The Center for Engaged Learning will host the conference on Residential Learning Communities (RLCs) as a High-Impact Practice on June 16 and 17
The Center for Engaged Learning will host the conference on Residential Learning Communities (RLCs) as a High-Impact Practice on June 16 and 17. Visit the Center’s website to view the schedule, which includes a poster session and reception, breakout sessions in Moseley, and plenary speaker Karen Inkelas from the University of Virginia. Registration information can also be found on the website.
By definition, learning communities emphasize collaborative partnerships between students, faculty, and staff, and attempt to restructure the university curriculum – and co-curriculum – to address structural barriers to educational excellence. Residential learning communities, as the name implies, include a residential component and sometimes are referred to as living-learning communities.
The Center’s 2017-2019 research seminar has fostered multi-institutional research on what makes residential learning communities high-impact experiences for students, how institutions might promote effective organizational structures to support these endeavors, how institutions might scale up access to them, how faculty and staff can contribute to their high-quality while balancing other job responsibilities, and how RLCs shape and are shaped by institutional culture. The research seminar is co-led by Cara McFadden and Shannon Lundeen, both of Elon, Mimi Benjamin (Indiana University of Pennsylvania), and Jody Jessup-Anger (Marquette University).
For more information about the high-impact practice of learning communities, visit the learning communities resource page. There, you can find good practices for learning communities, model programs, as well as key scholarship.
CEL posts weekly blog posts that feature the topic of residential learning communities, written by CEL Scholars and seminar leaders. To keep up to date with new blog posts and videos, follow CEL’s social media accounts including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. For more information about RLCs or the Center for Engaged Learning, visit our website or email centerforengagedlearning@elon.edu.