NLCC 2021 Concurrent Sessions A

The partnership between Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and Junior Achievement has allowed business majors in the First-Year Learning Communities program to indulge in a service-learning project where they get to teach at local schools, research regional demographics and civic development data, and work towards tangible and lasting change by involving political leadership as stakeholders. Such experiences are far more impactful than traditional classroom curriculum and instruction, and they allow students to feel purposeful. Not only does this incentivize and motivate them to succeed in their projects and classes academically, but also instills into them civic responsibility and leadership, along with empowerment for themselves and the communities they get to serve.

“Want to gain skills you can apply in any area of life—keeping your cool, maintaining your center, balancing your school life and social life, staying focused, ready—and fully present in the moment?” The 3 faculty coordinating the Balance Learning Community at Cabrini University aim to design and implement full-body, full person approaches to self-development. All courses in the Balance LC revolve around practicing reflexivity: turning a lens on one’s self and one’s actions. Two integrated classes in the fall set the stage: AST 206—“Conflict and Cooperation” and COL 101— “College Success”. In spring, two additional tightly interwoven courses pull through the curricular learning outcomes and co-curricular insights so students apply them in new venues: ECG 100— “Words in Action”: Engaging with the Common Good Seminar; and AST 250—“Capoeira and the Arts of Resistance and Empowerment.” In each, students practice awareness, deep listening, deliberative dialogue and appreciative inquiry attentive to backgrounds different from their own. Learning extends beyond the classroom with students participating in innovative workshops that help them build ‘neutral references’, gain ease in ‘flowing with the moment’, and assist with ‘dialoguing across differences.’  Students also work with movement-artists in wider communities, exploring how artistic expressions and mindful movements can be tools for change: ‘creations by the people for the people.’ Both terms center on full-credit academic movement-based courses: 75 minutes are seminar-style and 75 minutes are movement lab. The unifying thread is kinesthetic learning and somatic ways of knowing. Fall term sets the stage through the internal martial art known as Zhong Xin Dao (ZXD)  / I Liq Chuan: The Martial Art of Awareness; spring term revolves around the Afro-Brazilian martial and musical arts of Capoeira. Both explore the cultural, historical, and philosophical dimensions of these traditional forms as well as their continued evolution as current social phenomenon throughout the world, especially in the Americas. Students try out multiple methods (textual, visual, aural, musical/rhythmic, dance, cooperative partner exercises, full mind-body engagement) to examine epistemological questions: as GM Sam Chin, founder of ZXD, phrases the enduring dilemma: what is ‘knowing’, how do we know, and what references do we use for knowing?

Interested in tips for creating community using applied, hands-on and application-based courses? Business students need strong Excel skills to be competitive. Using Excel to develop accounting reports provides the tools for making business decisions which give students a deeper understanding of both courses.  Students integrate the use of Excel and its tools with accounting content.  Learn ways to develop your own learning community by seeing how we integrate Managerial Accounting with Excel introduction and advanced outcomes.  This Learning Community has evolved since its inception, hear how we have experimented, expanded and what we have learned over time. We enhance the students Excel and accounting experience with integrated in-class hands-on assignments and take-home assignments alike.  Learn how we market the course to potential students, watch and hear from students why they are choosing this Excel in Accounting learning community!

It is widely known that first-year students entering college carry with them a wealth of experience and knowledge from prior educational and life experiences.  For some, adversity was interwoven within these experiences, leaving entering students with anxieties, sensitivities, and for some, trauma responses. The consequences of students’ experiences and symptoms of trauma are significant and include a decreased likelihood of attending class, and compromised capacity to concentrate, learn, and participate in classroom activities. This becomes especially relevant in the context of Learning Communities (LC), where facilitators face the vital challenge of acknowledging and addressing the varying identities and experiences of first-year students. We are tasked to do this through our educational practices, both in the classroom and in LC community engagement activities.

Trauma-Informed Educational Practices (TIEP) offer a set of principles and strategies that address some of the challenges students present inside and outside the classroom. TIEP is based on the principles of Trauma-Informed Care (TIC), which recognizes that the presentations and behaviors of challenging students may be the consequence of having experienced trauma, instead of character flaws (Institute of Trauma Informed Care, 2015).  Being trauma-informed is a shift in perspective, from “what’s wrong with you”, to “what happened to you.” LCs present unique opportunities for the use of TIEP due to facilitators’ ability to engage with students on multiple levels and across multiple spaces. TIEP translates into work within a LC, where facilitators reframe their pedagogical approach with students, course material and the overall development of individual courses and new LCs.

This presentation will inform and motivate LC facilitators to consider TIEP into their own work with LC students, increasing the likelihood of student learning in response to a safe, relational community experience. First, the concepts of trauma and trauma informed teaching will be presented, including the importance and benefits of this educational practice. Second, several strategies and tools will be presented to demonstrate the incorporation of TIEP within LC classrooms and community activities. Throughout the presentation, the importance of collaboration within the university community will be emphasized as means of continued learning and support in these practices.

This panel will discuss the lessons learned during our use of an online workplace communication and productivity tool called Slack to run historical role-playing simulation games in learning communities that linked United States history surveys, introductory Political Science courses, and First Year Seminars. In this pedagogy, known  ‘Reacting to the Past,’ the students take on the roles of historical figures at some important moment in history. Rather than recreating whatever happened, they are tasked with working through their own version of events. In both fully online and blended format classes, we operated the games within Slack workspaces where the students could post videos, images, and files; debate and discuss the issues; and coordinate individually or among their separate factions. During our panel session, we’ll show how the Slack platform works and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses for these particular purposes.