Friday, June 26, 2015

Open days: recruitment or community building?

Adult learners face a number of barriers. A set of inner voice are shouting “It will be like school. The lecturers are scarey. You might look stupid. You’re been out of education too long.” It takes courage to enrol as an adult to learn.

Admiring rare books in library

On Tuesday, we offered an Open Day at Uniting College and on a cold, wet night, about 35 folk gathered to learn more about the College. There were short introductions by key people leading Uniting College, Adelaide College of Divinity, Flinders University and the Big Year Out. Pizza arrived. Short tours were offered – of the library, student common room, of a classroom in action including our online platform.

lecture

As I looked around, I was struck by the range of animated conversations as prospective students talked to lecturers. It occurred to me that as a result of Open Day, when these students arrive for the first day of lectures, they will know some people to whom they can stop and have a chat. They will know where the classroom is and where to get a coffee.

open day 2

They are already surrounded by a set of relationships. Thus the task of building a learning community does not start with the first lecture of the first class. It starts from before the first enquiry, and as the student steps through application.

What we were doing at Open day was not recruiting. It was community building, increasing the capacity of adult learners to participate in their own formation.

Posted by steve at 07:11 PM

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