Burlington College

The Learning Experience

Burlington College treats students as individuals—individuals with important contributions to make to the intellectual spirit of the college community. Working in discussion-centered classes of between eight and fifteen members, students come to know each other and themselves very well as they balance academic rigor and mutual support while being challenged to discover what truly matters to them. In this stimulating environment, classes can take on lives of their own as students direct the discussions and instructors, at times, become equal observers-learners in the process.

The respect students are given in the classroom is reflected in the College’s non-grading evaluation system. At the outset of each course or other learning activity, student and instructor negotiate a learning contract that sets expectations as well as specific learning goals. At the end of the semester, both student and instructor provide written evaluations of progress made toward these central goals. The evaluation period becomes not a harried time of cramming for exams or scrambling for a grade, but a time for reflection on what one has learned.