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Tamia Powell
Instructor: Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1101
November 5th, 2014
Health Connection Learning Community at UNCC
When I tell others that I am a part of a learning community, the most popular question is,
what is a learning community? Arent we all part of a learning community being that we are in
college? While that notion may be true, that is not the type of learning community I am
referring to. According to Google, a learning community is a group of people who share
common, emotions, values, or beliefs, and are actively engaged in learning together from one
another and by habituation and have become the template for a cohort-based interdisciplinary
approach to higher education. Also, the idea behind learning communities is that students will
be more likely to form stronger relationships with each other, instructors and/or advisors and
engage more deeply in the content of the course work and that this will give them a better chance
of passing courses and staying in college writes Mary Visher, Michael J. Weiss, Evan
Weissman, Timothy Rudd, Heather Wathington in The Effects of Learning Communities for
Students in Developmental Education. Furthermore, according to Wikipedia, there are over 250
learning communities in college universities throughout the nation.
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte is home to about 17 different types of
learning communities. Being that I am a part of the Health Connection Learning Community, I
chose to observe this group more specifically. The Health Connection Learning Community at
UNCC hosts people who are pre-nursing, pre-kinesiology (athletic training and exercise science),

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public health, or social work majors. These students are required to fulfill certain requirements
to maintain status in the learning community. During an interview I composed with a member of
the community, Sally (for the sake of confidentiality), I asked her what requirements they must
meet and she tells me the members of this community are required to commit to participation for
their entire freshman school year, live in Lynch residential hall, complete a minimum of 12 hours
of service learning in both the fall semester and spring semester of their freshman year, and take
the following courses: UCOL 1000 (freshman seminar), SOCY 1101 (Intro to Sociology), and
LBST 2214 (Health and Quality of Life). Sally went further to tell me more about her experience
volunteering for the learning community when I asked where they volunteered and if she enjoyed
it; We volunteer at The Pines at Davidson. Its a nursing home. Its growing on me but I did not
like it at the beginning. Most of the time it depends on the mood of the residents the day that we
volunteer to determine if its enjoyable. But the staff helps a lot, Sally says. Moreover,
according to the Health Connection Learning Community website, its goal is to provide
collaborative teaching services to better prepare each student for possible entry into the five
competitive college majors and the benefits from being a member of this learning community are
that one can establish personal relationships with faculty and students of the same major/field,
one will get assistance with transition from high school and with course registration , one will
have weekly contact with advisor, and one will have the opportunity to explore diverse cultures.
The benefits Sally has felt she received from being in the learning community thus far are
learning a lot about campus resources and how to get around and function around school.
During the interview, I also asked Sally when and where exactly the Health Connection
Learning Community met in which she replied We meet in CHHS, rooms 120 and 122, twice a
week. We meet in two different classrooms sometimes because the community meets all together

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some days but splits into two classes other days." Follow up questions with Sally revealed that
this learning community has two professors or advisors and they split the learning community
into two groups of students to where each professor has a set of certain students. According to
Sally, the days all the students are combined into one, the professors usually have a presentation
of some sort and they present the information, usually from a Powerpoint presentation, together.
I stepped aside and did not participate in my UCOL 1000 class for two days to observe the
setting, forms and types of communication, and the social environment of the learning
community from a different aspect. On the first day of observation, I noticed more physical
observations than anything else. Upon entering class, my first set of observations were focused
on the setting of the meeting place. These observations were the room was in the College of
Health and Human Services building, the room was full of long tables and many chairs but there
were not enough chairs to host all of the students, there was a projector screen, and there were no
decorations in the room. Other observations I made during the duration of this class period were
that professors take attendance, the professors review the assignments that were due that class
period, one student in particular kept asking the professors questions about a homework
assignment that was posted on Moodle that she did not understand and the professors seemed to
be getting frustrated, the professors have (Author, Year) OWL Perdue Knight Cite written on
the board, the students have out their laptops, the class gets off-track frequently with lots of
laughing, the professors show a video called Prospect Faculty Interviews, and the professors
review what is due the next class period. On day two of observations, I notice a few people come
in late and some do not show up to class due to a sociology exam. Other observations on this day
include a guest speaker from study abroad to speak to students, students and professors ask many
questions during presentation, professors take attendance, the professors go over homework that

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is due that day of class, the professors have to practically beg for student participation during
class because students are on their laptops and cellphones which hinders the students focus and
participation in class, there are lots of breaks for joke-telling, the professors go over what is due
the next class period and class ends early. As far as language and communication observations, I
noticed that the group participates in a more informal type of communication. When speaking to
one another, most of the time, there is no specific greetings to start off the class or start
individual conversations. Students converse with each other to a great extent to the point that
professors have to quiet students routinely during the class period. Also, the professors and
students communicate very effectively. For example, the professors frequently ask the students
how they personally feel about a certain assignments. It is apparent that there is commonly a
miscommunication of assignments through Moodle, which is another method by which the
professors communicate with students. The UNCC email is also another system that this group
communicates. When asking Sally about communication in the learning community, she replied
Our professors mostly communicate with us through Moodle but we live with other students in
the community so we can just find people in Lynch. But also, some people use slang. There is a
group of students who call each other Squad. And some other students gave one of our
professors a nick name, P-Dilly. Follow up questions revealed that the Squad were just a
group of students in the class who live in the same room and were closer to one another than the
remainder of the students.
Through examination of the research, observations, and interview, I conclude that overall
the Health Connection Learning Community is a very beneficial group for incoming freshman
students. This group allows for students to adapt to the college life. Because the professors
communicate with students in a more informal type of way, they are seen more like mentors to

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the students which allows for students to feel more comfortable with telling the professors how
they feel and asking for advice. The fact that students of the same learning community live
together is too very helpful to students because it is easier for students to communicate with each
other whether it be for educational purposes or for a social aspect. Also, the mishaps with
Moodle aids the students comprehension of the website. Moodle is an important website for
UNCC because nearly every course taken at the university depends on Moodle for things such as
assignments, quizzes, and class syllabi. Being that this class is technically a freshman seminar
class, the professors also communicate with the students many different resources that are
available to the students from study abroad to tutoring services.
The learning community meets to assess the success of incoming freshmen, which is their
overall purpose. Each week the professors frequently give homework assignments based on
students specific majors or resources around campus. All of these students must have
something in common but what is it? All of these students have a passion for health in some
way, shape, or form. Their purpose or calling in life is to help those in need. This passion is most
noticeable in their willingness to volunteer at The Pines. Overall, members of this community are
exposed to opportunities that nearly half of the students at UNCC are not. Members gain close
relationships with students of the same major and their advisors, they gain service learning hours
that each student will eventually need to graduate, they gain knowledge of all possibilities
available to students, and much more. Moreover, this community views itself as a smaller family
and this can be displayed through the close relationships that have been formed from being in the
class. They also see themselves as the future of health care for our society.