Learning Communities

SUMMARY New learning communities and communities of practice are developing on our university and college campuses. These communities, based on collaborative learning, problem based learning, and other new educational models, are causing a shift in higher education from faculty centered learning to student centered learning. Librarians have done little investigation into the information seeking habits and needs of these new communities. An investigative study was undertaken at the Illinois Institute of Technology to identify the new learning communities, examine emerging patterns of collaborative work within these communities, quantify these communities' use of information resources, and identify methods of library involvement.