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Living Learning Communities (LLCs) have been gaining popularity on University campuses over the last 20 years. While I did not have the option to fully join a Living Learning Community, my residence hall, Cawthon, is made up of roughly 80% LLC residents (University Housing). There are two LLCs housed in Cawthon: Music and Women in Math, Science and Engineering (WIMSE). Even living in the non-LLC portion of Cawthon, one can be fully immersed into the Living Learning Community lifestyle. My friends all belong to LLCs, I’ve sat in on colloquiums and seen how a community can be developed from an LLC. Being surrounded by two LLCs has prompted me to continue researching the formation, success and the academic and social impact that a Living Learning Community has on a student. In this essay, I will examine if LLC students are more academically and socially successful than their non-LLC counterparts and ask why? Through much research, and sitting down for an interview with Dr. William Parker, the exploratory-LLC coordinator for Bryan Hall, I have learned an ample amount of information that proves why LLCs are continually successful.

The Community

Living Learning Communities continue to prosper each year as the program grows nationally. The purpose of LLCs is to promote learning with others who have similar interests or career paths, form a community where everyone can rely on one another academically. I have read several studies throughout the course of my preliminary research from all over the country and each have concluded for several reasons students excel in their studies when belonging to a Living Learning Community.

A study conducted at Texas A&M studied the thinking styles of students when observing a leadership-based LLC. They were given surveys before and after their first year in the program. The study was to compare systemic and hierarchical thinking in terms of leadership. Author Allison Dunn notes that by “focusing on active learning rather than passive, LLCs are able to create a sense of community within the participants and between the program participants and their faculty members, thus providing a positive environment for improved educational outcomes,” (Dunn et al. 152). With this in mind it is seen through the research of her and her colleagues that students actually grew as systemic thinkers. Meaning, they believed in treating leadership as something that should happen with people sharing power and leadership roles rather than having one be the sole leader and direct those under him/her. Having students live and work together, they learn that leadership should be a skill of all individuals and that everyone can work together using their own leadership skills.

These findings directly correlate with the community aspect of a living learning community. In my interview with Dr. Bill Parker, director and coordinator for the Exploratory LLC located in Bryan Hall. He stresses how vital peer-to-peer learning is in an environment like the LLC it’s, “a very important part of this community structure, whether it’s a friendly competition or whether it’s an offer of assistance, peer-to-peer learning is so important,” (Parker). He explained to me that because students share classes and a living space together it can prompt them to work together. They figure out each other’s as well as their own strengths and weaknesses, and then play off of those. For example, if one student is really strong in Philosophy but not Calculus and another is strong in Calculus but not in Philosophy, they can work together to help one another out.

A group of 5 professors and professionals from the University of Illinois collaborated and researched the community aspect of a Living Learning Community. They explored several topics including the self-confidence of their residents, the extracurricular and co-curricular activities of its residents, the level of interaction with peers and faculty and more. After a survey of over 146 LLC residents, students believed eating with hallmates (61.6%), living on the floor (54.8%) and studying with hallmates (47.9%) were considered very important in the LLC, compared to 43.5%, 50.0% and 17.4% of non-LLC students found these important when asked if these actions foster a sense of community. Through a more in-depth analysis, Women in STEM had risen above the other LLCs in comparison when talking about “social support, study environment with academic support, support in their field,” considering that women in STEM is considered a minority in the field (Spainerman et al.).