摘要：The reputation of Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, a campus of Memorial University of Newfoundland, is a narrative in which undergraduate student teaching is at the heart of the institution’s mandate. Central to this narrative is the premise that a lower student/faculty ratio enhances the learning environment as it increases the potential for interaction between the two. However, a growing awareness in post-secondary education is the necessity of students interacting with each other as an important element in facilitating intellectual growth and constructing a sense of belonging within the academy. At Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, a psychology and a French professor piloted a thematic learning community project in the fall of 2006 bringing together 16 students registered in introductory French and psychology courses. These students attended both classes together and met once a week for an additional 50-minute session. The premise of the additional session, as well as the project itself, was to enable students to appreciate the overarching themes connecting two seemingly unrelated disciplines and to understand better the interconnectedness of their first-year undergraduate experience both intellectually and personally. This paper will outline how the learning community project at SWGC fits the institutional mandate, how it has been influenced by recent trends in pedagogy of higher learning, and how the project was designed and executed.
