As part of the freshmen experience, administrators and advisors made one suggestion to each of us: enroll in a learning community. Learning communities are usually two courses linked together along with UNI 101, which are taught by a team of instructors, a technology expert, and a librarian. Our specific community included ENG 101 taught by Dr. Victoria Hay, CSE 180 taught by Dr. Alice Christie, and UNI 101 taught by Professor Edward James. Our technology expert was Alan Godwin, and our librarian was Bee Gallegos. Every Monday, our same group of students would meet from 9:15 to 11:55 AM for ENG 101 and CSE 180. On Wednesdays, we would meet at 8:00 AM for UNI 101, and then our regular classes, ENG 101 and CSE 180, would follow.

The most common response about the learning community was that we felt comfortable with the same group of students. This enabled us to bond with our classmates and build relationships. Even to those students who disliked the courses, the unity within the classes was beneficial. We felt that English and Computer Literacy were linked together well. For example, essays about education were written in English, and posted to web pages in Computer Literacy. This approach used skills that we learned in both classes, and resulted in the creation of one project. University 101 is a course that stressed concepts for survival in college and life. Some lessons were time management, study skills, and academic integrity. We felt that this class would have been more helpful to someone who wasn't just out of high school, and hadn't recently attended school. In high school we had to balance school, work, and family, as well as excel academically. Therefore, many of the topics discussed in UNI 101 weren't as beneficial as we had hoped. For example, we could have talked about education in general to help blend with our projects in English and Computer Literacy, rather than discussing money management, and how to deal with stress.

In general, we liked all of our teachers that we had because they were upbeat, positive, and helpful. We would strongly recommend, but not require, learning communities to incoming freshmen.

Our Professors

Dr. Alice Christie	Dr. Victoria Hay	Professor Edward James