Concurrent Session D

Thursday, Nov. 12 – 3:00-4:00 p.m.

Mapping Belonging Through Words: Linking First-Year Composition and First-Year Experience to Student Success

Maryellen Ohmburger & Maria Rodriguez | Carolina D

This session explores a Learning Community model that integrates First-Year Composition (FYC) with First-Year Experience (FYE) to help students navigate the academic and social landscape of their first college year. Through coordinated assignments and collaborative teaching, writing becomes a tool for reflection, goal setting, and resource exploration. Students develop academic writing skills while also learning how to access campus supports, clarify educational pathways, and build a sense of belonging. Presenters will share the structure of the program, examples of integrated assignments, and lessons learned. Participants will leave with adaptable strategies for connecting writing instruction, student success initiatives, and learning community design.

Discovering the Value and Innovation at the Intersection of Learning Communities, Writing Intensive Courses, and Community-Based Learning

Aurora Bautista & Naoko Akai-Dennis | Carolina E

Discover how intersecting high-impact practices can transform student learning! This session highlights a new Learning Community cluster at a community college, combining Writing Intensive coursework and Community-Based, experiential approaches. Faculty from Academic Research (ENG 112) and Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (SOC 109) collaborated to develop a place-based curriculum rooted in Boston’s Chinatown, immersing students in real-world exploration and research. Through innovative backward design, participants will see how student artifacts and outcomes showcase achievement across disciplines. Attendees will gain access to sample syllabi, resource lists, and student work, plus practical strategies for building collaborative, field-based research. Learn how faculty expertise, relevant programming, and disciplinary clustering foster deep engagement, global awareness, and academic excellence—ideas that can be adapted for any institution.

First-Year Retention Is a Four-Year Plan: Extending Learning Communities to Support Persistence Through Graduation

Rachel Vincintore | Mecklenburg 1

The presentation, First-Year Retention Is a Four-Year Plan, examines how Learning Communities (LCs), a recognized High Impact Practice, can be extended beyond the first year to support student persistence through graduation. While many LC models emphasize first-year transition, this presentation explores a four-year developmental persistence model implemented at a public HBCU. The model establishes clear expectations during the transition year and intentionally scaffolds engagement, belonging, and opportunity across all undergraduate years. Grounded in student transition and belonging frameworks, the session highlights program design, implementation, and early indicators of engagement and persistence. Participants will gain practical, adaptable strategies for shifting retention efforts from a first-year focus to a holistic, graduation-oriented approach.

Mapping “A Moc’s First Year”: Scaling Integrated Learning Communities Through Cross-Divisional Collaboration

Delight Yokley & Jason Harville | Mecklenburg 2

What does it take to map—and scale—the learning communities’ landscape on your campus? This session highlights a collaborative partnership between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs that expanded a small Residential Learning Community program into 94 integrated Academic and Residential Learning Communities. Presenters will share a practical “mapping framework” that aligns roles, learning outcomes, and program design across divisions to support student learning and retention. Attendees will gain strategies for scaling learning communities without sacrificing quality, along with lessons learned from rapid program growth. Whether building new programs or strengthening existing ones, participants will leave with adaptable tools to better navigate and shape their own learning community’s landscape.

Quick Talks 4 | Mecklenburg 3

Riffing off Queens: Modular Pocket Learning Communities for an Increasingly Divergent Student Body

Alistair Maeer

Coming soon!

Practices for Cultivating Hope in Uncertain Times

Melissa Foreman

Students today are learning in a context of constant uncertainty that is shaping engagement, motivation, and belonging. How can instructors and community-builders respond without lowering expectations? This interactive session reframes hope as a teachable, research-informed skill grounded in belonging, motivation, and cognitive engagement. Drawing on learning sciences and Learning Community practice, participants will explore how uncertainty contributes to disengagement and how intentional course and community-building design can counter it. Attendees will gain practical, adaptable strategies to help students stay engaged, seek support, and persist. This session will offer a framework for fostering rigorous, human-centered learning in challenging and rapidly changing educational environments.