Gavilan Learning Commons

Proposal by Doug Achterman

Karen Warren

“If you build it, they will come.”

“If you build it, they will come.”

Basic Skills Education in California3 Year Study20+ California Community CollegesIf academic support and student services are “ poorly integrated with developmental classrooms, then they may not be effective, and students will not have the supplementary support they need.”

“Students don’t do optional.”Grubb, W. Norton, with Robert Gabriner. Basic Skills Education in Community Colleges: Inside and Outside of Classrooms. New York: Routledge, 2013.

What Works Now: A Collection of Five Solutions to Improve Student Success in California’s Community Colleges.

City College of San Francisco: Metro Academies

• Student services embedded in core classes: academic advising, tutoring, access to financial aid advising, early intervention.

Chaffey College Success Centers • “Function as an extension of the classroom, not

ancillary support services.” • 1/3 courses at Chaffey require students to

access the Success Centers.• Success Center access increased after students

took a course with a Success Center requirement.

• Success rates for students who access the Success Centers : 20% higher than for students who do not access.

Long Beach City College Student Success Centers

• All students testing into developmental Math or English must visit the Success Centers three to four times during the semester.

• Persistence and Retention: Students required to access the Success Centers had a success rate that was 43% higher, and a retention rate 34% higher than students who did not participate.

Learning Commons Principles• Integrated instruction, academic and student

services– Program developed out of ongoing collaboration

with faculty– Course-specific workshops, tutorials and

supplemental instruction– Instructor-created Directed Learning Activities

(DLA’s) – Course-specific menus of support options

Learning Commons Principles

• Flexible, hybrid space–Workshops–Group study– Just-in-time instruction–Project center for students/faculty/staff

(technology, space, equipment)– Information resources and help accessing

Learning Commons Principles

We Are All Learners

Students, faculty, staff engage in learning side by sideMetacognitive frame: ongoing examination of our own learning

Learning Commons Principles

Professional Learning Lives Here• Instructors, Student Services, Learning

Commons faculty and staff teach, assess, revise in dialogue with each other.

• Teaching and Learning Center provides resources and support for ongoing professional learning.

For You:

How can leverage the Learning Commons to help you achieve your goals?

Now Forming:

LCAT: Learning Commons Advisory TeamContact Doug (dachterman@gavilan.edu)or Karen(kwarren@gavilan.edu)