Annotated Bibliography-First Two

Rachel Surgent

Madeleine Kahl

ENC 2135

31 January 2018

Annotated Bibliography

Arensdorf, Jill and Janett Naylor-Tincknell. “Beyond the Traditional Retention Data: A

Qualitative Study of the Social Benefits of Living Learning Communities.” Learning

Communities: Research & Practice, vol. 4, no. 1, 01 Jan. 2016. EBSCOhost.

Jill Arensdorf is the Chair and Associate Professor of Leadership Studies at Fort Hays University. She studied Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University, Masters in Agricultural Education and Leadership at Texas A&M and her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at Kansas State University. Her interests are focused on youth leadership, service learning and civic engagement. She is involved in the American Democracy Project and Fort Hays University’s L3- Live. Learn. Lead. LLC program. Janett Naylor-Tincknell is the Associate Professor/ Director of the Experimental Psychology Graduate Program. She has her PhD from the University of Oklahoma. She focuses her research on Developmental Psychology.

It is understood that Living Learning Communities (LLCs) show increased student retention rates and overall academic performance in comparison to non-LLC students. In this focus group study consisting of 42 students including 17 non-LLC residents are asked several questions to examine the social aspects of the LLC and compare the results with students who are not involved in a LLC. There was some background on LLCs and previous research was done before the beginning of the focus group study. The twist on this study is the in depth analysis of the social aspects of an LLC, rather than the academic aspects. It is a well stated fact that, “LLC participants have higher retention rates, more timely progression towards a degree and higher GPAs (Buch & Spaulding, 2008),” (Arensdorf & Naylor-Tincknell). The questions were condensed and broken up into categories that were thoroughly analyzed. The categories included, Organization/Student Success, Engagement/University Community, Communication with Peers, and Faculty Connections. Both LLC residents and non-LLC residents were asked the same questions, however there was stark contrast between the answers. In terms of Engagement, LLC students responded like, “When you’re in a learning community, you’re automatically more noticed. I mean you stand out more than the rest of the freshmen in the class.” While non-LLC students responded along the lines of, “Through my fraternity brother actually getting involved in church, and just getting more involved in church and meeting all the older people that attend there and not just college students.” It was recognized that LLCs often stuck together and didn’t know many outside of their LLC, while non-LLC students knew more people throughout the campus, as well as the community.

This research is helpful for me because I can analyze the effects of an LLC in relation to social benefits or deficits. The research here shows that there are positives and negatives to an LLC because it can bring people together who share a commonality, however it can restrict residents from expanding their realms out onto the college campus, as well as the community, and prevent them from getting to know those who come from diverse backgrounds, or those who have other interests.

Dunn, Allison L., et al. “Leadership Mindsets of First Year Undergraduate Students: An

Assessment of a Leadership-Themed Living Learning Community.” Journal of

Leadership Education, vol. 15, no. 3, June 2016, pp. 151-169. EBSCOhost

Leading author Allison Dunn is an Assistant Lecturer at Texas A&M University. She studied Chemistry at Brigham Young University, has her Masters in Sociology and is working towards her A.B.D. Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications from Texas A&M University. She often researches topics such as Collegiate Leadership Programs, Intersection of leadership education in Student and Academic Affairs, Leadership pedagogy and Student motivation and intent to lead.

In this research, Dunn et al. give pre and post surveys to show how participation in LLCs influenced their leadership mindset in hierarchical and systemic thinking. Research showed greater improvement in systemic thinking rather than hierarchical thinking in terms of leadership. Prior research was noted before the results of the surveys. Dunn noted, “Modern LLCs are developed and designed as a high impact practice aimed at improving the educational environment to subsequently improve educational outocmes of undergraduate students, (Rocconi, 2011),” (Dunn et al. 152). The research showed that, “by focusing on active rather than passive learning, 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).

This source can tie together with the previously cited source because of the engagement, faculty connections, and sense of community mentioned in both studies. While this article focuses mainly on academics, rather than social aspects, the results can easily be bound together to show the overall success provided by the Living Learning Community.