Hallinan, Sarah R.
Abstract:
Since the 1980’s universities have been under pressure to increase degree attainmentfrom both an economic and accountability standpoint. In response, learning communitieshave been developed to increase academic success and retention. Learning communitiesin part were a response from large institutions to create smaller more manageablecommunities to engage students. This current study added a perspective on the impact oflearning communities at small colleges. The purpose of the study was to assess thebusiness department’s first-year student program via a case study analysis of the types ofprogram in which business majors took part (general first-year seminar and BusinessLiving-Learning Community). A second purpose was to assess the effectiveness of theBusiness Living-Learning community on the retention and academic success of first-yearstudents. A case study analysis was used to answer the first research question: How didthe business department’s first-year student program change from a general first-yearseminar to a living-learning community? An independent samples t-test was used toanswer the second research question: To what extent does the average GPA of first-year,first-time students differ among those who participated in a general first-year seminar andthose who participated in a Business Living-Learning Community? Results showed adifference between the GPA of those who participated in a general first-year seminar andthose who participated in a Business Living-Learning Community, with those in theBusiness group earning higher GPAs. A chi-square test of independence was used toanswer the final research question: To what extent is there a relationship betweenparticipation of first-year, first-time students in a general first-year seminar and in aBusiness Living-Learning Community and retention results? The data showed no relationship between retention and participation in a general first-year seminar or the Business Living-Learning Community.