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The Pros and Cons of The College of Liberal Arts Learning Communities

By: Courtney, Kim, Clare, and Kirby

The College of Liberal Arts offers students a diverse way of learning through its Learning Communities. These communities are groups of students, who are undecided majors, and they have three or more core classes with the same thirty or so people. These communities have many pros and cons, which are outlined below.

Positives of Learning Communities:

As a result of attending class with the same group of people on a daily basis, the students begin to forge friendships. They work together in the classroom and see each other throughout the day allowing them to talk and get to know one another. Without the Learning Community, it would be difficult for students to create solid friendships in a shorter period of time. Making these friendships provides a base for the students to meet other people and feel comfortable going to one another for homework trouble. Thus, it is easy for the students to get together and form study groups, especially around testing times and finals. Furthermore, the constant interaction with these people allows each student to become comfortable with their classmates and teachers, which makes for a better learning environment. Students tend to feel more at ease asking questions and participating in discussions because they know each individual fairly well. Beyond just classroom familiarity, it is very comforting to recognize people from your learning community as you walk through the campus hallways. It makes the campus feel smaller when you can see several friendly faces throughout the day. Overall, the learning community is a great way to meet other students and begin friendships at the very start of your college experience. <http://www.d.umn.edu/campus/>

If a student chooses to be undecided, the learning community is a great opportunity to experience a variety of courses pertaining to many different majors. Therefore, the student is provided with the chance to explore a multitude of subject areas. This may enable the student to narrow down which field of study they would like to go into. Since UMD offers countless majors, it may be overwhelming for someone who has not decided on a specific major. Thus, by entering a learning community, it will help the student discover all that UMD has to offer. Furthermore, it assists ths student in finding what field he or she is truly interested in. Although the student may have to attend classes that he or she does not like, it still allows them to have a better-rounded education. Also, the learning community is a great way to explore different areas of study to see what fits, and it also helps in developing a more diverse background of education. <http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/main/index.php>

Negatives of Learning Communities:

Though the Liberal Arts Department can be accommodating for undecided students, this department has its downfalls. Beginning college, one might feel like he or she is still in high school. Joining the Liberal Arts Department as an undecided major, students are placed into learning communities. Therefore, all of the classes are with the same people. This can prevent students from meeting new people. By having different classes, away from the learning community, students are more likely to meet a wide variety of new people in each class. Although one might think it is nice to have other undecided students to relate to, it is good to get together with students who have an idea of what they want to do while attending college. Seeing the same peers everyday in the learning community secludes them from everyone else at UMD. If taking part in the Liberal Arts Department, one might have to rely on meeting different people primarily through campus organizations, rather than classes. Here is a helpful link for meeting new people, consisting of more than 130 student groups. <http://www.d.umn.edu/~student/stuorg/list.cgi>

Along with the same people in every class, there are other drawbacks to the learning community. Another downfall is that the students are placed in classes whether they like them or not. Even though students are able to choose the broad subject area of the learning community, the specific classes may not pertian to their personal interests, causing him or her to dislike the class. If students dread going to class, they are less likely to be motivated to do work or participate in class, resulting with a bad grade. If students were able to choose thier courses withing the learning community, it might help them get more involved with their class. There should be a wider variety of classes within the learning community that students are able to pick from. As a result, the students would still have the structure of a learning community to ease them into college, but they would also have more interest in the courses and subject matter they enroll in. Looking at course descriptions can aid students in deciding what classes they would be most interested in taking. <http://onestop2.umn.edu/courses/dl/designators.jsp>

Conclusion:

These statements are merely our observations and opinions, which hopefully will provide some sort of information. Learning communities are helpful, as well as problematic. From our experience, it has proven to be both. Good luck to all new students here at UMD!