The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 42, No. 2 - 29

A Learning Community Revisited

The wellness learning community
provided an environment in
which students were surrounded
by others who shared the value
of living a healthy lifestyle.
Those in the learning community
were expected to be free from
the negative effects of alcohol
and drugs, and staff and other
students were to provide support
in making healthy decisions.

dents lived together on speciﬁed ﬂoors in a residence hall. Other students living in the same
residence hall with identical facilities were
used as a control group to mitigate variances
of responses due to facilities-related variables.
The results of the study showed that participants in the wellness learning community had
lower satisfaction ratings than did those in the
academic learning communities and did not
have signiﬁcantly different satisfaction levels
than the same-residence control group.
The wellness learning community was a
collaborative effort between residence life staff
and the wellness program coordinator. It was a
core component of the living-learning program
at this university and created opportunities for
students and faculty to interact outside the
classroom and to actively engage students in
the learning process. The goals for the learn-

ing community were to connect students with
people who care, create environments where
each person's experience and education is
enhanced by the presence of others, offer services with community and learning in mind,
create living environments conducive to academic and personal success, develop citizenship through investment and accountability,
and utilize technology as a tool for community building (North Dakota State University
[NDSU], 2005).
The wellness learning community provided an environment in which students were
surrounded by others who shared the value of
living a healthy lifestyle. Those in the learning
community were expected to be free from the
negative effects of alcohol and drugs, and staff
and other students were to provide support in
making healthy decisions. Participation in the
community was expected to promote better
overall health and a sense of well-being which
would contribute to improving the likelihood
for academic success. The wellness learning
community agreed to the following conditions:
choosing a balanced and healthy lifestyle, supporting each other to make healthy choices,
and committing to remaining substance free
(alcohol, illegal drugs, and tobacco) both on
and off campus (NDSU, 2005).
Results of the 2008 study showed that students in the wellness learning community had
signiﬁcantly lower satisfaction with the living
and learning environment than did those in
either of the two academic learning communities. The wellness learning community students, staff, and faculty had all struggled to
meet the intended goals and objectives of the
learning community (Frazier, 2009). Three
common problems emerged: There was not

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 42, No. 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 42, No. 2