KCC
Conferences
June
3 - 4, 2008: Designing and Building a Learning Community Program: The
Kingsborough Model Photos Link
June
4 - 5, 2007: Designing and Building a Learning Community Program: The
Kingsborough Model Photos Link
July 19-20, 2006: Creating and Sustaining Learning Communities: A Problem-Based
Approach to Success Photos Link
The overarching goals of the conference were for participants to consider the four key components of the Kingsborough Learning Communities model and to adapt the model to their own learning communities institutional plan. Workshops addressed the key elements of the model - organizing and administering learning communities, engaging faculty, engaging students, and program assessment and evaluation - and each participating college was asked to send a team including administrators, faculty, and student support staff. Forty participants from seven community colleges from around the country - Bronx CC, NY; Broward CC, FL; Cahaugya CC, OH; Chaffee CC, CA; Houston CC, TX; Norwark, CN; and Queensborough CC, NY - participated. All were at various stages of building learning communities initiatives on their campuses.
Feedback on this conference was very positive. Participants were particularly enthusiastic about an activity on integrative, interdisciplinary collaboration. One participant noted that it "gave our group new ideas for incentives and tools to assist faculty in learning communities" and another recognized the importance of "consistent professional development for faculty." Throughout the two-day conference, participants remarked on the way Kingsborough administrators, faculty, and student support staff interacted with each other, modeling the teamwork believed to be at the heart of a successful learning communities program. As one participant stated, "Great to see faculty and administration are all on the same page." Another commented that the conference did "a very good job of defining learning communities and providing a checklist of the administrative support that is necessary for a learning community to succeed." A third summed it up: the conference showed how "collaboration can be effective in implementing new initiatives."
