Western Carolina University

Learning Communities foster integrated learning environments that have the potential to provide a significant impact on learning outcomes and establish a strong support network. A Learning Community is a set of linked courses that place students wih similar interests together in two or three courses. Instructors collaborate to define the connections and intersections of paired courses. Learning Communities provide students the opportunity to develop friendships and experience learning as a dynamic exchange of ideas and perspectives during their transition to campus life.

Students who choose to participate in a Learning Community must enroll in each defined linked course. For example, it is not an option to take only one course of a community pair or trio.

The goal of participation in a Curricular Learning Community is to encourage the student to discover and appreciate relationships of disciplines and knowledge and to provide a sense of place within the university community. Curricular Learning Communities implement the Student Sense of Place and Integration of Knowledge Fundamental Principles. Curricular Learning Communities consist of cohorts of students and instructors in a selection of grouped courses.

In order to be a part of a learning community, you must submit an application. Please click this link to start your application.

Learning Community Cohorts 2013-2014

LC02: Flourishing: Expressions of Well-Being

“If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands…” Scholars struggle to define and study happiness.  How do you know when you are happy and fulfilled--- and how do you talk and write about what you know to be true? Please click here for more detailed information about this community and the courses that are involved.

LC03: Whee TEACH LLC

I believe that education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living. (John Dewey).  Join the College of Education and Allied Professions in a dynamic and holistic first year experience designed for students interested in becoming educators. Please click here for more detailed information about this community and the courses that are involved.

LC04: The Ripple Effect

What in your community/world do you care enough about to do something about? We believe that information, converted into action, followed by structured critical reflection, can lead to a ripple effect ultimately bringing about social change. Members of this Learning Community will also attend a Pre-Semester Retreat during the week prior to the beginning of classes. Please click here for more detailed information about this experiential and action-focused Learning Community.