Colleges and universities have come to recognize that creating smaller learning communities is a useful strategy for engaging undergraduate students. Learning communities can provide students with a sense of identity and with connections to faculty, the institution, and knowledge. Despite their popularity, there is little empirical research that supports the pedagogical benefits of learning communities. In addition, traditional learning communities require great time and expense commitments. This study is based on a modified learning community developed as an undergraduate communication department research team. This study investigates the theoretical claims of learning communities as well as the perceptions of students (N=89), half of whom were on the research team and half who were not. Results suggest that this modified learning community as a research team can provide similar benefits as larger learning communities as well as assist faculty in reducing their tension between research and teaching commitments.