will be the only academic community they will ever experience. Students learn not only content in such a community, but also how to learn. Faculty members not only teach, but also help students make connections to the content of all academic disciplines in the community. They, in effect, to borrow a sports metaphor, are “learning coaches” as well as teachers. According to Tinto’s (1997) research, collaborative learning contributes to greater mastery of subject matter, higher course grades, and higher persistence rates, especially for developmental and other at-risk students.

What a “learning community” is, however, differs from one institutional context to another. Dr. Shirley M. Hord, Scholar Emerita with the Southwest Educational Development Board (SEDL), writes that “In education circles the term learning community has become commonplace” and is being “used to mean any number of things, such as extending classroom practice into the community; bringing community personnel into the school to enhance the curriculum and learning tasks for students; or engaging students, teachers, and administrators in learning.” What is meant by “learning community” in the KSU QEP fits a model described by the Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education. According to the Center, there are three general types of learning communities: Student Cohorts/Integrative Seminar; Linked Courses/Course Clusters; and Coordinated Study. Of those, KSU’s QEP learning communities are reflective of the “Linked Courses/Course Clusters” type in that they involve two or more classes linked by content which a cohort of students takes together. KSU adds to that type by forming a living/learning community in which the community of students also lives together in the same residence hall. Based on the literature, students involved in learning communities become more intellectually mature and responsible for their own learning and develop the capacity to care about the learning of their peers. Learning communities have been shown to increase student retention and academic achievement, increase student involvement and motivation, and improve students’ time to degree completion. (Link to

http://www.evergreen.edu/washcenter/lcfaq.htm.pdf) Through the KSU QEP learning communities, students will be helped to develop the proper attitude toward academics. The learning communities will emphasize learning through the developmental curriculum and help to support the gateway courses, reinforce punctuality, improve class attendance, instill a sense of belonging to a community of scholars, and strengthen students' commitment to complete a college degree.

KSU's QEP forms its learning communities through block scheduling cohorts of students (ideally 15 students per cohort), coordinating their housing on campus with the Office of Residence Life so that they will be in the same wing or on the same floor, and assigning them a live-in student Supplemental Instructor, trained by the Academic Center for Excellence, who typically will attend at least one of their classes. The Office of the Registrar will work with the Director of the QEP and the QEP Implementation Committee to ensure that the cohorts/learning communities of students remain together as they move through developmental and gateway classes. The University has successfully block-scheduled all new entering freshmen for the past four years; the QEP extends it for students participating in the program for three additional semesters and adds the coordination with the Office of Residence Life.

Block scheduling of students in a cohort not only allows the formation of a learning community, it permits faculty who have a particular cohort of students to work as an educational and mentoring team. Since they will have the same students in their classes, the faculty team is expected to collaborate in the development of their syllabi to

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