Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
    Date: 2/1/99
      Contact:                           Carol Dotson 1

LEARNING COMMUNITY ADVOCATE, TINTO SPEAKS AT SOUTHEASTERN 
     HAMMOND -- Advocating that universities should change the focus from how students
are taught to how the learning settings are organized, Syracuse educator Dr. Vincent Tinto
presented a workshop to Southeastern faculty and staff on Thursday Jan 29. 
     "Student retention is the result of education and learning," said Tinto. "Our job as
educators is to educate students, not just to focus on how do we keep them." 
     Tinto concentrated on collaborative and cooperative learning in higher education and the
establishment of learning communities, especially for first-year students. 
     Leaning heavily on research statistics, Tinto urged educators to recognize that the
learning environment shapes the students and also involves others besides the faculty.
     An innovative approach to teaching, Learning communities require groups of students to
take two or more classes together, where the courses have a particular theme or structure.
According to Tinto, students have the opportunity for a deeper understanding and integration of
the material they are learning. They are more involved in class, learn more and provide peer
support for each other. The students are able to interact and bond in a supportive environment. 
     Tinto presented the Southeastern group of faculty and staff  with several Learning
Community models including linked courses, where two courses tied together such as English
and History and the assignments complement each other; the Freshman Interest Group (FIG)
model, where a group of 25 freshmen may enroll in large classes with up to 300 students. The
freshmen meet and share the experience of the course together or a FIG cluster course where the
selected students are the only students in the classes. 
     Learning Community models are increasingly targeted at freshman year students,
especially under-prepared students. Tinto advocates that this increases enrollment as students
stay in school the next semester or year and ultimately increases revenue for the school. 
     Employing the Learning Community concept requires coordination of faculty involved,
admissions and registration personnel and others.  
     John Miller, Southeastern's dean of arts and sciences spoke favorably of the concept and
said the university would discuss the possibility of implementing Learning Communities at
Southeastern in the future. 
                                                     -SLU-
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