Learning Communities Committee
The Learning Communities Committee (LCC) is a standing committee that serves at the request of the Vice President for Instruction. Composed of faculty, staff, and administration, this committee encourages and fosters learning communities’ development and participation in planning and maintenance of academic standards, primarily through quarterly meetings to review applications for new and revised learning communities composed of Coordinated Studies courses, linked courses, and integrated course assignments.
The LCC reviews new and revised courses submitted by faculty. The committee considers compliance with college standards, accreditation standards, and alignment with the college mission, values, and learning outcomes. All new and revised learning communities must be reviewed and approved by the LCC prior to instruction. The LCC maintains and facilitates documents related to the learning communities’ approval process.
Learning Communities Committee Goals
1). Administration – Develop and implement a plan that sustains and documents learning communities.
- Obtain sustained funding to create an annual budget
- Maintain documentation on learning communities for research, promotion, accreditation, and historical records.
- Provide timelines for short and long term plans for learning communities
2). Promotion – Promote the values and pedagogies of diverse learning communities.
- Promote curriculum development
- Provide and evaluate professional development opportunities
- Collaborate with corresponding college committees and student services
3). Creation – Strengthen and support the creation of successful learning communities and the creative processes done within them.
- Create mechanisms for outreach, selection, promotion, and evaluation of learning communities that meet students’ academic needs.
- Provide leadership training and orientation in learning communities for members of the Learning Communities Committee.
- Enable programs to offer high quality learning communities that support college-wide and program level learning outcomes.
- Collaborate with curriculum support services to ensure that information resources and services are utilized.
4). Evaluation – Evaluate learning communities in relationship to the mission and values of the college.
- Determine if learning outcomes are in alignment with the appropriate program and college-wide learning outcomes.
- Ensure that the learning communities approval process is followed.
- Review proposals and provide feedback
Chair
The LCC chair is appointed by the Vice President. The chair receives one third (1/3) release time or other arrangements as agreed upon to carry out LCC responsibilities. The chair serves a three-year term.
Membership
LCC members serve a three-year term. Representation includes at least:
- Public Information – one
- Planning and Research – one
- Admission & Registration – one
- Student Leadership (Student Ambassador) - one
- Humanities/Social Sciences – one from each
- Science and Math – one from each
- Work-Force Education - one
- Library – one
- Business, Information Technologies, and Creative Arts – one
- Basic Studies – one each from ABE and ESL
- Health and Human Services – one
- Counselors – one
- Advising - one
Chair
- Establishes meeting schedule, develop agenda items, and conduct meetings
- Ensures the development and acceptance of short-range objectives and long-range goals for the committee
- Makes provisions for recording and distributing minutes for each meeting
- Facilitates learning communities establishment by maintaining forms, assisting faculty proposing Coordinated Studies, Linked courses, and integrated course assignments, conveying information between committee members and proposing faculty, and ensuring that learning communities information is routed as required
- Informs faculty and administrators of the LCC process and provides training or guidance as needed; informs the Vice President for Instruction of policies recommended by the LCC
- Maintains or delegates responsibility for maintaining a LCC Web site, including schedule, forms, instructions, and other information
- Maintains a records of LCC activities, including learning communities evaluated, policies and procedures, and other activities
- Provides an annual review of committee activities to the Vice President for Instruction
- Serves on the Curriculum Coordinating Council
- Works closely with the other curriculum committee chairs
Members
- Attend all meetings
- Review all learning communities submitted to the committee and provide feedback
- Take on projects that facilitate LCC goals and operation
Voting
A quorum consists of 50% (rounded up) plus one of the current LCC membership
Actions Requiring a Vote
The following actions by LC require approval by a simple majority of the quorum:
- Approving a leaning communities application
- Establishing a LCC policy
E-mail Discussion
In the interest of expediency, some decisions can be made by e-mail. In this case, at least 50% plus one member must respond to the e-mail vote. For example:
- Minor changes to proposals submitted to the committee
- Issues discussed at a meeting that required additional information before a vote
Course Approval Process
Process Overview
The LCC accepts learning communities’ proposals for review once each quarter. Learning communities’ proposals must include all required documentation in order to be considered. Required documentation is described and forms are provided on the Learning Communities Establishment and Revision Guide Web page.
Timing and Deadlines
In general, learning communities must be proposed at least two (2) years before being offered to allow time for any necessary revisions and to meet the publication deadline for the quarterly schedule, exceptions will be made as time allows and at the discretion of the chair with approval from the committee. The committee’s learning communities review deadline typically falls in the third or fourth week of the quarter. Committee members review proposals received by that deadline and discuss them at a review meeting usually scheduled about two weeks later. Proposing faculty are invited to attend the meeting.
After the meeting, the LCC chair notifies the proposing faculty of the committee’s conclusions and provides a summary of recommendations, if any. If the chair fails to notify the faculty of the learning communities status within two weeks of the course review meeting, the course may continue through the approval process without LCC intervention. The proposing faculty must respond to the recommendations within two weeks of the chair’s communication, to be considered at the next business meeting. Otherwise, the course can be re-submitted by the next course approval deadline.
The committee will review late proposals as time allows and at the discretion of the chair with approval from the committee.
Documentation and Notification
Approved learning communities are routed as follows:
- Electronic Copy: Saved with LCC Files
- Notify: Proposing faculty, appropriate administrator, committee members