Our SUSTAINS Learning Community.
Over here in Residence Life, we are in the midst of learning community recruitment season. Over 200 upperclassmen applied to be part of learning communities next year and we just hosted 200 admitted students who wanted to learn more about our learning communities. Definitely an exciting time of year for us!
As we have talked with current and prospective students, we have got a lot of questions about what a learning community exactly is. GREAT QUESTION!
A learning community is a group of students who live together on a residence hall floor or floors (i.e. currently, the 9th and 10th Floors of Siebert Hall host the First-Year Collegian Learning Community). All of our learning communities at OSU revolve around academic departments or majors (Engineering House, Future Health Professionals) or themes/interests (Visual and Performing Arts, International House). Our learning communities typically consist of 30-90 students.
Residence Life staff and our partners from academic departments provide programs and other opportunities for students centered around the learning community, and these often happen in the residence hall setting. These opportunities could be anything from dinners with faculty members to a trip to New York City to a service project with the Ronald McDonald House. Students in learning communities have the opportunity to make the experience their own, and we find many of our students become super engaged in their communities. The student posts’ on this blog highlight many of these opportunities.
Ok, I know you are knowing thinking, “But Lisa, why should we care?”. You should care for so many reasons! First and foremost, our learning communities are a great way for students to have a community the moment they step on campus. The people you live with will have the same major or interest as you, and you immediately have a connection. We also find that students in our learning communities are more successful in adjusting to college, find a stronger connection to Ohio State and become more involved, and they have higher GPA’s than their peers.
We say this all the time to students and parents, but learning communities are a GREAT way to make this large university your own little community. We are proud of these communities and work hard to make sure all students have a great experience in them. If you have further questions, please check out or website or email us at reslearn@osu.edu. We love hearing from you!