"Students should join a learning community because they are the foundation of your college career. Leaning communities get you involved with other students who are in the same class as you. This allows students to easily meet each other and form study groups. Learning communities are also externally important for networking and creating friendships. Interacting with students of either the same or different major allows students to form friendships that could last a lifetime. Also, the advisors of the learning community are a great network source, as they have had previous students going through the same thing you are. Learning communities helped me become the best I could be." -Michael
A student should join a learning community because it will not only provide personal development but professional development as well. Students will make endless personal and professional connections that will ultimately lead them onto a path of success. Students will be mentored and led by successful upperclassmen students and an instructor who has a passion to serve the learning community and provide students with the necessary resources to be successful. I believe joining a learning community is vital to success and would highly recommend it.—Christopher
Majors Eligible to Join
Any engineering major.
Program Description
The LEAD Learning Community is designed to assist in the development of the academic, professional, and social support network of first-year and transfer engineering students. Members benefit from a supportive learning environment through daily study sessions facilitated by upperclass peer mentors and access to on-site tutoring services. LEAD Learning Community participants also engage in professional development seminars, industry visits, out-of-class community building activities, informal opportunities to interact with alumni, faculty, and staff in the College of Engineering, and leadership and community service experiences. In addition, LEAD members are assigned upperclass academic peer mentors and alumni industrial mentors who assist with their transition to Iowa State, the College of Engineering, and beyond.
The LEAD Living and Learning Community offers four main components:
- Orientation courses in the fall (Engr 1040) and spring (Engr 1050)
- Peer and alumni mentoring
- A residential/living component
- Course-clustered “learning teams”
Students who choose to participate in the residential component of the LEAD Learning Community get the added benefit of living on the same residence hall floor with other engineering students and having the support of an assigned residential peer mentor who may live on the floor and assists in the facilitation of additional community-building opportunities.
Living Options
The LEAD Residential Learning Community is offered in conjunction with the ISU Department of Residence and is housed in Friley Hall on Meeker House.
Signing up
To sign up for a residential learning community, simply select your learning community preference when filling out your Department of Residence contract in the Housing portal. You can go in and update or change your learning community preference information at any time up until the deadline without losing your “priority date.”
Once enrolled in the residential option of the LEAD Learning Community, registration for the course-clustered learning team takes place during summer orientation in the month of June.
