StudyFest: Building a Living, Learning Community at Mannix College

By India Wright, Director of Academics & Employability

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Our College is a unique living learning community where residents are encouraged to explore their field of study in greater depth. Cross (1998) embeds learning communities in the notion that we construct knowledge in collaborative and interdependent ways. At its centre, a living learning community approach appreciates that care and support are not always best presented through a one-size-fits all program. 

With this in mind, 2024 has seen an exciting re-imaging of the academic programs and support offered to Mannix College residents. Front and centre of this is StudyFest. Held every Tuesday night of semester, StudyFest consists of a 30 minute skills-based workshop followed by focussed study sessions.

Skills Building: Learning How to Learn

Skills building is at the core of StudyFest – our goal is to produce lifelong learners who continue to excel beyond the bounds of Mannix College. To complement the busy schedule and content-rich classes our residents attend at Monash University, our weekly workshop sparks conversations around topics like time management, procrastination, perfectionism, critical thinking, mindfulness and more.

We appreciate that these skills transcend degrees. By participating in these workshops, our residents are learning how to learn with the help of their peers and the wonderful Mannix Academic Team.

Mannix Academic Team: A Guiding Hand

Our 2024 Academic Team is composed of 20 Academic Guides (subject experts employed by the College) and 10 Academic Mentors (high-achieving current residents who volunteer their time). We held an Academic Team Training in February which was a chance to induct our team and begin building our goals for the coming academic year.

Academic Guides provide support

Of our 20 Academic Guides:

• 50% have either completed or are in the process of completing their PhD,
• 25% are old collegians or current residents of Mannix College,
• Many have prior teaching or mentoring experience.

During StudyFest, the Academic Team is responsible for guiding our residents through their university content and assessments. This takes place in our focussed study sessions that occur after the Weekly Workshop in the Dining Hall and Academic Centre. This is a chance for residents to ask their Guides and Mentors about a particular topic, question or concept they may be struggling with. Academic Guides sit at a round table with a sign that lists all of their subjects of expertise, making it easy for our residents to find their cohorts and target areas that are of interest and relevance.

Residents working together

This format was inspired by the work of Muldoon & MacDonald (2010) at the University of New England, Australia and is designed to provide at-the-elbow support in a social environment that is conducive to learning. In this way, we remove the traditional educational hierarchies of small group sessions and focus instead on how our residents can learn from each other with the guidance of our team.

Engaging Our Community

So far, we have tracked a consistently higher number of attendees at StudyFest for the first five weeks of Semester 1, 2024 in comparison to the first five weeks of Semester 2 with our 2023 Tutorial Program. StudyFest has engaged 48% of our community to-date. For a completely opt-in program, this is an exciting achievement.

It is hoped that a new routine has been built in these first five weeks of Semester 1. Tuesday nights at Mannix College are fast becoming a time to learn new skills, engage with your cohort and receive help from our experienced Academic Team. As the program continues, we look to understand both its perceived and actual impacts as we build a living, learning community at Mannix College.

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Cross, K. P. (1998). “Why Learning Communities? Why Now?” About Campus, July-August, pg. 4-11.

Muldoon, R. & MacDonald, I. (2010). Building Learning Communities in Residential Colleges. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 6(2), 54-68. https://doi.org/10.53761/1.6.2.5