The Mission of the Northern Essex Community College Learning Communities Initiative is to encourage and support enhanced teaching and learning for faculty and students by emphasizing cooperation, integration, and collaboration.

Goals:

1. To provide students with increased opportunities for learning in community, and for contributing to their own learning and the learning of others
2. To support the creation of an environment that encourages learners to develop responsibility, increase metacognition, and become more critically reflective as learners and as members of the wider community
3. To provide opportunities for all faculty and professional staff to increase their understanding and implementation of collaborative learning, active learning, critical thinking, writing to learn, curricular integration, and pedagogies that develop classroom community
4. To enhance professional development through teacher partnering and collaboration with other faculty
5. To increase the variety of Learning Communities (particularly CSS, alpha and stem classes).
6. To increase the growth of LC’s by looking for connections to various college initiatives (i.e. core academic skills), as well as making connections in relation to specific majors.
7. To facilitate the sharing of pedagogy, research, and strategies with the college community and beyond
8. To encourage the growth and development of innovative types of communities of learners
9. To provide support for faculty as they assess student learning in the LC classroom
10. To conduct ongoing evaluation of the LC Initiative