The International Adventure learning community provides a 100% virtual experience in which first-year international students can take courses in common, connect with one another, receive support from upper-division peer mentors, and explore career options from anywhere around the world.
Four options are available for this virtual experience:
Business: course options for Pre-Business majors
Computer Science: course options for computer science majors
Engineering: course options for Engineering majors
General: course options for all majors
Contact:
For more information about this exciting opportunity, please contact Suzanne Härle at sharle@iastate.edu
First-Year Data Science majors and students in Open Option are eligible to join.
Program description
The Data Science Learning Community is designed to assist first-year Data Science majors in their transition to Iowa State University by providing a support framework of knowledge, resources, and people. All freshman Data Science majors will enroll in the same DS 110 orientation course and will have other clustered courses with members of the learning community. Students have close connections with a Data Science peer mentor in the orientation course and other meetings designed to assist in learning about data science, group interaction skills and academic problem solving in order to increase success and retention.
Living Options
None
Signing up
Students will have an opportunity to register for this learning community during the class registration portion of summer orientation.
First-year students majoring in Advertising or Public Relations, and Open Option students
Program description
This
learning community serves first-year students who plan to major in advertising or public relations. It will help them become better
consumers, creators, and brand storytellers, and it will promote connections with
other students in the major, as well as with faculty and staff in the
Greenlee School. A second learning community in the Greenlee School
serves students planning to major in journalism,
and the two Greenlee learning communities will have opportunities to
interact, especially through social events.
All students will be
enrolled in one of two sections of JL MC 110 set aside for the learning
community. Most will also find themselves in class together in JL MC 101
and ADVRT 230 or PR 220.
This learning community will also introduce
participants to opportunities for working with student media, clubs, and
other organizations that will foster and showcase their skills during
their four years in the Greenlee School.
This learning community is for new Linguistics majors as well as any student who is interested in language and how it works, seeking especially students in World Languages and Cultures, International Studies, U.S. Latinx Studies, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, and Open Option.
Program description
The Science of Language Learning Community is a non-residential learning community for students who are interested in languages, linguistics, and language science. The goals of SOL are to foster community among undergraduate linguists, develop critical thinking skills around language, broaden linguistic understanding of language as a science, and to help students become aware of possible future directions in these fields. As part of SOL, students will take three linked courses together: LING/WLC 119 Introduction to World Languages, ENGL 214 Introduction to Technical Communication, and LING 101 Introduction to the Study of Linguistics. SOL fulfills multiple LAS requirements including up to 6 credits towards Arts and Humanities requirements as well as International Perspectives.
Living Options
None
Signing up
New students will have an opportunity to register for this learning community during orientation and class registration. Transfers and Change of majors can sign up during fall class registration by contacting the coordinator.
Majors Eligible to Join: All Open Option, Pre-Health, Pre-Med, and Pre-Law students are eligible to join.
Program Description:
The HOME Learning Community is a first-semester program designed to support exploring students. The program provides a structured process for students to explore majors and careers while creating a home at Iowa State. Students receive support from connections with peer mentors, academic advisers, and faculty.
Benefits of HOME include:
Provide you with a structured framework through which you can successfully explore three majors or careers.
Connect you with information, resources, and people that can support you through the exploration process.
Give you opportunities to practice and therefore develop confidence in your ability to make decisions.
Living Options
No residential options are affiliated with the program
Signing Up: Students will sign up during Orientation. Please ask your adviser for more information.
All students in any major are eligible to join Leadership ISU.
Program description
Leadership ISU is a leadership focused Learning Community designed to help students develop capacity for practicing leadership on campus and preparing them to facilitate organizational and community-based change. This community is partnered with Campus Leadership Development (LD ST 270), a course designed for students who want to learn about exemplary leadership practices and engage in experiential campus leadership opportunities.
The Student Activities Center is a critical partner providing key connections for students in this learning community to lead the amazing possibilities for students at Iowa State. This learning community provides highly interactive experiences that create opportunities for students to be leaders on campus, shape change in their communities, and establish a professional network leading to success at Iowa State and after graduation.
Through LD ST 270 and the Student Activities Center, students will participate in dynamic lectures, engage in student-centered discussions, participate in large and small group activities, and identify opportunities to build community within the group as well as network with others on campus. Leadership Studies program faculty, Student Activities Center staff, and peer mentors ensure students feel supported in their academic growth and leadership development.
Leadership ISU and LD ST 270 are open to all students, though specifically geared toward first-year and new transfer students. All students enrolled in LD ST 270 will be a part of the Leadership ISU learning community.
Living Options
None
Signing up
All students who register for LD ST 270 be participating in the learning community.
”Students who join learning communities have a special opportunity to connect with classmates---form study groups, serve as sounding boards for one another, and even develop lasting friendships throughout their four years at ISU. Seeing the same familiar faces in two classes every week creates a comfort level many college first-years don't experience, and finding comfort in the classroom setting inevitably leads to smoother learning and more permanent retention of vital communication skills that translate to the workplace."
Majors eligible to join
Students of any major (including Open Option) who register for English 214 and English 250.
Program description
Students will learn about the background, practical application of, techniques of, and demand for technical writing and web design/usability in the U.S. and worldwide. Through written, oral, visual, and electronic communication skills, they will complete summaries and rhetorical analyses related to topics in technical communication. They will also delve into visual website design and rhetoric and learn to analyze and evaluate visuals both in terms of their messages and in their creation as TComm deliverables. Finally, they will master argumentation, acting as mediators in debates centered around technology, its use/misuse in the workplace, and its presentation in writing and multimedia. Because all students enrolled in this section of English 250 will also be taking the same section of English 214, this will encourage a sense of community and create shared learning opportunities. Within this single learning community, students can satisfy an Arts and Humanities requirement, an ISUComm Foundations requirement, and a US Diversity requirement! Students will also gain a greater understanding of technical communications as a field, potentially adding it as a major, second major, or minor. Tech Comm was recently rated the 14th best job in the U.S. by Career Cast and other sources, meaning that majors in English and related fields are becoming more and more lucrative as the demand for strong communicators rises!
Living Options
None
Signing up
Students will have the opportunity to register for this learning community during spring registration and June Orientation.
Any first-year majors who’ve met the qualifications for entry into English 250.
Program description
Writing Gender is a learning community open to students of any major (including Open Option) that links a section of WS 201 with a section of English 250. Students will learn about the contemporary status of women and gender diversity from social, economic, historical, political and literary perspectives. Through writing, oral and visual communication skills, they will analyze the intersection of gender, race, class, nationality and sexuality in the US and globally. Because all students enrolled in the section of English 250 will also be taking the same section of WS 201, this will foster an additional sense of community and collaborative learning experiences. Within this one learning community, students can satisfy an Arts and Humanities requirement, an ISU Comm requirement and a US Diversity requirement. Students will also gain more insight into the nature of a major or second major in WS.
Living Options
None
Signing up
Sign up will take place during Orientation. Please ask your adviser for details.
Open Option students and others interested in exploring majors and careers in science and technology - first-year and transfer students.
Program description
Do you want to:
Get to know new friends in a small classroom setting (40 students or less) while exploring majors and careers in the areas of environmental sciences, health, cell biology, and interdisciplinary STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math)?
Make connections with upperclass students who are knowledgeable and who remember what it was like to be new at Iowa State?
Learn about campus resources and develop academic and professional skills that will enable a successful Iowa State experience now and into the future?
Have the ability to shape your learning community experiences based on your own interests and goals?
Participate in small group activities that engage you with students and professionals who are already pursuing majors and careers that interest you?
You can achieve all of these things and more by meeting for just two hours per week throughout the fall semester.
During Orientation, you will have the opportunity to sign up for the section that best suits your needs, and don't worry - if your interests change as the semester progresses, you can get help switching to the section that works best for you!
Here are your options:
Save Planet Earth. An environmentally-themed section where students learn and connect via hands-on sustainability and conservation projects, as well as field trips to research sites around Ames.
Helping People: The Health Care Career Spectrum. Learn about the myriad of healthcare-related career options, have the opportunity to take a tour of the Iowa State cadaver lab, and meet with practicing professionals including a physician and a pharmacist.
Exploring the Secret Life of Cells. Learn how basic cell biology research in different organisms can help us improve our world in areas such as medicine, agriculture, and technology. Experiences include hands-on lab activities and visits to research labs around campus.
Striding Through STEM. This section will help you discover how Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) can play a role in your broader interests. It will provide you with opportunities to explore interdisciplinary career paths through interactions with upperclass students, faculty, and leaders outside academia. It is also a great way to find study buddies for first-year STEM courses. Activities will include presentations by representatives of unique interdisciplinary majors (e.g. Data Science), workshops to develop professional skills, and field trips to facilities both on and off campus (e.g. Workiva).
Course: LAS 103D (1 cr.)
Living Options
None
Signing up
Students will have an opportunity to register for this learning community during June Orientation. See your adviser for more information.
“The learning community not only provided me with a family, but also gave me the courage to talk to professors more and to branch out more with the different subjects of mathematics,” Kelsey Christensen
Majors eligible to join
Mathematics, Statistics
Program description
Mathematics and Statistics Learning Community members will work to build community by taking classes together, forming study partnerships, and getting to know one another via supplemental activities.
This learning community will provide supplementary activities outside class aimed at easing the transition to campus, exploring campus resources, investigating major-related organizations, interacting with university faculty and staff members as well as opportunities to meet professionals visiting from other mathematics and statistics institutions and organizations.
As the group matures, students may further develop their professional skills by organizing events for their peers to attend or by engaging in service projects.
Members will experience educational, professional, service-related, and social benefits.
Living Options
Non-residential
Signing up
First year students who have declared their primary major as statistics or mathematics will automatically be signed up in the learning community. Transfer students in mathematics and statistics and first semester freshmen in LAS open option may sign up for the learning community during orientation.
