 2007) will support attendees in developing an actionable plan of questions they need to answer for themselves and offer tangible strategies to apply in your work to build new partnerships across campus silos.

Assessment: Selling LCs to Institutional Stakeholders--It's Easier Done Than Said

2:45-3:35 p.m.

Location: Warhol A

Type: Interactive

Audience: Linked Courses, Residential Colleges

Presenters: Charles Pastors, Northeastern Illinois University

Attendees will develop a list of institutional and personal reasons behind offering a learning community program. Working in small groups, they will discuss options for "making the sale" to critical institutional support cohorts. The session as a whole will then propose specific assessment strategies for "closing the deal" for putting institutional support behind such a pedagogical innovation.

SuperTwofers: Take Two

2:45-3:35 p.m.

Location: Pollock A

Type: Informative/panel

Audience: Linked Courses

Presenters: Christine Grela, Kate Midday, Tim Seitz, and Lisa Roth, McHenry County College

McHenry County College is building a SuperTwofer program which includes fully integrated, co-taught classes that also include a first-year experience course and a capstone project for students enrolled in all the SuperTwofer classes. As we move into the second year of these courses being offered, instructors will share specific assignments that highlight course successes with a focus on our capstone experience. We will also share our challenges with continuing to build the program while losing dimensions of institutional support.