Living-Learning Communities That Work: A Research-Based Model for Design, Delivery, and Assessment

Co-published with 

In 2007, the American Association of Colleges and Universities named learning communities a high-impact practice because of the potential of these communities to provide coherence to and ultimately improve undergraduate education. Institutional leaders have demonstrated a commitment to providing LLCs, but they currently do so primarily with anecdotal information to guide their work. As a result, there is substantial variation in organizational structure, collaboration, academic and social environments, programmatic integration, student outcomes, and overall quality related to LLC participation.

To establish a stronger, more unified basis for designing and delivering effective LLCs, the authors of Living-Learning Communities that Work collaborated on the development of a comprehensive empirical framework for achieving the integrating potential of LLCs. This framework is designed to help practitioners guide the design, delivery, and assessment of LLCs.

This book thoughtfully combines research and field-tested practice to document the essential components for best practices in living learning communities and presents them as a clear blueprint – the LLC best practices model – for LLC design.

Practitioners, researchers, and institutional leaders can use the book as a guide to more effectively allocate resources to create and sustain LLCs and to realize the potential of these communities to improve undergraduate education.

Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas is an associate professor in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. Karen was the Principal Investigator for the National Study of Living-Learning Programs from 2001-2011, which was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Association of College and University Housing Officers International, the American College Personnel Association, and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. In 2008, she guest edited a special issue on living-learning communities for the Journal of College and University Student Housing.

Jody E. Jessup-Anger is associate professor of higher education and program coordinator of the Student Affairs in Higher Education master’s program at Marquette University. Jody has written several research articles exploring the effectiveness of living-learning communities, authored a chapter about theoretical foundations of learning communities in the New Directions for Student Services monograph, and co-led the Elon University Center for Engaged Learning’s research seminar on residential learning communities.

Mimi Benjamin is assistant professor of Student Affairs in Higher Education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She is the editor of the 2015 New Directions for Student Services book Learning Communities from Start to Finish and served as co-leader for the Elon University Center for Engaged Learning’s 2017-2019 research seminar on residential learning communities. She was a resource faculty member at the National Learning Communities Summer Institute in 2016, and in 2011, Mimi was a guest co-editor for a special issue focused on faculty involvement in residence halls for the Journal of College and University Student Housing.

Matthew R. Wawrzynski is associate professor in the Department of Educational Administration and coordinator of the Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education program and the Center for Higher and Adult Education at Michigan State University. Matt has given invited talks on living learning communities in China and South Africa and has presented on living learning communities at the Association for College University Housing Officers – International Living Learning Conference, American College Personnel Association, and National Association of Student Personnel Administrators annual conferences.

Peter Felten is Assistant Provost for Teaching and Learning, Director of the Center for Engaged Learning, and Professor of History at Elon University. His publications include: Transforming Students: Fulfilling the Promise of Higher Education (Johns Hopkins, 2014), and Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching (Jossey-Bass, 2014).