"The essential conditions that make collaboration possible come down to one word: respect." In communities, both student and teacher based, this is key. Collaboration can only work if all parties can respect each other and acknowledge that even when things do not work, something is learned and that will help make a better outcome the next time. 

Whether on a small scale between a few teachers, or in a larger classroom scale, learning communities "learn new patterns of thinking, they learn how to capitalize on wisdom of the group, and, most importantly, they continually learn how to learn together." When integrating Project-Based Learning into teaching, it is nearly impossible to not also include learning communities. 

Communities benefit both the teachers and the students all at once. When teachers can group together and critic strategies and different approaches, this helps the teachers feel more comfortable and have a buffer when they are struggling. This also encourages teacher's growth, which in turn better helps their students by getting more out of a lesson. Teacher collaboration can also benefit both the teacher and the student by evaluating the student’s work. Getting a second (or third and fourth) opinion on critiquing student’s work can really benefit the student by getting multiple views and feedback. When the teachers can come together to create ideas, there is no comparison to the quality of teaching compared to a traditional classroom.

However, in order for learning communities to work well, there needs to be a shared vision. This is the way to get more success out of the communities where everyone is all on the same page. 

There is a clear relationship between learning communities and our project because not only are we working and collaborating together in groups, our project is based on our students working in groups. Everything through this class is based off learning communities and what it means to learn in a community.