The term "Guided Learning" was coined in 1996 in a joint effort by faculty, students and staff of Berea College. The term reflects a unique understanding and practice of student development.

...residence life aims to create an atmosphere conducive to students learning to be independent persons in a community where diversity and difference are respected. Living in a residence facility naturally allows for learning to think, judge, and act in managing one's own time, in resolving disputes, in dealing with others who are similar or different to oneself, in learning to set priorities among the myriad activities of life. Such learning to live and live well requires an atmosphere where people have time to interact and reflect, where they have the latitude to try (and sometimes fail), where constraints are minimal (e.g., to prevent catastrophic consequences to self or others, to prevent harm to others, to achieve general, indivisible social goods, etc.).

The modifier "guided" emphasizes learning in an atmosphere that does not emphasize mandates, compulsion, coercion, control, but also does not constitute a complete laissez faire policy either. The term "guided" emphasizes support, encouragement, creative response that is interpersonal: persons guide persons. The term "guided" emphasizes non-formulaic, non-methodological, non-mechanical, non-programmatic ways of people responding and interacting. It emphasizes the qualified, trained judgment of staff in dealing with people, issues and situations. It emphasizes the variety of learning that results. (excerpted from the Report of the Residence Life Review Committee, section V. Guided Learning)

Berea College, in a 1912 (Lott vs. Berea College) Supreme Court case, accepted the role of En Loco Partentis meaning, "in place of the parents." Until the mid-1990's, residence life policies, processes and administrative structures reflected a parental approach based on rules and punishment. It was understood that living on a college campus was an extension of home life and the nature of the relationship between faculty/staff and students should reflect the same kind of relationship between parents and children. Slowly, through a variety of environmental indicators, it became evident that Berea College was ready to re-define itself in such a way that meant minimizing reliance on formal structures and letting individuals empower themselves. Thus, the college began its journey toward a shared identity of the campus as a community of adult learners, sharing the work of community building rather than relying on traditional administrative roles and mere compliance to rules and regulations. This redefinition would lead to cross-departmental collaboration, policies based on principles of civility rather than control and punishment, and the elevation in importance of constructive interpersonal dialogue to bring about change.

The same change effort that created Guided Learning also brought about a restructuring of student life administrative processes. For many years, residential life as a department functioned in a traditional hierarchy of a dean and associate directors to coordinate housing, judicials, orientation, etc. Becoming practitioners of guided learning on this structural level meant breaking down departments, structuring teams across divisions and relinquishing titles. Collegium team members now share responsibility for all the Student Life processes once exacted by deans, directors, and part time hall directors. This now means most Collegium members live in residence halls where most of the extracurricular opportunities for guiding and working with students occur.

In essence, the Collegium is a team of equals working together to achieve shared goals; overarching all others is the goal to become an integrated, continuous learning environment.