Freshman Learning Communities in Agriculture: Observations and Assessment

ABSTRACT Students often encounter difficulties during the transition from high school to college, which, in turn, adversely affect student retention and success in college. In response, some college programs have developed learning communities as a means to foster a greater sense of belonging, improve success among new freshmen, and reduce the cost of student attrition. The objective of this paper is to describe our experiences with freshman learning communities within the Department of Agronomy at Iowa State University during fall 1998, and fall 1999 to spring 2000 terms. Our discussion is based upon comparisons of two learning community groups, one control group during 1998, and the general agronomy student population. Results show our learning communities made some small, albeit significant, impacts. Successes include improved academic performance, increased retention rates, and a positive perception among faculty about the value and usefulness of the learning community. While these findings are valuable, they are somewhat less than the lofty predictions one can read in the literature. Our learning community has experienced some early, limited success, and we plan to continue the program.