What will you do?

1. Establish a working partnership:
Interested faculty will need to establish a partnership with another faculty member (preferably from a different discipline) who is also interested in developing a learning community.

2. Find a Common Theme or Topic that connects your courses:
Faculty working together will need to find a common theme or topic that connects two courses together and develop a plan for course integration. Bergen model for LC development recommends the minimum of three integrated experiences throughout the semester (e.g. an integrated course assignment, a field trip, a collaborative project, or some combination of the three). Please, see the description of the “LC Model at Bergen” .

3. Write a Proposal:
Once the instructors have a basic plan of action for the upcoming semester, they need to write up a short proposal for LC development and fill out the “Form for LC Development”.

To give you some ideas for possible connections between courses and academic disciplines, review the examples.

Examples of Successful LC Proposals:
EDU Reading |
  History Literature | ESL Education  | Psychology of Human Communication

4. Notify Your Department Chairs:
Instructors need to notify their department chairs and divisional deans of their upcoming plans, so that their departments can integrate LCs into the department schedule.

5. Send Your Proposal to the LC Coordinators:
The completed proposals for LC development should be forwarded to the LC coordinators for review and approval. Please, see the deadlines for LC development by semester.

Interested but not sure what to do? Do Not Have a Partner?

1. Sign Up for LC Workshops:
If you are interested in exploring more opportunities for LC development but don’t have a partner yet or not sure how to proceed, you can sign up for the next LC workshop that is offered each semester. The workshop will introduce you to the LC theory and provide practice in creating integrative assignments.

2. Look for a Partner:
If you are looking for a potential LC partnership in your area of interest, please contact Maria Kasparova [email protected], Mina Ahn [email protected] or  Eileen Fitzgerald [email protected]  and we will make sure to connect you with someone.