Influence of Whiteness on Integrative Learning in a Living Learning Community

• In Event: Dismantling Barriers: Perspectives, Learning, and Campus Climate

Abstract

This qualitative study explores opportunities for student learning and development in a living learning community. In particular, the paper focuses on how integrative learning is operationalized in an LLC designed for pre-service teachers. Prior research confirms the importance of integrative learning in developing quality LLCs and facilitating students’ critical consciousness development. Yet program implementation and outcomes vary significantly. Utilizing Gusa’s (2010) theory of White Institutional Presence, the authors critically examine opportunities and constraints for integrative learning. Data included interviews, walking tours, and group dialogues with five students in an education-themed LLC. Findings indicate the influence of infrastructure in facilitating informal learning and problematizes the confines and siloes of learning due to the influence of white ascendancy and monoculturalism.

Authors

• Samantha Silberstein, University of North Carolina - Wilmington

• Lucy A. LePeau, Indiana University