Learning Communities

Our Mission

The First-Year Learning Communities Program (FYLCP) at TAMU-CC empowers students to develop the habits of mind necessary to succeed as university students and as productive members of a global community by providing opportunities for meaningful connections with students, faculty, and staff.

Learning Community Structure

As a full-time first-year student at TAMU-CC, you’ll register in a learning community during your first two semesters to ease the transition to the university.  Your learning communities will be a cohort, or group of students, enrolled in courses in your major.  It will be led by a seminar instructor and a professor in your major.  Together, they identify common student learning outcomes and will create assignments that will help you integrate the skills you are learning in seminar with work in your major.  You’ll also participate in co-curricular programming designed to help you learn more about how the university works, become part of the university community, and begin to engage in your major as a developing professional.  

In your learning community, you’ll develop your ability to see the connections between your courses, especially those related to your major. These connections will help you navigate and succeed in your future courses and career.  You’ll have the chance to meet major prerequisites, graduation requirements, and develop the writing, reasoning, and communication skills needed to succeed in your upper division courses.  

Each learning community has at its core a small University Seminar (UNIV 1101 or UNIV 1102) class and you may enroll in one other course that is directly related to your chosen major and college.  University Seminar courses are offered by college major, and you will be co-enrolled in these courses along with other first-year students in the same degree path. These Seminars are smaller courses and are limited to 20-25 students and serve as active learning environments that help you to form a social and intellectual learning community. These student cohorts form close relationships that frequently last far beyond the first year of college. 

Learning Community Goals

As members of the FYLCP, you will: 

• Develop skills to become lifelong and integrative learners  
• Explore the connections among academic courses and disciplines in a global context; 
• Develop your critical thinking, communication, research, and information literacy skills; 
• Enhance your ability to learn through reading, writing, discussion, and collaboration; and 
• Reflect on your personal values, goals, and strategies for success at university 

For a listing of the current University Seminar course offerings, view the online course schedule on SAIL: https://www.tamucc.edu/sail/