Introduction
The student population at Miami Dade College is continually growing and changing. According to MDC’s Institutional Research data, approximately 72% of all students who start at MDC must enroll in a remedial course offered in the College Prep departments college-wide. With the growth and changes come new challenges in teaching such a diverse population. Kays (2000) states that developmental education students are least likely to complete a certificate or degreed program. Instead, to reach them, instructors must change the culture and climate of the classroom. Students need “active learning.” The pitfalls of developmental education are vested within the preconceived notions that College Prep learning can lack creativity and purpose. Knowles (1980) indicates that adult learners learn best in contextually relevant settings. Compassionate instructors must meet the learning demands of all their students, and they should employ methods that will make their students think critically about their world and their own existence in higher education. In order to get students to “see the bigger picture,” we instructors must foster learning environments that are practical, meaningful, and applicable to our students’ experiences and their future goals.

College students today are not the same students that entered college five or ten years ago. Today’s students bring new waves of issues that may distract them from continuing and completing a college degree. For instance, the “Information Highway” has taken on a new role in education, and students have taken an even keener interest in distance learning courses. Students are used to 24-hour access to all sorts of things, from fast-food industries to shopping. Also, students are working more and taking on additional responsibilities at home and at work in order to make financial ends meet. In short, our students are challenged and sometimes preoccupied, and in some cases, learning is placed further down on their personal agendas. Compassionate teachers must be ready to meet the challenges by implementing new and innovative forms of instruction that will help their students learn.

Goals and objectives: learning community
The goals of this project were: 1) to encourage academic achievement in developmental education students through social learning; 2) to improve student retention by showing students that learning can be achieved in learning communities that are practical, meaningful, and applicable; 3) to maintain the standards of quality education at MDC by upholding a “student-centered” college atmosphere; 4) to foster applicable learning outcomes that the students can transfer to their own lives, in particular, in their professional lifestyles and beyond. Tinto’s (1993) message is that the by-product of effective education lies within the educational setting. This setting plays an intricate role in providing support and congruency in learning outcomes.

Learning community demographics
The learning community commenced in the Fall term of 2004. Exactly 20 students signed up for the course during the summer and early fall registration period.
Table 1 displays the demographic/cultural makeup of the participants:

In Table 1, the learning community maintained 20 students during a 16-week fall term. Of those that registered and took the course, over half of the participants were male while a slightly smaller number were female. Culturally, the course was comprised of primarily Hispanic learners with a small percentage of students in other cultures.

The following steps were used to accomplish/implement the learning community:
Starting the process of getting students signed in/up for the course:
 Speak with your Chairperson to “link” the courses.
 Once reference numbers are issued, wait for the course selection process.
 This is where support from the department is most necessary.
 Contact registrar to create comment to appear in Odyssey noting that the courses are part of a learning community.
 A block can be established to prevent students from registering in one and not the other.
 Begin advertising and recruiting participants.
 Create flyers, visit classes, etc.
 Finding interested students can be difficult.
During the project, we:
 Collected data regarding progress of project.
 Created a midpoint report.
 Maintained the budget.
 Kept records of activities, special projects, etc.
 Created a final portfolio and report.
Data collection and methodology

This study used the qualitative research method, in particular, the case study method. Creswell (1998) points out that case studies allow researchers to compare and contrast within the theoretical model by collecting data from interviews, observations, and focus group sessions. In this study, data collection primarily took place in the form of interviews and written statements and completed surveys of the 20 participants.

Instructors used surveys and questionnaires to get feedback from students at three intervals of the 16-week semester (beginning, middle, and end). Surveys and questionnaires were teacher-generated, and they required all students to respond to short and extended answer prompts or statements. Students were asked to maintain a weekly journal of all of their experiences in the learning community. Instructors also maintained an active journal of their teaching and learning experiences.

During the semester, the teachers met continuously to maintain a consistent and unified learning agenda. We correlated all course objectives into one, unified syllabus. Included in this syllabus was a pop culture schedule of thematic topics that the students would read and write about.