Even a teacher ofbasic disciplines such as science, history or mathematics mustremain grounded, as no discipline has remained stable for verylong, and all disciplines require a deeper insight in order to betaught effectively.” It is no longer possible for an educator towork alone to fulfil each of these roles: the solution is to workand learn in collaboration with others. This is where peer-basedsharing and learning online, connected/networked learning, orpeeragogy, can play an important role in helping educators.

Exercises that can help you cultivate a playful attitude

(Convening a Group is our “forming”, Organiz-ing a Learning Context is our “storming and norming”, Co-working/Facilitation is our “performing”, and Assessment is our“adjourning”)

6. How: Linearity vs Messiness

5. Why: Tool/platform choice

3. When: Time management

2. What: Nature of the project• What skills are required? What skills are you trying tobuild?• What kinds of change will participants undergo? Will theybe heading into new ground? Changing their minds aboutsomething? Learning about learning?• Whatsocialobjective,or“product”ifany,istheprojectaim-ing to achieve?• What’sthe‘hook?’Unlessyouareworkingwithanexistinggroup, or re-using an existing modality, consistent partici-pation may not be a given.

1. Who: Roles and flux• What are some of the roles that people are likely to fall into(e.g. Newcomer, Wrapper, Lurker, Aggregator, etc.)?• Howlikelyisitthatparticipantswillstickwiththeproject?Ifyouexpectmanyparticipantstoleave,howwillthiseffectthe group and the outcome?• Do you envision new people joining the group as time goesby? If so, what features are you designing that will supporttheir integration into an existing flow?• Will the project work if people dip in and out? If so, whatfeatures support that? If not, how will people stay focused?

Expectations for participants

Those taking the initiative should ask themselves the traditionalWho, What, Where, When, Why, and How. (Simon Sinek sug-gests to begin with Why, and we touched on Who, above!). Indoingso,preliminaryassumptionsfordesignandstructurearees-tablished. However, in peer learning it is particularly importantto maintain a healthy degree of openness, so that future groupmembers can also form their answers on those questions.

How willyou convene others to form a suitable group? How will you de-sign a learner experience which will makeyourproject thrive?