Implementing the learning college principles: Faculty and student engagement in the classroom.

With the onset of institutions becoming student-centered or learner-centered, faculty and students are experiencing changes in the classroom. Barr and Tagg (1995) espouse the paradigm shift that needs to occur from teaching to learning in order for institutions to fulfill their mission statements of placing learning first. O\u27Banion (1997) asserts that if, learning is the primary focus of higher education, changes must take place within the whole college community. The purpose of this study was to examine how faculty encourage students to become engaged in the classroom. Student survey responses identified by a national database demonstrating high engagement in the classroom were included as documentation of learning activities that encouraged students to become involved with their own learning. By interviewing selected faculty from colleges where high student engagement was documented through the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), this study also revealed how educators from learning colleges “facilitate†learning and utilized different teaching and learning techniques and assessments that were used to engage students in the classroom. The selected faculty also completed a brief survey. Triangulating data from multiple instruments tested the consistency of findings. Instruments used to collect data included results from the national database, interview field notes, survey results, and content analysis of course syllabi