The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 36, No. 2 - 63

Intentional Democratic Communities

the creation of relationships and dialogue about common goals and an interconnected future. The creation of community involves development of common intellectual pursuits as well as the creation of interpersonal relationships. As part of the process of engaging students in guiding their own community, two courses were developed for residents in the original IDC, one in active listening and the other in group process. In addition, as many as 25% of the students were involved in conducting research on thematic and behavioral issues in the community, for which they received independent study credit, e.g., sex-role differentiation in the IDC, creation of community rituals, tracking themes in primary group discussions, and monitoring ongoing program evaluation. In order to take maximum advantage of the IDC model, academic coursework should be integrated into the program using constructivist approaches and study of the community as academic training tools. Almost any major or course could be integrated into this kind of community. English majors wrote poetry and essays about their experiences. Anthropology and sociology majors studied the community culture. Art majors decorated the walls of the building and created sculpture and puppetry. Engineers designed systems for cleaning, managing workloads, and arranging the kitchen. Some students used the community experience to expand their college experience rather than to augment their academic majors. Courses from any discipline could be tailored to the community. At this time in history, IDCs would be especially beneficial for students interested in creating sustainable living environments and organizing community service projects or political activities.

DOES THIS MODEL REMAIN RELEVANT? IS IT STILL USEFUL?
Many recent developments in higher education support the reemergence of the IDC as one model for a learning community. Learning communities are now being widely discussed as having a range of formats that are both residential and non-residential. There is an emphasis on linking courses to common themes and assigning the same group of students to two or three courses so that they get to know each other in an academic context. Many nonresidential institutions are using this model for first-year students to support development of bonds with fellow students and the campus community. These models are content-focused. The classroom process or the integration of experiential, out-of-class learning is not heavily emphasized. When content-centered learning communities focus on issues of democratic governance and integrate civic engagement activities into the curriculum, they can be quite effective in developing skills for involvement in democracy, regardless of whether this aspect of skill development is intentional. Residential learning communities, in which academic content and community processes are integrated, provide an extremely powerful engaged learning experience because they address all learning modalities and domains: the cognitive, the affective, and the behavioral/social. The IDC model is particularly relevant to the learning community movement right now because of the political context of the nation and the world. When President Obama stated that this is the time for all of us to contribute to solving the problems in our own communities, he signaled a change of political and cultural

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 36, No. 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 36, No. 2