2.5 Exit

“Most communities think about how the experience starts, but many do not have a plan for how the experience ends. Limiting the membership experience might feel like a disadvantage, but we have seen many communities use it to their advantage.

-- The Community Canvas

One question HPL needs to ask is how the end of the member experience will look and feel. What kinds of rituals signal the end of the experience? How do (now former) exiting members stay connected to the community, or do they? Is there an enduring form of membership that alumni can remain engaged in?

Member Experience

Here it is suggested that HPL should pay attention to the experience of exiting. Although it's sad to see things draw to a close, this is also an opportunity for meaningful recognition of all that has been accomplished over the summer and sending members good luck as they depart for their next experience. This can also be a meaningful time to offer individualized support to students, such as resources, for helping to structure and navigate the remainder of their HGSE experience.

Meaningful recognition is best recognized in some kind of synchronous ritual event similar to the one proposed for initiation. In such an event, instructors could thank students for their participation and say a few words about the unique accomplishment of that years' cohort. A symbol commemorating student experience in the course, such as an HPL pin or t-shirt, could be gifted to members on their departure. This would serve as a reminder of the experience of the course and encouragement for students to bring the gifts, realizations, and relationships of the course with them into the future.

Alumni

One place the community canvas points to for a strong sense of shared identity is alumni communities. Some communities are organized strongly around their alumni communities, while others are disconnected from their alumni. Alumni provide a community of former members who are still passionate about the experience of the community and can provide support for it. HPL can take advantage of its community sticking around for a year after completing the course (especially if they have a positive experience). These students are a source of information about the experience of taking the course. Event series throughout the year can showcase students' experiences and projects from the course and start conversations about how the project is succeeding and how it can be improved. These alumni contributions could also take other forms, to be dealt with particularly in Chapter 4.

Slack

Another primary exit question to be addressed in the chapter on Channels and Platforms, is the lifetime of the Slack community. Will it remain as an HPL-focused Slack, or will it become a general HGSE Slack? After associating together for six - seven weeks or more, creating affinity groups, and sharing information, members will have built up a relatively bonded community that would likely be disruptive to get rid of completely. In 2021 the HPL Slack may actually be the most central form of community for students across programs. Therefore it is important to have a contingency plan for how this community will endure and its data be stored.

Another Slack-related point - what happens to individuals who drop out of the course. Are they able to continue accessing the Slack community? HPL will need to set a timeline on their removal.

Enduring Community

Although we will not get into it here, the "Exit" process also begs the question of how the HPL project expresses itself in between iterations. To what extent is the "Exit" process just one step in a consistent cycle that continues to express itself even in between iterations? Aside from the occasional Teaching and Learning Lab blog post, how does HPL tell the story of its community and members in a public-facing way? In Chapter 4, we address this topic in-depth and envision how a more consistent or enduring community presence could improve community both during and in-between course iterations.

Citations:

Community Canvas, The. (2020). The Community Canvas Framework. Retrieved from https://community-canvas.org/