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 advisor for more information.
”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 and an ISUComm Foundations 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.
Primarily for Biology and Genetics majors, but open to all students interested in exploring careers in the life sciences, including Biochemistry, Environmental Science, and Open Option.
BIOL/GEN113X is taught in the Spring to students in their first year at ISU (freshmen or transfer students).
BIOL/GEN114X is taught in the Fall to students in their second year at ISU (sophomores or recent transfer students).
Note: students are not required to have taken BIOL/GEN113X in order to enroll in BIOL/GEN114X.
Program description
Do you want to:
Get to know new friends in a small classroom setting (40 students or less) while exploring careers in the life sciences?
Make connections with peer mentors who are knowledgeable and who remember what it was like to be new at Iowa State?
Develop academic and professional skills that will enable a successful Iowa State experience now and launch you into your 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 careers that interest you?
You can achieve all these things and more by meeting for just two hours per week throughout the spring and/or fall semester in these low-effort, high-reward, one-credit, pass/not pass (P/NP) courses!
BIOL/GEN113X – 1cr, P/NP, Spring:
This course will help you discover where your interests lie within the life sciences, with a particular focus on Biology and Genetics. It will provide you with opportunities to explore different career paths through interactions with more senior students, faculty, and leaders outside academia. Activities will include workshops to develop professional skills, visits to labs on campus and conversations with the faculty, graduate students, and staff, and field trips to facilities both on and off campus (e.g. the ISU Research Park). It is also a great way to find study buddies for first-year life sciences courses and create long-lasting connections with other students who share similar interests with you.
BIOL/GEN114X – 1cr, P/NP, Fall:
This course is split into four sections, each of which gives students the opportunity to explore and get hands-on experience in a specific topic within the life sciences. Options include:
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 and meet with practicing professionals.
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.
Decoding the Genetic Mechanisms of Metabolism and Aging. Obtain authentic research experience and learning opportunities using cutting-edge genetic and cell biology approaches. Interrogate cellular metabolism, aging, and age-related diseases.
Bonus: Join study teams for Principles of Genetics and Organic Chemistry I
Living Options
None
Signing up
Students will have an opportunity to register for this learning community during class registration.
The best part of learning community is all of the connections I've made. I met some of my best friends when I was taking it as a freshman and I continue to meet new people all the time. It has also allowed me to connect with a lot of professors who have been valuable resources to me throughout my college career. - Kate
Majors eligible to join
The Chemistry Learning Community is intended for first-year and transfer majors in chemistry, but is open to any student with an interest in chemistry.
Program description
The Chemistry Learning Community (CLC) seeks to build a community environment that fosters the educational and emotional growth of chemistry students. Because of the importance of research in chemistry, the CLC is centered on a research theme. The CLC holds weekly meetings and activities with freshmen and transfer students throughout the year. Students enroll in Chemistry 101A (fall only) and Chem 101B (spring only) “Chemistry Learning Community Orientation.” We will introduce students to support services, resources, and opportunities at ISU including AccessPlus, Canvas, and the Society of Chemistry Undergraduate Majors (SCUM) – our chemistry club. We will develop team-building, problem-solving, and professional skills, provide educational and service-based field trips, and invite faculty to discuss their research. We will also have some activities just for fun!
Our goals include:
building a supportive community for our freshmen and transfer students by creating and promoting connections between the majors, peer mentors, faculty and staff,
exposing freshmen and transfer students to undergraduate research opportunities, and
helping students learn coping, problem-solving and communication skills.
Living Options
This is a non-residential learning community.
Signing up
All incoming first-year and transfer chemistry majors will automatically become part of the Chemistry Learning Community when they register for courses at summer orientation. Be sure to show up in August for the learning community orientation events which will be held just prior to the start of classes.
Multicultural students (American Indian/Alaska Native, African American, Asian American, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Latino/a, Multiracial) in any College of Liberal Arts and Sciences major.
Program Description
Are you looking forward to building a community with students of color this fall?
Do you want to learn more about campus resources and opportunities to get involved?
Would you like to develop a great relationship with a current multicultural student leader who could serve as your peer mentor, and become a life-long friend?
BOLD is a fantastic opportunity for first-year and new transfer students who are striving for academic, social and professional success. The BOLD Learning Community is designed to support the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ diverse student population with representation and retention, and you can be a part of it!
The BOLD Learing Community offers three main components:
Orientation course in the fall and seminar course in the spring
In this learning community, students study biology, chemistry, English and microbiology as a group, seeing the same faces in most of their first semester classes. The English course most of the students take is science-focused, using the discovery of water-borne disease, the controversy surrounding antibiotics in agriculture, and the importance of hand-washing to demonstrate the value of communication skills. Peer mentors will provide assistance, be part of the orientation class, and plan social outings.
During the spring semester, Microbiology students will continue to have access to the peer mentors for guidance pertaining to academics, class questions, or a friendly person to listen to concerns. At the end of the academic year, learning community students are given the opportunity to travel to the national American Society for Microbiology (ASM) meeting, where they see presentations of the most current microbiology research and, more importantly, meet student and professional microbiologists from around the country. If you are interested in microbiology, join us to learn how microbes DO rule the world.
Living Options
Non-residential LC
Signing up
Freshman/first semester students may sign up for the learning community during their summer orientation.