Concurrent Session A

Thursday, Nov. 12 – 9:30-10:30 a.m.

There’s No Time Like the Present: Using Time Banking in our Learning Communities to Make Our Students Well

Christine Grela & Kate Midday | Carolina D

This session will introduce a pilot project focused on time banking to build belonging and community within a fully integrated learning community course. Time banking provides the opportunity for students to build reciprocal relationships where they both give and receive. Our course combines Introduction to Psychology and Composition I around the theme of happiness. Although time banking to build engagement and belonging connects directly to the theme of our class, time banking can be used to create engagement and community in a variety of situations as students both offer their skills (ranging from tutoring and exercise coaching to an accountability buddy and hobby sharing) and take advantage of the skills of their peers. In this session, we will share the implementation process we used to set up the pilot, the syllabus language, and the assessment strategies we are incorporating as well as any challenges we are experiencing.

Wonder-ful Learning: Why and How to Teach Curiosity in Interdisciplinary Humanities and STEM Courses

Rebecca Scott & Karega Cooper | Carolina E

In this interactive session, we propose that explicitly attending to and teaching curiosity in the classroom can be a general strategy for integrating learning across different disciplines. We will begin with an overview of our own class, “Data and Disagreement,” that combines a philosophy class (Critical Thinking) with a Math class (General Education Mathematics). Following this overview of our own course, we will lead an activity that will help participants appreciate how curiosity can be cultivated and modeled in the classroom and guide a broader discussion about curiosity in Learning Communities.

From Anecdotes to Insights: Using Data to Understand Student Success and Guide LC Planning

David Finley, Anna Loseke, Chris Schnick | Mecklenburg 1

This session will share how CGCC developed and is beginning to use a centralized dashboard to better understand student outcomes across HIPs, including LCs. As HIPs have expanded across campus, we saw a need to move beyond anecdotal evidence and develop a clearer, shared picture of student success in HIPs using metrics such as retention, completion, course success, and student GPA. We will walk through how this tool is helping us identify where LCs may be having the largest impact, where stacking HIPs into LCs make sense, and identifying emerging questions and gaps. In this session, we will focus on what we’ve learned so far, and how this work is shaping our thinking and informing next steps and strategic planning. Participants will engage in guided discussion and leave with practical ideas for using data to better understand and strengthen their own LC programs.

Bridging the Gap: Leveraging Learning Communities for Career Readiness

Nathan Phelps | Mecklenburg 2

As skills-based hiring dominates the 2026 NACE Job Outlook report, students face a growing “articulation gap”—the struggle to translate High-Impact Practices like Learning Communities (LCs) into professional language. This interactive workshop bridges that gap by demonstrating how LC pedagogy directly fosters NACE-identified competencies.

Moving quickly from theory to practice, we will analyze impactful elements of LCs, like cohort learning, peer mentoring, and integrative assignments, to identify what truly supports career preparation. Working individually and in small groups, participants will map elements of their programs to the NACE competencies and develop specific strategies to help their students translate their LC experiences into the kinds of compelling “action statements” that employers currently seek. This session will be helpful for administrators, instructors, and advisors working in any institutional context.

Quick Talks 1 | Mecklenburg 3

Everyday Life Information Seeking and the Small Worlds of Living Learning Communities

Virginia Luehrson

How does putting students in selected communities (LLCs) both provide and prevent means for them to discover information and build community? Looking through the lens of the sociological concept of “small worlds”, I will explore how we can utilize information seeking behaviors to better understand how community and belonging are constructed for, and by, residents. The process of seeking and utilizing information can be an important indicator of community function and belonging.

Progress Through Mindset and Vision: Standing Up Momentum Scholars at Georgia Tech

Catherine Thomas & Anna Holcomb

This quick talk describes how Momentum Scholars at Ignite, a new living learning community and math accelerator program at Georgia Tech, was imagined, created, and delivered during its 2026 pilot year. This initiative startup was a collaborative effort among numerous campus partners over several divisions, such as Enrollment Management, Undergraduate Education and Student Success, and Student Engagement and Well-being. We first will explain the academic indicators that led to its creation and walk through the different stages of ideation, organization, and implementation. We will also unpack lessons learned and share initial assessment findings. This session can provide attendees strategies for effectively creating new living learning communities, as well as enhancing ongoing ones, to address specific institutional priorities and student success goals.