Learning Community
Start getting connected in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies through a learning community. If you are an incoming freshman, the HDFS learning community will help you meet new people, plan for your future, and make meaningful connections with your peers and faculty.
The goal of the HDFS learning community is to facilitate an easy transition from high school to university life by helping students make important connections with peers and faculty during their first year at Iowa State.
About the Community
- The HDFS freshman learning community provides new students with a core group of peers in similar classes.
- The Learning Community Orientation course addresses adjustment to college life, developing strategies for successful learning, and career awareness.
- Learning community members get opportunities to interact with peers, peer mentors, advisers, and faculty outside of class.
The following HDFS majors are automatically members of the HDFS Learning Community and are included in the Learning Community Orientation class in the fall of their first semester:
- Human Development and Family Studies
- Financial Counseling and Planning
- Family and Consumer Sciences Education and Studies
- Early Childhood Education
Components of the HDFS Learning Community include:
- The Freshman Learning Community Orientation course (HDFS 110)
- HDFS student peer mentors
- Reserved space in common courses such as:
- HDFS 1020, Human Development
- LIB 1600, Indroduction to College-Level Research
- HDFS 4930, The Science and Practice of Happiness
- BIOL 1550, Human Biology
- PSYCH 1010, Introduction to Psychology
- Study sessions
- Social activities
- Service and volunteer opportunities