GILROY
– Students traditionally considered
”
at risk
”
are getting additional support through Gavilan College’s
learning communities, which group two classes together to build
bonds between students and create a more stable college
experience.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – Students traditionally considered “at risk” are getting additional support through Gavilan College’s learning communities, which group two classes together to build bonds between students and create a more stable college experience. Teachers still teach separate classes but work closely together.
“The goal of learning communities is to have one set of students, with two or more teachers, have an experience of integrated curriculum,” said Karen Warren, learning communities coordinator who pioneered the program at Gavilan. “Our goal is to have more students succeed … to increase their retention and success and to focus on students who are at risk for not succeeding.”
So far, learning communities seem to be working. Students are more engaged and feedback is positive, teachers said. Teachers also reported higher retention rates.
One learning community links math and English, targeting students who are below entry level in both subjects. The community is supported by Trio, a federally funded program that serves students who are either the first in their family to go to college, are low-income or disabled.
The 30 freshmen will take math and English from the same teachers this semester and continue with them next semester.
“It allows (students) to kind of practice and reflect on what it really means to be college students,” said Kimberly Smith, who teaches the English component. “And because the transition is such a difficult one, it also gives them the support of each other.”
Smith works with math instructor Marla Dresch to connect the two disciplines.
“At some times, the writing process is almost a mathematical process where you have to see grammar and syntax and things like that,” said Kimberly Smith, English instructor.
Most of the linking is done in the English class, said Dresch, although she connects math to language when she can, often telling her students to think of math as a foreign language.
“When we’re doing word problems, for example … often the way to solve a word problem is to translate the English to math,” Dresch said.
Trio counselors identify students for the English-math learning community, although it is open to anyone. A Trio tutor attends both classes and tutors outside the classroom as well.
Students said that the linking of subjects helps them in both classes.
“Some people think it doesn’t go together, but it does because you have word problems and essays and both start at the bottom and you have to work your way up,” said Tiffany Padron.
She said the learning community creates a familiar and comfortable atmosphere that helps students achieve.
“The professors feel what’s going on with the students,” she said. “I think it’s nice to have the same people, because we get to know each other a lot better, you get comfortable with the students.”
Fellow student Isabel Perez likes that students are fully involved in the learning community and can provide feedback.
“We have activities after class to talk about what’s working and what’s not,” she said.
Dresch is seeing a higher retention rate this semester, as she did last year. Mauricio Gonzales, Trio student support services director, reports that the dropout rate is far less than any general class, although last year’s data is just coming in.
Warren first heard about learning communities programs several years ago while on a strategic planning task force and thought they could benefit Gavilan students.
“It just made sense academically to integrate the curriculum more,” Warren said.
She asked teachers to discuss starting a program. After piloting several classes and attending multiple learning communities conferences, Warren expanded the program this year. The program links eight classes into four groups this semester.
“One of the biggest advantages that the learning communities offer is essentially a supporting relationship between two academic areas,” President Steve Kinsella said. “The students can see a discipline applied in a different way, in a more work-related type of activity.”
Another community links political science and communications.
“We saw the logical connection between politics and speech,” Communications Instructor Denise Besson-Silvia said. She approached political science instructor Marc Turetzky when she heard about the learning communities program starting at Gavilan. “They’re using their public speaking skills, but they’re also dealing with public issues.”
She and Turetzky link their classes through common assignments, such as a public service announcement that will air on the campus TV station.
“They’re learning facts in my class, and they’re learning how to express themselves in (Besson-Silvia’s) class and they’re learning how to put that together,” Turetzky said.
The political science and communications classes are general education and transferable to the University of California and California State University – the highest level offered at Gavilan. Students who have participated in previous learning communities are strongly encouraged to enroll.
“The whole theory with learning communities is that if we build this community, (students) will come and they will stay because they feel like they’re a part of something,” Besson-Silvia said. “The professors care, they’re interested, all the students encourage each other, they want each other to do well, you get to know each other.”
At least one learning community will be added next fall. Dean of Humanities Fran Lozano is supporting a pilot called First Semester Experience, which will serve students who test two levels below first-level composition, blending reading and writing classes with some social studies and academic counseling.
The college wrote its learning communities plans into a Title V grant application three years ago. Title V targets under-prepared students. The college receives about $385,000 each year in Title V funds and $20,000 to $30,000 is dedicated to supporting learning communities, said Margery Regalado-Rodriguez, dean of enrollment management.
Title V funds first supported learning communities at Gavilan last year, paying for a part-time student advocate and covering the instructors’ $2,500 stipend, Warren said.
