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Flourish Online Magazine | Winter 2009 |
A fresh approach to the first-year experience : Learning communities offer friendship and support
By Jarmea Boone
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Students in Natasha Lovelace Habers’ Visual Arts Learning Communities participated in a team-building ropes course in Fall 2008 Photo by Natasha Lovelace Habers. |
Imagine your first weeks of college. Wandering lost on campus. Trying to make new friends. Being overwhelmed by all of your courses. Wondering why you had to take general education classes that seemed irrelevant to your career goals.
College is not like that any more. At least not for students who join one of Kennesaw State University’s First-Year Learning Communities (FLCs). The 25 students in an FLC take their general education courses together, allowing them to build relationships quickly and allowing them to connect better with their professors. Many of the courses are even designed around interesting themes, as well as disciplines and majors. For instance, in the art FLC the essay topics in the English composition class are about art history and other art themes.
Conceptualized to acclimate the first-year student to the rigors of college life and a college workload, FLCs are used across KSU’s academic programs to promote and cultivate a student’s interests in a particular departmental community, all the while familiarizing the student within the larger KSU community. FLCs are included under the umbrella of KSU’s “First-Year Experience” program, which introduces first-time, first-year students and transfer students with fewer than 15 credit hours to life at KSU. The “First-Year Experience” program has been listed for the sixth consecutive year on U.S. News and World Report’s “Programs to Look For” in its annual “Best Colleges” edition.
One of the main purposes of FLCs is to create a solid foundation of peers with similar aspirations and interests and professional support from faculty and staff invested in their students’ dreams.
“As a first-year student, you usually come into college a little confused and a little overwhelmed,” said first-year theatre and performance studies major Nayasia Coleman. “Our learning community has given me guidance and a close bond between me, my professors, and my peers. The FLC steers first-year students in the right direction.”
FLCs are also valuable for the faculty members involved. “The courses give faculty a chance to create a meaningful experience for their students,” said Margaret Baldwin, lecturer and interim coordinator of general education for theatre and performance studies. “They give time to take on projects that could not otherwise get done during the year.”
Within the College of the Arts, FLCs serve more purposes in the growth of the artist on a more creatively inspired platform. FLCs in the arts are specifically targeted for students entering college and majoring in theatre and performance studies or visual arts. “The arts FLCs give students a way to express themselves in an open environment when they may have formerly had to be more traditional in the classroom,” Baldwin said. “In TPS courses, they are exposed to performance right off the bat. Students are put on stage when they might not have been otherwise.”
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First-year students work together during a balancing exercise. Photo by Natasha Lovelace Habers |
First-year student Kristen Smith expressed this challenge in the TPS learning community. “Students get to try things that most of us haven’t done before. We are challenged to try each end of the spectrum. For instance, if a student is interested in stage managing, he or she is encouraged to try acting, and vice versa.”
For the past three years, the arts FLCs have been working in conjunction with KSU’s “Year of” initiative under the Annual Country Studies Program. Turkey is the area of study for the year 2008-2009, and first-year students are offered approaches to global learning by becoming involved in the examination of arts in this region, from its earliest history up to current events. In Jim Davis’ KSU 1101 seminar course, first-year students are involved in the creation and design of a Turkish puppetry project.
Students are also working on the development of scripts for a Turkish play. In another course this year, TPS students are working on the formation of a mock production company.
“There are five or six members of a group on this project,” said Kristen Smith, who has come to admire the focused effort of the production company. “It is so beneficial for first-year students because we not only nurture our own interests, but we form new ones.”
Student Nayasia Coleman backs up the enthusiasm of the overall project. “We are always at an advantage because FLC professors know each other and their students’ workloads, so they create more convenient ways to get things done. For instance, professors assign projects to work on to get one singular grade, instead of having two or three separate grades with two or three separate projects. All of the things we learn in one class relates to what we learn in another.”
Not only are arts FLCs a great means of intercultural exchange with the student involvement in the “Year of” initiative, they give students a greater chance for success at KSU and beyond.
“Arts FLCs promote bonding and serve as a container for people to learn about each other,” said Baldwin. “Theatre performance and academics are connected in an interactive, creative atmosphere where first-years are encouraged to perform and ask questions and take risks. Arts FLCs also teaches collaboration and discipline.”
Coleman agrees. “First-Year Learning Communities are open and laidback, so it’s like we are being taught by a mentor in comparison to a professor. I feel that the professors not only teach the curriculum, but about life and how to survive in college.”
Sophomore Cristina Devallescar reflects on her time in her TPS learning community and confirms the one-of-a-kind opportunities for personal growth. “The closeness of everyone felt like a family and made me feel more at home. I was automatically given the chance to meet students in my department who shared my passions. I met my best friend in our learning community.”
First-year students are very amenable to the unique experience of the Freshmen Learning Community.
“Students are very positive about their experiences,” said Baldwin. “FLCs are such a strong means of support for them. The energy from each incoming class is contagious, and receiving exemplary feedback from students at the end of their first year makes it all the worthwhile.”