Learning About Community in a First Semester Learning Community: How Community Based Projects Strengthen Student Engagement

Abstract

In this chapter, I will discuss how community based projects in the classroom can be used to strengthen student engagement in campus communities. The theoretical framework within Student Affairs shows that increased student engagement in campus activities tends to lead to an increase in student persistence and graduation. This chapter illustrates the way that my learning community partner and I used two projects in our freshman learning community to encourage our students to connect with campus communities. The first project, a collage project, asked students to work in small groups to define community. The second project required the students to investigate communities on campus, in an attempt to encourage the students to find a campus community to connect with. I discuss the students' reactions to this project, including the ways that they did and did not engage with on campus communities, and their publicly optimistic and privately pessimistic views on community.