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Steps for Building a Learning Community in a Medical Physiology Course
Author(s) -
Modell Harold
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.541.4
Subject(s) - premise , learning community , process (computing) , medical education , psychology , course (navigation) , learning environment , mathematics education , medicine , computer science , engineering , philosophy , linguistics , operating system , aerospace engineering
Among the first principles for promoting meaningful learning is creating a safe learning environment (Modell, H.I. FASEB J. 22:767.5, 2008). Building a learning community not only provides a safe environment in which students are willing to take intellectual risks to test their mental models, it provides an environment in which instructors and students work together to maximize learning for the whole community. Community building is a process that begins on the first day of the course and continues throughout the duration of the course. Steps to accomplishing this goal include: 1) Community members becoming acquainted with each other; 2) Setting community learning goals for the course; 3) Establishing behavioral guidelines for the community; 4) Reinforcing the premise that all members of the community contribute to community learning; 5) Providing positive reinforcement for the learning process throughout the course. Examples of activities designed to engage the community in these steps will be presented.