Kolin Konjura, Graduate Teaching Assistant, Office of Undergraduate Research
UT’s living and learning communities provide opportunities for collaboration, learning, and community for students who share a common academic interest. Students live together in university housing, participate in the same classes or projects, and reinforce each other’s success.
In Fall 2016, the UT Libraries partnered with the Office of Undergraduate Research to launch the Discovery Living and Learning Community. Discovery LLC gives first- and second-year students, from all majors, the opportunity to engage in mentored research projects that solve problems, generate new knowledge, and create new ways of looking at the world.
Students in Discovery LLC learn how to use the libraries, find and evaluate information, and also conduct and present research. Discovery students are matched with faculty members and research projects across disciplines and learn the skills of research in a supportive community of peers. By the completion of the course students will develop skills for finding, synthesizing, and presenting scholarly information, as well as understanding how to locate, generally interpret, and understand data and information across disciplines.
Move-in day at the Discovery Living and Learning Community
The interdisciplinary living and learning community has been hugely popular. During Discovery LLC’s inaugural year, First-Year Studies had to add a second section of the “Introduction to Research” class to accommodate demand.
Librarians Anna Sandelli, Ingrid Ruffin, Teresa Walker, and Michelle Brannen teach weekly class sessions and participate in engagement activities with students. UT librarians provide research assistance to Discovery LLC students to help them conduct and support their projects.
