Special session — Integrating learning communities into engineering curricula

Learning communities are not new; in fact, there is a large body of literature on learning communities. Based on the number of citations on learning communities from different fields, however, learning communities remain underutilized in engineering compared to other disciplines. Furthermore, learning communities are particularly helpful in interdisciplinary curricula while, at the same time, the focus on interdisciplinary curricula is becoming more prevalent in engineering. Based on the authors' direct involvement in developing and running a learning community for an interdisciplinary program, we know how critical learning communities can be in establishing a collective identity and providing a space for reflection. The aim of this special session is to help others recognize roles a learning community can play and to give practical support to help attendees transfer the well-established literature on learning communities into practice.