Work in Progress - Learning Community and Active Learning Study

Learning communities involve creating a positive learning environment and focusing on interaction with students, faculty and staff, all of which have been connected to retention. Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is in the third year of a learning community program and has seen first-to-second year retention of learning community students 25% higher than the control group consisting of students not participating in a learning community. The CS department sponsors six learning communities including a special-population community for Women in Computing. CS communities are limited to 20 students and are taught in a studio environment, making the learning community project very resource-intensive. Different learning community models are being studied to determine the impact of size, active vs studio (hands-on computer) learning, and the impact of the duration of the community on student success and retention. This paper documents the preliminary results of a year-long study examining the various learning community formats and pedagogical approaches.