Learning Communities
As a freshman, you’ll never find yourself lost in some gigantic classroom with hundreds of students. Instead, you’ll find yourself in one of UB’s learning communities, our nontraditional approach to classroom learning.
- You’ll join a community of students and your professor in exploring a variety of innovative topics our faculty members are always coming up with new course ideas that you won’t find elsewhere. You will get to know your teachers and classmates while learning and growing in a team environment. cool
- In your learning community, you might:
- take a bus to the Inner Harbor and have a class in a new setting
- enjoy a movie or participate in a group discussion
- pair your skills with those of other students to collaborate on a group project
- find yourself putting the textbook aside to experience hands-on learning.
- Current learning community themes include:
Creativity and Arts in Central Baltimore: Baltimore is a rich microcosm of people and a collection of neighborhoods. Over time, these communities have developed distinct identities and encountered challenges of evolution, expansion and decline. Art is an increasingly important agent of change, and the creation of the Station North Arts and Entertainment District amid the four neighborhoods of Central Baltimore (Barclay, Charles North, Greenmount West and Old Goucher) is an example of how artistic endeavors strengthen community development. In this interactive learning community, you’ll take an interdisciplinary approach to this rich subject.
- Professor Christina Ralls: Music and Art as Craft (ARTS 101) MW 9:30 a.m.
- Professor Cheryl Wilson: College Composition (WRIT 101) MW 11 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
- Professor Jessica Elfenbein: Understanding Community (CSCE 200) MW 2-3:20 p.m.
Living in a Sustainable World: Understand approaches to creating a sustainable lifestyle in light of emerging environmental challenges.
- Professor Roger Weber: Business in a Changing World (MGMT 101) MW 9:30-10:50 a.m.
- Professor Stanley Kemp: Human Ecology (ENVS 201) MW 11 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
- Professor Paul Walsh: Communicating Effectively (CMAT 201) MW 2-3:20 p.m.
Media and Government: Explore the relationships between mediated communication and the history, goals and perceptions of government. In this learning community, you’ll examine American politics, the Constitution and the system of American government. You’ll review fictionalized and news media portrayals of government entities, and you’ll learn the art of constructing those portrayals. You’ll also discover the role that personal, interpersonal and public communication play in your life, in government and in the media.
- Professor Paul Pilger: Topics in the Arts I: Arts, Politics and Media (ARTS 297) MW 9:30-10:50 a.m.
- Professor William Wells: American Government (GVPP 201) MW 11 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
- Professor Kelly Carr: Communicating Effectively (CMAT 201) MW 2-3:20 p.m.
Friend Me on Facebook ... Follow Me on Twitter: In this learning community, you’ll explore the phenomenon of social networking through the lens of psychology, pop culture and information literacy. You’ll examine how social networks have changed the world in which we live. You’ll also look at the people and entities who are interested in your social networking accounts and how your accounts might reflect interesting things about you.
- Professor Paul Kopelke: Interpreting Pop Culture (CMAT 271) MW 9:30-10:50 a.m.
- Professor Kristen Eyssell: Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 100) MW 11 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
- Professor Catherine Johnson: Introduction to Information Literacy (IDIS 110) MW 2-3:20 p.m.
Fairy Tales in a Digital World: From J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings to the twisted tales of the Brothers Grimm, fairy tales have always helped us imagine and explain the unfamiliar by giving us a glimpse of what might lurk beyond the woods. But as technology shortens distances, there are fewer true unknowns. Why are these stories—as books, films, comics and games—still so compelling? What can our fairy tales tell us about our digital age? In this interactive community, you’ll research and respond to retellings across genres and create your own computer games based on classic fairy tales.
- Professor Mike Kiel: Introduction to Information Literacy (IDIS 110) TR 9:30-10:50 a.m.
- Professor Kathryn Summers: The Experience of Literature (ENGL 200) TR 11 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
- Professor Anastasia Salter: Introduction to Game Design (COSC 150) TR 2-3:20 p.m.
Law and Order: What is criminal justice? How are stories about crime told in literature and television? What is policing? How does one write persuasively about crime in a democratic society? How do we document or imagine the lives of offenders, victims, survivors, prisoners and communities blighted by crime? In this learning community, you’ll probe these and other questions in a criminological, expository and literary fashion.
- Professor Johnny Turtle: The Experience of Literature (ENGL 200) TR 9:30-10:50 a.m.
- Professor Mengyan Dai: Criminal Justice (CRJU 200) TR 11a.m.-12:20 p.m.
- Professor Valerie Dennis: College Composition (WRIT 101) TR 2-3:20 p.m.
Surviving and Thriving in Modern America: Have you ever stopped to think about the way in which individuals, groups, businesses and institutions behave, function, and influence one another in American society? In this learning community, you’ll observe and analyze interactions among individuals, groups, businesses and institutions with an eye to mindfulness and openness to new ideas and information, acknowledging differences in values and culture and recognizing that more than one perspective exists. Taking lessons from the past, you’ll learn how to navigate better into the future.
- Professor Steven Woods: Business in a Changing World (MGMT 101) TR 9:30-10:50 a.m.
- Professor Boram Yi: Modern America (HIST 112) TR 11 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
- Professor Natalie Burclaff: Introduction to Information Literacy (IDIS 110) TR 2-3:20 p.m.