Campus News

Stimulating the Learning College Principles: The Cultivation of a Learning Environment

Colorado Mountain College embodies the learning college principles to create a culture of continuous self-improvement and lifelong learning. When such principles permeate the culture of an organization, leaders learn to become adaptive and seek opportunities for others to learn and develop leadership skills. Put simply, the learning college means learning for everyone at CMC. When leadership is seen as a cognitive process (learning), the creation of a learning environment is important. In this article, West Garfield Campus celebrates the embodiment of the learning college principles.

The West Garfield Campus models the leadership technique of learning by providing an excellent professional development opportunity for staff members of the Early Learners’ Center, the preschool/after school program for CMC students. Because this program was in the midst of restructuring itself as a state-licensed facility, the staff members were given the opportunity to enroll in the necessary courses to obtain a director or group leader certificate in early childhood education. Each person was provided this great opportunity to learn more about the field of early childhood education and was directed to apply their learning to the Early Learners’ Center restructure project. In other words, the staff members were encouraged and supported to apply theory into real-life application.

Through the cultivation of an empowering environment, the campus’s leadership team enabled the Early Learners’ Center staff members to frame the issues surrounding the restructuring project. By doing so, each staff member was encouraged to learn about the issues rather than act on directives from the leadership team; they gave the work back to the staff members by creating a learning environment that fostered the transfer of learning from classroom to the campus.

To clarify this point, here are three examples: the creation of parent and staff handbooks based on best practices learned in ECE 240; the development of the preschool program’s mission and philosophy statements based on principles learned in ECE 241; and, the development of leadership skills.

This sort of learning-by-doing has provided meaningful experiences for all involved in the restructuring project. When leadership is seen as a cognitive process, everyone becomes motivated to learn, and the learning college principles are cultivated.

-Jaime Lopez Ortiz

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West Garfield Campus
3695 Airport Road
Rifle, CO 81650
(970)625-1871