Building and Sustaining Learning Communities: The Syracuse University Experience, Sandra H. Hurd, and Ruth Federman Stein, editors, Anker Publishing, 2004
Reviewed by Paul O. Myhre, Wabash College, Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion

Intentional formation of learning communities is not a particularly novel or new phenomena in higher education. Seminaries from their inception have been engaged in developing communities of learning that bridge students and faculty with communities of people living in various contexts. Liberal Arts colleges have a long and checkered history of learning community development. What appears new here is the aggressive approach developed at Syracuse University to form a multiplicity of learning communities associated with different disciplines in connection with specific desired learning outcomes that involve faculty, staff, and students in learning design and implementation. A fundamental pedagogical premise guiding Syracuse's efforts is that learning is significantly enhanced when students, faculty, and staff learn together.

Over 20 chapters the book covers a range of experiences by students, faculty, and staff as they sought to form a diversity of learning communities at Syracuse. Missteps are set alongside of accomplishments to form a series of trails that sometimes appear to move in a straight line and at others may look more like a minotaur maze that leads one to less than fruitful ends or causes one to rethink the path they have taken in development of the learning community.

The writing by the authors varies from lucid and engaging to pedantic and stodgy. Whether the writing is elegant or cumbersome, one message can be heard clearly. It is that the formation of learning communities at Syracuse was not designed according to a singular rubric. On the contrary, there seem to be as many designs for formation and implementation of learning communities as there are chapters. This presents not a flaw, however. But, indicates an overall strength for the book and indicates something of the wisdom of the Syracuse experiment.

Although there is not one specific way described for the formation of learning communities in university contexts, a single cord does seem to emerge through the chapters. It is discernable more as a braided learning paradigm that emphasizes the value of an interwoven education through learning community involvement. Each individual thread contributes to the strength of the whole enterprise. These common threads appear to be evident in the approaches taken toward development of effective learning communities sketched out over the 20 chapters. One thread suggests that students involved in learning communities tend to have higher grade point averages than their peers who are not involved with a learning community. Another thread suggests that the socialization experience of first year students is enhanced by involvement with learning communities. Another thread indicates learning communities prompt enhanced student involvement in the wellbeing of their university community as a whole. In addition, another thread suggests that students connected with learning communities tend to be less likely to leave the institution than their non-learning community counterparts.

The final chapter of the book provides a good summary of themes discerned by the authors, faculty, staff, and students with regard to what contributes to the success of learning communities and why. According to Hurd and Stein, one of the key components for effective learning communities is the nature of the academic affairs-student affairs partnership (225). Hurd and Stein also contend that collective involvement with learning communities by students who live together and are focused on common tasks tend to spend more quality time on academic pursuits (226). The bonds forged by students through learning community involvement tend to transgress boundaries of classroom space. The book offers a host of illustrations that point to this transgression as a principal factor in learning outside the classroom, increased involvement with the subject matter, and enhanced satisfaction among students in their overall academic experience.

Among the most instructive and illustrative chapters on learning communities in the book are Ruth Federman Stein's chapter on an overview of learning communities, Cathy McHugh Engstrom's chapter on the power of faculty-student affairs for promotion of integrative learning experiences, Barbara A. Yonai's chapter on the challenge of assessment in collaborative environments, and Janine M. DeBaise and Julie R. White's chapter on the amazing growth of first year students involved with the environmental science and forestry program at SUNY.

Each of these chapters accentuates what might be deemed as the best insights into the merits of forming learning communities coupled with piercing critiques about what may be some of the challenges to effective learning community formation. The inclusion of narratives that document the value and success of community learning contexts in Debaise and White's chapter provide tangible links toward discerning how what Syracuse has learned about the development of learning communities may be transferable to other university, college, or even seminary contexts.

Emphasis on student learning is paramount in the learning community model of education. The subject of learning in dialogue with students is linked with a dialogue with faculty and others involved with their academic learning experience. This dialogical hub of inquiry becomes the center around which the learning community turns. Ruth Federman Stein's overview of learning communities is a must read for anyone thinking about embracing a learning community model for their institution. Although the chapter is not fleshed out as much as one might hope, it offers springboards for successive inquires into the topic. Her list of learning community models provides a compact set of ways by which faculy may begin to envision how learning communities may be established at their own institution.

What this book does is to present seriously the importance of learning community formation for the ongoing health of a particular institution " Syracuse University. It is apparent in the text that formation of learning communities drive faculty, staff and students to think through pedagogical questions that may have remained buried or hidden by the secrecy of classroom instruction or faculty isolation. Pedagogical questions and concerns, learning design and outcomes, and assessment strategies are forced to the surface through the development of learning communities. All members of the community are invited to be involved with the learning process.

In addition to providing a handbook for thinking about the merits and challenges of developing learning communities, the book provides a good bibliography of resources and a helpful index.

Whether the writing is elegant or cumbersome, one message can be heard clearly: the formation of learning communities at Syracuse was not designed according to a singular rubric.