CoT adds two learning communities for Fall 2011

The number of learning communities available to first-year College of Technology students has grown for the 2011-12 academic year.

Students majoring in organizational leadership and supervision and electrical engineering technology are now able to apply for admission to a learning community specifically for their majors. Faculty leaders for the new communities are Dan Lybrook (OLS) and Grant Richards (ECET). They will be assisted by academic advisors Sharon Kraebber and Gay Barnett.

The introduction of the college-wide core curriculum spurred the two programs to look for additional ways to create connections among their students.

“Previously, we had sort of a natural learning community when all of our first-year students took the same three ECET courses,” said Barnett, academic advisor for electrical and computer engineering technology. “We encouraged them to work together.”

The students admitted to the EET learning community, called ECET Connections, will still take three courses together. They include the ECET gateway course; a new Technology course, TECH12000 (Technology and the Individual); and COM11400 (Fundamentals of Speech Communication). Students will also participate in activities such as guest lectures, field trips and study groups.

The Organizational Leadership learning community will have a similar set-up. In addition, Lybrook said, they hope to include junior and senior OLS students as mentors.

“It’s a natural fit for us. Leadership development is the foundation of our program,” he said. “Mentoring and coaching is an implementation of that.”

Organizers of the learning communities have one main goal in mind: retention.

“Our hope is that they bond together and form a greater connection to the department and college,” Barnett said. “We’re using faculty, too, to show they are approachable, so it will make students more likely to ask for assistance.”

Both programs will explore the possibility of including a residence hall option to their programs in the fall of 2012.