I. Peer Support
III. Sharing Resources
A network, in academic or social terms, is anything from a small to large group that extends support to one another in a variety of ways. It can involve talking about school, relationships or physical, social and emotional health. It can involve sharing of ideas, resources, and time. It can involve reflection on a number of different aspects of academic and personal life to support continuous improvement.
When working in the Diploma Programme, you will need to form a few different networks. One very important network is one or more friends, who you may not have classes with, that can provide you with Peer Support. They may help you get through conflict with other classmates. They might talk you through personal issues. They may even ask you the tough questions or offer the most difficult advice because they are your closest friends. These people are really important, because sometimes you need to vent and outlet all your frustrations and reflect on what's gone wrong... and plan for what's about to go right!
Two other networks you need to get involved with (or initiate) typically stem directly from the subjects you are taking. The first is a Critical Friends Group, which is a small group of 3-4 students from particular class. This small group network gets together one a week to work through a specific agenda of tasks. It might involve proof-reading an essay, comparing notes on a chapter, discussing important aspects of a novel, or sharing ideas on an upcoming assessment task.
The second class-specific network is for Sharing Resources. Most students in the same class are studying the same topics (perhaps exceptions are HL vs. SL, particular Options) so why isn't everyone sharing what they've found? Whether it's doing research, finding interesting articles or websites for learning something new, or developing ideas and insights into a text or video, students can collaborate online and maximize their productivity by taking advantage of group size (called crowdsourcing). You can have a discussion on Twitter that everyone can participate in and return to weeks and months later to refresh their thoughts. You can share articles, websites, videos, etc. on Diigo and even collaborate on an outline of notes with links embedded for tutorials, simulations, etc. You can get on Pinterest and make a board of ideas, photos, how-to articles for an project coming up and share it with peers in your class. If everyone is doing it, there is no shortage of resources to be successful in your subject.