This study examines the possibility of learning communities (LCs) becoming more cooperative by reviewing the relationship between the concepts of "learning" and "study" as represented in Vincent Tinto's ideas on higher education. 
Tinto's conception of learning and study has three salient features: (1) learning is a more wide-ranging concept than study; (2) learning facilitates a "seamless" educational environment; and (3) the concept of study, as well as that of learning, emphasizes the importance of working together. With regard to the first point, Tinto views LCs as a way of supporting academically under-prepared students. In recent years, the presence of students from low-income or minority backgrounds has increased in the higher education system in the U.S. These students are often academically under-prepared, and therefore less likely to adapt successfully to the traditional concept of study as they will encounter it in college. Tinto hopes to support these students by emphasizing learning that includes a wide range of activities and is based on collaborative effort. This learning can serve to bridge the academic–social divide that often hampers students' college life. In these circumstances, Tinto thinks LCs can provide academic and social support to students. However, the core of higher education is not likely to change merely to help academically under-prepared students adapt to study; hence, Tinto suggests a new possibility with regard to the second point, i.e., the importance of working together while studying. Study has often been perceived as involving long hours spent alone at a desk. Tinto attempts to change this perception. Some overlaps exist between learning and study in Tinto's theory, indicating that Tinto understands study as an experience that involves working together: students experience learning in LCs and then study together. Few arguments have connected study and collaborative learning in this manner and Tinto attempts to connect them through LCs.

論文