Residential Learning Community General Information
What is a Residential Learning Community?
Residential Learning Community (RLC) – (noun) 1. a group of students residing on the same floor or residential area, who interact academically and socially with each other and with faculty and staff, and who share the same extra-curricular interests.
Wofford College features an array of exciting Residential Learning Communities, offering extra-curricular learning based within the residence halls. Participation in these communities gives students the opportunity to blend their residential and academic experiences, thereby enhancing the overall quality of their college life.
Importantly, each community provides students with the possibility of living with others who share a common interest, while actively working to develop a cohesive group focused on providing educational programming and resources for themselves and others on campus. Each community is fashioned around a distinctive theme, and is housed on a different floor in one of the residence halls.
Which Residential Learning Communities are offered for the 2008-09 academic year?The Office of Residence Life will sponsor two different Residential Learning Communities around the following broad themes:
The Arts Community
Diversity, Multicultural, & Interfaith Issues
Students who join a Residential Learning Community will work together with other community members and faculty advisors to focus their interests and efforts on specific areas of interest within the chosen theme.
How do Residential Learning Communities support academic and social success?
Residential Learning Communities enhance the residential and academic experience by:
- uniting students around a shared purpose
- creating an academic and social support network
- connecting faculty, staff, and students
- bridging in-class learning and out-of-class experience
- developing foundations of friendship and exchanges of knowledge
- creating dynamic and intimate learning-centered communities
Participation in Residential Learning Communities offer a number of benefits, all of which help promote academic and social success at Wofford. The potential benefits of living in a Residential Learning Community include:
- enhanced academic and social opportunities
- improved GPA
- improved connection to faculty and staff
- greater involvement in learning
- increased satisfaction with the Wofford experience
- increased persistence to graduation
Some activities that may be common to all Residential Learning Communities include:
- contact with students who have similar academic goals
- contact with students who have similar extra-curricular interests
- common place of residence
- more collaborative learning environment
- peer mentoring and/or tutoring
- faculty mentoring and involvement
- participation in clubs or other organizations
- career exploration
- leadership development
Do you have questions about Residential Learning Communities?
Any questions regarding Residential Learning Communities should be directed to Lauren Hackett (hackettln@wofford.edu) the Office of Residence Life.