Here are some Learning Community student's comments on their Learning Community experience.
What opportunities (please include both social an academic, if any) did the Ag Business Learning Communities offer you during your first year at ISU? (a couple statements or a paragraph would be great!)
"The learning communities helped me get to know other students and to learn more about other stuff than just school. The learning community also was a way to enter other activities at ISU, such as the club meetings and other academic meetings. With the learning communities I also found some people with who to study."
"The Agricultural Business Learning Community has provided me with many opportunities that I would not have been offered otherwise. The most important is that the community has placed me in classes with peers. This has allowed me to study with friends I have made from being in the community. Social outings, both through the community and outside of it, have help our friendships grow even stronger."
"My learning community offered me the chance to study for math 160 and econ 101 with other people in those classes, and as a result I got an A in both those classes. Also, it helped me make friends, and encouraged me to get involved with the Ag Business Club which has been a very rewarding experience."
"My learning community has offered me a number of different opportunities both socially and academically. On the academic side of things we take classes together, and we can study with people we know, and if one person in the community knows how to do homework that we are working on better then everyone else then they can help everyone in the group. We have also formed some very good relationships and friends that I will have for a long time."
"The Ag Business Learning Community helped me to get to know people in my classes that I will be learning with for the next 3 years. It was wonderful to know that for at least the first two semesters of my college career I would have classes with the same people so that I could form a type of "study network". This earning community has really helped me get to know people and made it easier to adjust to a new atmosphere here at ISU."
"The ag business learning community offered many opportunities that should qualify it for the Outstanding Innovation Award. I think that the main opportunity was being introduced to the other entire Ag Business major freshman in the very beginning. I liked doing the presentations so that we were adequately informed on most of the requirements/aspects of the ag business major. I enjoyed the lunches with professors; they really gave us to talk to them on a more informal setting. Learning team dinners were fun! They were another chance for us to get to know other ag business majors better."
"As a member of the Ag Business Learning Community I would like to take a moment to tell you about my experience. Being involved in a learning community is one of the best things I've ever been involved in. The transition from high school to college was very hard and the learning community really made the transition easier. My learning team met twice a week to discuss the policies and important information about Iowa State as well as meeting with each other and working on class assignments. We studied with each other to help each other understand. In addition to studying we also did a few social activities like going out to eat or meeting with our professors."
"I had the opportunity to meet lots of people in an unstressful environment, and the learning community gave me the chance to talk to upperclassmen, and have questions I might have answered."
"I am very grateful for the Ag Bus learning community. Right away, we got to know each other because we had learning teams. Each team was nice because we were with 12 or so other people and one peer mentor. Our Econ 101 class with Dermot Hayes was really cool. It was a great class and we all got to know each other really well. Now, as the year comes to an end, the ag bus people are still the people that I hang out with. We do intramurals together and have many social outings. We study for tests together and do homework together. The learning community helped us get to know the clubs in the college of ag . We all go to Ag Bus Club meetings together (i think more freshmen go to meetings than any other class!). I love that we all will help each other out if any of us ever needed anything! Classes are way more fun when you know each other! (the teachers might be a little intimidated by us though) "
2. For those who had/have Alzire: What did/does she do that makes her deserving of the Champion Award?
"Alzire Messenger deserves the Champion Award, because she plans her classes according to our needs, making it easy to study for econ courses (econ vocabulary every week, book "the armchair economist")it is a more personal class and she makes sure everybody participates and understands everything. Also it is important to mention, that she gave some of the class time for us (students) to be able to attend other Ag Bus major related activities. Sadly I wasn't able to get into her class this spring, but I learned a lot from her."
Francisco
"Alzire provides a learning atmosphere that is on a more personal level Alzire makes reading truly enjoyable by choosing books that are both her proofread a paper for either her class or any other class. In addition, informative and fun to read. It is truly a pleasure to have had Alzire as a professor than many instructors. She is always encourages students to stop in and have."
Chris Thelen
"Alzire has us discuss a lot of issues that we are interested in, so everyone gets involved in class. Also, she gave us soo many assignments, that any class in the future will seem easy in comparison."
Devin Mogler
"She is very good at relating English to agriculture and economic problems in the world. It is just not all about literature or things of that nature. She has greatly improved my writing skills and my whole outlook on English."
Luke Baker
"Alzire is such a charismatic person! She is a wonderful teacher and you can tell she enjoys teaching her students. She is very helpful when it comes to anything. Alzire has made my English class this semester a real pleasure to be in."
Meghan Hermiston
"She is very outgoing and teaches us more then just English writing skills. She encourages teamwork and promptness with assignments. She puts trust in her students and gives good comment back. She makes it obvious that she wants us to succeed in her class. She is also available to talk to outside of class; she even encourages it."
C. Schwartz
"Alzire has been my English 104 and 105 instructor. Alzire is very deserving of the Champion Award. She by far is the best instructor I've had at Iowa State . She is always willing to help. She teaches her methods/assignments in many different ways to help meet the needs of the different learning styles. Some of the larger assignments we did in the English class as well as the class that we were linked with. In both of the English classes we worked on vocabulary which helped when taking exams in Economics. The students that took her English course had higher test grades than the students who did not. This is due to the extra work we did for the linked class in our English course. Once again Alzire is a wonderful instructor and she is very deserving of the Champion Award." Andrea Ryan
"Alzire makes English very simple. She can break down big projects and it always seems like the work is easier that way. Alzire pushes us, and makes us learn new things and helps to broaden our horizons in ag business by reading more economics books, with real life situations. She is a good listener, and gives good advice. Alzire is helpful at explaining rules in English."
