David K. Lewis, Ph.D.

This time of year, I begin thinking about the research students will be doing in my laboratory during the summer months. The excitement of seeing a research group develop into a collaborative team is something I look forward to with great enthusiasm each year. In fact, much of the work that our faculty members do at Connecticut College involves this kind of collaborative teamwork, and it is one of the things that makes this college special.

Here is how it works in my physical chemistry research laboratory - and many faculty in other disciplines could tell variations of this same story. Every year, in late May or early June, a small group of Connecticut College undergraduates - usually joined by visiting faculty and students from other colleges and universities - assembles in my research lab in Hale to begin 10 weeks of intensive physical chemistry research. Each student selects a project related to my overall research effort, which is to understand the detailed sequence of chemical bond-breaking and bond-making steps in different types of chemical reactions. The summer's goal is for each student to learn something new about the finer workings of nature that she or he can present at a scientific society meeting and publish with me in a research journal.

At the outset I introduce the students to the laboratory instruments they will use (shock tubes, chromatographs, lasers, spectrometers and computers) and give them some basic instructions about how to begin. After a few days they bring me their first data. That's when the most important lesson of the summer occurs. A student, considering me to be the expert, will show me some data, ask me what it means, and ask what I want to have done next. And I will respond, "What is the data telling you, and what do you think you should do next?"

I believe that while robots need to be told what to do next; it is important for research scientists to develop their own hypotheses, plan experiments and try out their ideas and theories on other experts. In my research group, as the summer progresses, students become less dependent upon me for specific instructions, and more comfortable engaging me in conversation about their interpretations, theories and plans for further work. They become research collaborators, and I am always elated when they reach this point of confidence and independence.

This same scenario is played out in the laboratories and field study locations of many other CC scientists, and similar sorts of collaborative learning experiences occur in assistantships and internships offered by departments, centers and the CELS program - involving growing numbers of students in both science-oriented and non-science fields. Collaborative learning occurs in the classroom as well. Our student:faculty ratio is low, so that students have many opportunities to present their ideas and hear how others respond in small classes. In fact collaborative learning can take place any time or any place on campus.

Collaborative learning is based on the premise that knowledge is not simply comprised of facts that can be "downloaded" from one brain to another, or one computer to another. Rather knowledge is a set of discoveries that emerge and evolve from collecting and analyzing information, experiencing the generation of that information in the most appropriate location, and testing ideas through interpretive discussions and interactions within a group. Collaborative learners not only learn more, they learn differently. This is what separates intellectually alive liberal arts colleges - Connecticut College and its peers - from institutions at which most "learning" occurs in large lectures or in front of computer screens. I'm not against accessing information via modern technology. At Connecticut College we are steadily increasing student and faculty access to information available worldwide in new technologically advanced facilities such as Brown Auditorium. When we planned Brown Auditorium, however, we incorporated technology in a way that complements our collaborative style of teaching and learning.

"Transformations," the college's innovative strategic plan introduced last year, further refines and reinvents the collaborative learning environment. The Strategic Plan is increasing opportunities for student internships and collaborative research. Traveling Research and Immersion Programs (TRIPs) and semester-long Study Away Teach Away (SATA) groups take students and professors to locations around the world. The new experiences they share enrich the campus learning environment, as do the perspectives of visiting artists, scholars, and professionals. In all these interactions, technology is used to gather, process, and share information but never to replace collaborative learning. As much as I enjoy being in the laboratory, my work as interim president - promoting the college's strategic plan, traveling the country to talk with alumni about the college and working with my colleagues to make this an even stronger college - is rewarding too.

As this magazine goes to press, admission officers are sifting through the second largest applicant pool in Connecticut College's history, with more than 4,000 applications for the second consecutive year. Between 35 and 40 percent of the Class of 2005 will be selected from the pool of students who applied for early decision, thus designating Connecticut College as their absolute top choice. At the same time, the transfer rate for current students is very low, an indication that student satisfaction is high.

These numbers are cause for celebration. They demonstrate that students and their families continue to recognize the special qualities of Connecticut College including its small but diverse student body, low student:faculty ratio, and the many opportunities to participate in shared governance, community service programs, and research projects with professors. These are characteristics of an environment that stimulates collaborative learning - an environment of which we can be justly proud.