Brenda's learning blog

I've been busy organizing the learning circles that Tamarack recently launched, which has me thinking about how online learning interacts with small group learning.

The learning circles are groups of about 15 people who will gather for four sessions to learn about a specified topic.  All will have leaders, but they have different formats.  Some will be peers gathering to learn from each other.  They believe they have something to teach each other, but they don't know yet what that will be.  

In other cases, people will probably register because the person leading the circle is acknowledged to have a lot of knowledge on the subject .  Even though the design of the circles expects that participants will have lots to add, you might say that some are counting on the "experts" to provide the knowledge.  These circles will need good facilitation to ensure that they are truly interactive.  It's likely human nature to "loaf"  and just absorb information if you have the chance, rather than go the work of interacting.  I've blogged here about how I personally tend to be a "lurker" first, before I am a participant.  You still learn, but you miss out on participation and sharing your own experience with others.

When you add technology to the mix, you add even more potential imbalances.  On the telephone, you don't have some of the cues that group members or their leaders usually use to monitor participation, and ensure that the group is healthy and productive.  Using online technologies makes that even worse.  And many of our learners are just getting familiar with the online tools themselves.

But I'm still convinced that the best learning happens in small groups, even remote or virtual small groups. In this case ,most of the learners spent a week together at the Communities Collaborating Institute.  I'm counting on that making the difference.

I recently attended a presentation organized by The Partnership Platform, a useful group for nonprofits who are engaging with technology,  One of the presenters, Jim Gilbert, summarized the stages that people go through when they engage with technology:

Plaything

Substitution

Enhancement

Transformation

Transparency

I'll be watching to see how this is reflected within the learning circles -- and hoping for transformation and transparency!