Why Do Students Prefer Lesley's Cohort Group Learning Model?

With Lesley, students can meet face-to-face, on weekends, studying together throughout the life of their program. Research indicates that the cohort model has proven to be very effective for professional development since it is long-term, experiential and inquiry-based. Other cohort group benefits include:

• Convenience:
  Students attend classes at a location that is convenient for the participants of each individual cohort group.
• Flexibility:
  Holding classes no more than one weekend a month, depending on the course, enables teachers to plan around ongoing work, family, and social responsibilities.
• Enhanced Focus:
  Students and teachers alike find that holding classes on weekends eliminates distractions, allowing them to bring higher levels of concentration to learning.
• Local Perspective:
  Bringing together teachers from different schools and districts provides an ideal forum for sharing common challenges, and ideas for resolving them.
• National Perspective:
  Lesley's esteemed and experienced faculty bring insights that come from teaching in districts and states all over the country.
• Expertise:
  Each course of the program is taught by a faculty expert, assuring both content quality, and an engaging variety of teaching styles.
• Support:
  Each cohort becomes a close-knit community of learners, forming a network of support and friendship that often continues long after the program's completion. The cohort group model can be especially appealing to students who are apprehensive about the rigors of graduate study after a number of years away from the classroom.
• Immediate Impact:
  Teachers call it "the Lesley life" - they return to their classrooms with renewed enthusiasm and ideas they can use right away.
• Library Services:
  All program participants are given access to Lesley's electronic databases for articles from academic journals, magazines and newspapers and are supported by the University's Ask-a-Librarian service.