Abstract:

In recent years, the development of learning communities in higher education environments has begun to receive a considerable amount of attention. This has resulted in the concept of community as being viewed as essential in supporting collaboration and promoting learning (Rausch & Crawford, 2012). However, much of the current research has focused on the student perspectives of learning communities, with comparatively little understanding generated of the perspectives of the instructional staff members that work with such groups (Hickson, 2015). Therefore, gathering the perspectives of instructional staff can enhance the overall insight of this type of learning experience; it can begin to complete the circle of understanding that encompasses both students and instructors. This paper addresses a research project that attempts to interpret and understand the experiences of a group of instructors who work with a student cohort learning community. This project utilized action research as its methodology to systematically investigate, gather information about, and improve ways of operation (Creswell, 2014) within the role of instructional staff in a cohort learning community experience. Findings from data collection; through the identification of constructs, themes and patterns are discussed. Specifically, it identifies the need for instructional staff to: understand the importance of developing the potential of the cohort learning community; having the instructional staff recognize themselves as their own cohort community; and fostering opportunities and providing platforms for communication between instructors to share information on cohort matters.

Keywords:

Learning Communities, Cohort Learning, Instructional Staff.