Center for Engaged Learning invites applications for research seminar on residential learning communities

The Center for Engaged Learning is pleased to announce the 2017-19 Research Seminar on Residential Learning Communities as a High-Impact Practice, led by Mimi Benjamin (Indiana University of Pennsylvania), Jody Jessup-Anger (Marquette University), Shannon Lundeen (Director of Academic Initiatives for the Residential Campus and Associate Professor of Philosophy), and Cara McFadden (Assistant Professor of Sport and Event Management).

This three-summer research seminar facilitates multi-institutional research on Residential Learning Communities (RLCs) using a mixed-methods approach to conduct qualitative and quantitative research. The Center invites interested scholars and practitioners, regardless of discipline, to apply to join a multi-institutional cohort of researchers collaborating to investigate evidence-based, high-quality RLCs.

The research seminar will support multi-institutional research addressing and surrounding this theme over two academic calendar years, with three one-week summer meetings on the Elon University campus. Participants will collaborate on active research over the entire period. These multi-institutional collaborations will enable larger scale studies and explorations of the impact of different institutional contexts.

• June 25-30, 2017: Participants will meet on Elon’s campus to collaboratively develop and plan multi-institutional research projects to be conducted throughout the following year at the participants’ own institutions. Participants’ research will build on existing literature, and multi-institutional research teams will develop both shared inquiry questions and interventions to use in formative and summative evaluation. Participants will be active researchers over the course of the seminar, and the Center will provide support for learning scholarship of teaching and learning research methods that extend participants’ disciplinary research experience.
• June 17-22, 2018: Participants will meet to collaboratively analyze data, share their initial multi-institutional results, and plan a more sharply focused research agenda for the research cohort for year two, using data gathered the first year to help develop that agenda.
• June 16-21, 2019: Participants will reconvene to share their year two results, to plan continuations of their work, and to host a conference on the seminar theme.

Participants will produce significant, concrete outcomes. Past Center for Engaged Learning research seminars have generated edited volumes, journal articles and book chapters, white papers, and conference presentations – as well as local initiatives on participants’ home campuses. Participants will be well-positioned to use evidence-based assessments of student learning conducted as part of the seminar to inform residential learning communities at their institutions.

The application form is available on the seminar website. Questions about the 2017-19 research seminar should be directed to Shannon Lundeen and Cara McFadden at rlc@elon.edu.

The 2017-19 research seminar continues the Center for Engaged Learning’s efforts to bring together international leaders in higher education to develop and to synthesize rigorous research on central questions about student learning. The Center fosters investigations of engaged learning and high-impact educational practices; hosts multi-institutional research and practice-based initiatives, conferences, and seminars; and shares related resources for faculty and faculty developers on high-impact practices for engaged learning.

Requests for more information and any questions about the Center for Engaged Learning should be directed to Jessie L. Moore at centerforengagedlearning@elon.edu.