Learning Centre Roles in Facilitating Learning Communities at the Tertiary Level

Tertiary learning centres are generally considered as having the primary function of teaching students how to be most effective in their learning and performance so as to achieve success in their courses of study. Instruction provided by such centres are delivered through group work (courses, workshops), one-to-one work, and through materials that come in the form of print and electronic resources. What is often not well known is that the success of such centres in meeting student learning needs depends considerably on the development of effective learning communities within the tertiary institutions where these centres operate. Important features of such learning communities include students who are active (rather than passive) participants in the development of their learning capabilities, students helping each other, faculty and departmental staff who are actively involved in the development and provision of support mechanisms to cultivate desired student skills, and effective communication channels that allow instructors to learn as much from their students as the students learn from them. This paper examines some of the ways in which staff working in learning centres can contribute to the development of these learning communities. Specific examples are drawn from activities and programs provided by the Student Learning Centre at the University of Auckland. The ways in which the success of many of the Centre's activities and programs depend on these learning communities, and the measures used to assess the impact of these programs on student performance, are discussed. (Contains 4 footnotes.)