Learning Community in Education: Importance and Effectiveness

In life, it is almost a divine rule for every individual to be given the right to education; education serves the very base of function and that is making a person knowledgeable of all essential information including values and morals so that they become better people in life. Now, talking about places where education is imparted; the most common answer would be a school or even home (where basic morals are taught). We often forget that if a community of people living together or even a learning community at educational institutes possessed the right ideals and education to be influential that they radiate the essence of learning effectively, the outcome is expected to be absolutely fruitful and meaningful for individuals. This is why, in this article, we will be exploring how effective and influential a learning community can be. We will be looking at learning communities at educational institutes. 

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What is a Learning Community?

First of all, let us get to the basic definition of a community; a community basically refers to a group of people either living together in the same place or a group of people possessing a common characteristic together. And learning, as we all know, refers to the acquisition of knowledge either through an instructor's teaching or through research and experience. As individuals, we learn every now and then, there is always this minute medium through which we receive information or grasp the concept of values and morals. 

Now, a learning community would refer to a group of individuals who share the same academic goals and perspectives to achieve positive aspects whilst working together in schools. It is seen that learning communities are seen to endure a productive outcome when students work hand-in-hand with their classmates to procure certain achievements. 

Purpose and Importance of a Learning Community

Learning communities serve the function to produce a gratifying result, indulging individuals with a common aim and eagerness to work with one another and achieve rapid yet significant progress. We shall have a look at some points that indicate the purpose of learning communities.

• Networking and Connecting Individuals: Learning communities are often seen to involve individuals with common expectations and agendas to partake in functioning together to accomplish advantageous developments. With the ideology to bring such individuals together, there is this notion that they come together and a network is fabricated eloquently. 
• Collective Progress: In schools, learning communities are taken into consideration because they are an integral approach to efficient learning where the student takes part in teamwork leading to beneficial results. Therefore, the progress can be witnessed and it becomes a part of the outcome, and the outcome is aligned around common goals and areas of practice or study. 
• Collective Knowledge: Shared knowledge is a key factor of learning communities; as students engage in collaborative learning with others, it can be assured that there will always be a point of exchanging information and this way, individuals learn to grasp new information from one another. 
• Progressive Outcome: Learning communities facilitate fast cycle learning, individuals are given the measures which work for them within the group, in a way, the community as a whole is able to offer assistance to one another and bring about a progressive result that would achieve definite growth and development. 

Effectiveness of Learning Communities

Now, learning communities must be steadfastly effective; therefore there needs to be imminent support from teaching instructors so that the progress can be consistently efficient. Hence, we can move forward and discuss the effectiveness that comes from learning communities. 

• Minimal Distractions: With an effective learning community thriving in educational institutes, it is expected for every student to work and focus on their classroom work, thereby not allowing any distractions to take hold of their working schedule, this produces an outcome that drives the individual to enhance their concentration and focus tenfold.
• Positive Atmosphere: With an eagerness to learn, this enthusiasm in students can help create an atmosphere which is conducive to learning. Learning communities are often fabricated under this notion; to provide a stable learning environment so that the main goals are shared by everyone in the community. Students can therefore work together to produce a favourable outcome for their own betterment. 
• Usage of Different Approaches: With individuals sharing common goals and agendas, the teaching instructors are very likely to introduce teaching practices that would provide assistance to all the students. These new approaches to instructing the students are brought about due to the learning community’s capability to put together individuals with common agendas and aims. 

Influential Aspect of a Learning Community

Here, we shall dive deep into a component of learning communities and that is its influence. As we have learnt the concepts of learning communities, we can talk about a feature which can be regarded as a key factor in providing more effectiveness to the grounds of learning communities. 

For learning communities to be considered an efficient approach, there needs to support from the ones who introduce them. Therefore, teachers and even educational institutes are the main influencers in introducing learning communities. When learning communities are introduced in schools as an approach to learning efficiently, it can be assumed that a group of students will come together and work to achieve a desirable progressive outcome. With this medium initiated, a positive learning environment is fabricated eloquently, which leads to more participation in this approach by students and evidently, teachers formulate varied teaching approaches to help students achieve their goals more effectively. 

Learning communities would inevitably thrive with more individuals taking part in them, which is why educational institutes serve as pioneers for they allow students to work together, in a sense, there surfaces a sense of teamwork and team spirit when the individuals engage with one another and share knowledge indefinitely. 

Now, let us have a look at Happy English School, a school which formulates the essence of new teaching and learning approaches to bring about a meaningful and desirable outcome in their students

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Located in: Krishna Nagar, East Delhi
Affiliation: CBSE
Co-ed Status: Coed
Established in: 1954

Happy English School is a primary- Day school with English as its medium of instruction. The school focuses on setting its learning community as a prime example where their students engage in reflecting, critically, analyzing and constructing new knowledge. Their staff, teachers and administration are also constantly learning to facilitate students' learning. 

The school also lays emphasis on providing a stable, secure learning environment for its students. As the student engages in learning stages that build their critical skills effectively, this allows for more exposure to the student and formulates their mind to be able to cope with certain situations in life and analyse them carefully so that they can make viable decisions accordingly. HES therefore, with a team of competent developers designed the curriculum to be flexible and effective in every sense of the term so that they can meet the ever-changing needs of the world and provide the right education to their students. 

Theme-based learning is introduced in the primary level of the school so that the exposure is meted out to young kids. As they grow up, with more experiences and complex ideologies they become more advanced in their learning habits and produce a sense of growth in their abstract thinking skills. 

As discussed, learning communities are effective and influential immensely, they provide a more secure and stable learning environment which allows for fruitful development in students. Therefore, educational institutes should introduce this approach more into their curriculum so that progressive growth and development can be seen in the minds of their students. 

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