Q: Which students are eligible to enter into a learning community?A: Any first-time-in-college student who is both admitted to the University of South Florida and prepared to take freshman English.
Q: Can a student enter simultaneously into both a Learning Community and the University Honors Program-Four Year Track?A: No, because both programs are designed to independently satisfy all or most of the student's General Education requirements. However, a Learning Community student may be eligible later in their college career to enter into an Honors Program other than the Four Year Track (such as the Two Year Track or Departmental Honors). Interested students should contact Dr. Stuart Silverman, Director of the University Honors Program, for more information about these options.
Q: Does being in a Learning Community cost more than being in traditional courses?A: No, and it may cost less. Although students in Learning Communities may be expected to pay for attending occasional field trips (museums, movies, etc.), these cost are more than offset by the fact that students are likely to spend far less on required textbooks than they would in traditional courses. This is because some Learning Community faculty jointly make use of the same textbook, and some Learning Community Textbooks are used for more than one semester.
Q: Three different Learning Communities are beginning during the Fall semester. How do they differ from each other?A: One is designed as a residential Learning Community, satisfying all General Education requirements other than natural science and math. It is open to students of any major who desire to live in the same USF dormitory with other Learning Community students. The other two Learning Communities are open to students regardless of where they choose to live (whether on-campus or off). Of those two, they differ from each other in that one is designed for students of any major (all General Education requirements other than natural science and math), while the other, because it will include 6 semester hours of natural science course work, is appropriate only for those students whose major does not specify a particular natural science prerequisite.
Q: Each Learning Community is limited to a maximum of 50 students. If more than 50 students apply to enter into a particular Learning Community, how is the decision made as to which ones will be allowed to enter?A: First come, first served. Once the 50-student limit is reached, additional students will be placed on a waiting list in case any of the first fifty students withdraw their applications.
Q: If, before the end of the first two years at USF, a Learning Community student decides to leave the Learning Community at the end of a semester for whatever reason (such as to transfer to another institution or to switch to traditional General Education courses at USF), can the student do so?A: Yes. The student will receive appropriate General Education credits for semester completed up to that point.
Q: Once a Learning Community has begun, can a student not in the Learning Community enter into it at the beginning of a later semester?A: No. Once a Learning Community has begun, no additional students may join, even if other students leave. This ensures that all Learning Community students have been exposed to the same material.
Q: What if a student has completed freshman English I and II? Will that student still be required to complete assignments for ENC 1101 and 1102?A: Students will have to write for the other disciplines, and that writing will include feedback on the student's writing from the English instructor.
Learning Communities at USF