4-Developing Community

Activity: Plan for Ongoing Community Building

Reflection

Learning is a social activity

Regardless of size of class or mode of delivery, learner need to feel safe and welcome. Providing various ways to connect the learners together is essential. One thing that I make sure to do in the F2F environment is to learn everyone's name as quickly as possible. This lets my participants know that I value them as people. Icebreakers, working with a partner/group, asking about their day, etc. creates a friendly place to learn.

I really like the activity for the portfolio which made us plan for community building and follow up. Looking at all of our classes in this way will help us be more mindful of such an important part of the learning experience.

I've stated in another assignment here that the online aspect allows people time to reflect and respond thoughtfully to one another. Those participants who typically do not speak up in the F2F environment sometimes dominate the online discussions. I love the blended model the best. Everyone gets the best of both delivery methods. Having the F2F meetings, especially at the beginning of the course, establishes the relationships between facilitators and participants. Ongoing F2F sessions strengthen the relationships and allows for clarification of comments/questions made in the online piece. Everyone feels supported in their learning.