| Learning communities are a method of enrolling cohorts of students in a common set of courses. By encouraging students to inter-relate course material and work collaboratively, learning communities foster involvement in the learning process and can be effective in improving freshman retention. Because the success or failure of learning communities depends on faculty support, this thesis examines factors that motivate faculty to participate in freshman learning communities.;Data collection occurred at two urban public universities. Forty-seven faculty participants and non-participants in learning communities were first interviewed. Questionnaires to verify and expand on findings from interviews were subsequently administered to a total of 432 faculty participants and non-participants. Data analysis, comparing the results of interviews and questionnaires, used principles from cognitive motivational theories to explain differences in faculty interest and involvement in learning communities.;Findings highlight aspects of learning communities teaching that faculty find intrinsically rewarding; program conditions that influence faculty perspectives on the efficacy and efficiency of learning communities, assessed primarily on the basis of student performance; and university policies that have a bearing on the professional costs and benefits faculty anticipate as a consequence of committing time to learning communities.;A majority of questionnaire respondents from both universities regarded freshman retention as an important institutional priority; considered cohort experiences to be educationally beneficial for freshmen; and agreed that adjustments to the curriculum should be made in response to the needs of entering freshmen. Although highly interested in undergraduate teaching, the majority of questionnaire respondents indicated low to moderate levels of interest in working with learning communities. For some, the teaching requirements of these programs (i.e., co-teaching, advising freshmen, developing introductory course material, etc.) were not of interest. For others, learning community teaching was perceived to be overly time consuming and of questionable value to students and their departments.;Conclusions underscore that increasing the value university administrators and department chairs assign to learning community teaching activities, through course staffing and tenure and promotion decisions, is essential to fostering greater faculty involvement in these programs. So too is systematic evidence to demonstrate that learning communities deliver significant educational benefits to students. |
