Learning Communities
Developing learning communities–groups of people who have common academic goals and attitudes, and meet regularly to collaborate on course work–within curriculums, and encouraging students to actively participate in them, is another strategy that institutions can use to improve student success early on, and ultimately improve retention.
Lots of articles profile research on the effectiveness of learning communities. They show a positive correlation between learning community participation and the retention rate of those students as compared to students who participated in a traditional curriculum [1].
While learning communities are not a magic solution for student success, they are an effective method for helping students develop stronger bonds and remain engaged in the educational process. Evidence indicates that when students are introduced to the learning community structure early on in their university career, the benefits stick around well into their senior year [2].