Cohorts and Learning Communities

Cohorts and Learning Communities

Introduction

Learning communities bring together small groups of college students who take two or more linked courses together — typically as a cohort. During the last few decades, many colleges and universities have started or expanded learning communities as a method to deliver curricula to students and forge closer bonds between students, among students and faculty, and between students and the institution (Wheelan & Lisk, 2000). Alongside the increasingly widespread use of learning communities by colleges and universities, a literature on their effectiveness is emerging. Much of this research consists of single-institution assessment reports and qualitative case studies; however, a few quasi experimental and correlative research studies indicate that students who participate in learning communities get better grades and re-enroll in subsequent terms at rates higher than their peers who take stand-alone academic courses (Twale & Kochan, 2000).

Cohort Programs

Cohort programs are designed to create smaller learning units within large, preexisting courses. A large chemistry class, for example, might be broken into groups of 15 students (a cohort) who attend a large lecture with their peers but then meet as a cohort in a special recitation or tutorial section. In the federated learning community model, cohort members are accompanied to class by a faculty “master learner,” who then teaches the recitation section. Cohorts of students participating in freshman interest groups (FIGs) take a group of courses together, which is often a mix of larger lecture, smaller discussion, and orientation/first-year transition courses united under a central theme (Tinto, 2000).

Discussion

Student Outcomes Associated With Learning Communities

Unfortunately, little quantitative research about the effectiveness of learning communities exists when one considers the number of interventions that are being employed nationwide (Matthews & Gabelnick, 2004). Patricia Cross has noted that much of what is reported as causal evidence of the effectiveness of learning communities is actually research showing correlations between student outcomes and experiences that are typical of intentionally designed programs, limiting causality claims. Such research also typically relies upon students' self-reported gains as opposed to more objective measures. Making generalizable statements about the effectiveness of learning communities are further complicated because the majority of research that has been conducted is limited to single-program evaluations (Shapiro & Levine, 1999). Despite these methodological problems, two classes of positive outcomes associated with learning community participation are increased academic achievement and increased student persistence through students' enhanced integration with the social and academic systems of the institution (Saltiel & Russo, 2001).

Academic Achievement

Participation in learning communities has been positively linked to the attainment of a wide range of academic outcomes. In reviewing a collection of dominantly single-program studies, Lenning and Ebbers noted gains in students' grade point averages, declines in the number of students on academic probation, growth in skills needed for academic success, and enhanced cognitive complexity. These findings have been corroborated by multi-institutional studies.

Persistence

A number of studies have suggested that learning communities contribute to student persistence. Most attribute this effect to students' enhanced involvement with the institution's academic and social systems, which ...