Learning to learn is a lifetime endeavour. Anderson (2016) proposes that aspiration, self-awareness, curiosity, and vulnerability can help us to address new learning curves. Key to this is learning with and from others – learning as a partnership. My keynote will consider the different modes of learning students may experience in higher education and reflect on the importance and value of learning communities for each. I will share the PARTNERSHIP framework I am developing which proposes a collection of building blocks that when considered, can help to scaffold the development of learning communities.

1. Learning as a
Partnership: The
building blocks of
multimodal learning
communities
Sue Beckingham
Keynote ATU DigitalEd Conference
May 2022 #DigtalEd22

2. What we have learned
Access to Wi-Fi, power and a reliable device are essential for learning

3. What we have learned
Learning spaces are not equal

4. A need to revisit online etiquette...
Remember the human
Adhere to the same standards of behaviour online that you follow in real life
Know where you are in cyber space
Respect other people’s time and bandwidth
Make yourself look good online
Share expert knowledge
Help keep flame wars under control
Shea (1994) Netiquette

5. Mental health

6. Learning is lifelong and lifewide
If lifelong learning is learning
that occupies different
spaces through the lifespan -
'from cradle to grave' -
lifewide learning is learning
in different spaces
simultaneously.
Jackson, 2011:22

7. We’ve learned how to
create multimodal
learning communities

8. The Office
The Canteen
The Water Cooler
The Pub

9. Digital learning
https://www.digitaled.ie/

10. Learning through both strong and weak ties
in our networks
proximity serendipty

11. Learning is messy
What people think
success looks like
What success really
looks like

12. Learning to (re)learn
Aspiration Self-awareness
Curiosity Vulnerability
Attributes
To succeed, you must be willing to experiment and
become a novice over and over again (Anderson, 2016)
Focusing on benefits,
not challenges, is a
good way to increase
your aspiration.
I’m going to be bad at
this to start with,
because I’ve never
done it before. AND I
know I can learn to do
it over time.
Why are others so
excited about this?
How might this make
my job easier?
Being open to seeing
the areas in which you
could improve and
how to do so.

13. Learning is hard
Robert the Bruce may or may not
have been inspired by a spider
weaving its web or said to his
troops "If at first you don't
succeed try, try and try again“...
But there is much to be admired
about the way these pertinacious
creatures make and remake their
webs.

14. Respair (16th century): Fresh hope; a recovery from despair
Susie Dent @susie_dent Word of the Day

15. How do we learn?
NSW Government (2021)

17. Cohn 2020

18. ALT Annual Survey Report 2021

19. Formal
Learning
Non-
formal
learning
Informal
Learning
Semi-
formal
learning
INTENTIONAL
LEARNING
UNINTENTIONAL
LEARNING
They may learn during courses or during
training session in the workplace. The
activity is designed as having learning
objectives and individuals attend with the
explicit goal of acquiring skills, knowledge
or competences.
They may learn during activities with
learning objectives but learn beyond these.
Individuals have the intention of learning
about something and, without knowing it,
learn also about something else.
They may learn during work or leisure
activities that may have learning objectives
but individuals are aware they are learning.
Individuals observe or do things with the
intention of becoming more skilled, more
knowledgeable and/or more competent.
They may learn in activities without learning
objectives and without knowing they are
learning.
Adapted from Werquin (2007:5)

20. Curricular
Co-
curricular
Extra-
curricular
part of the
course curriculum
alongside the course
curriculum
outside or beyond
the course curriculum
Types of learning activity

21. What is a learning community?
Learning Community Pyramid.
Brower and Dettinger 1998

22. Learning Community as a Partnership
P A R T N E R S H I P

23. ENGAGEMENT
NURTURE
TRUST
REFLECTION
RELATIONSHIPS
PRACTICE
ALIGNMENT
PLACE
IDENTITY
HARMONY
SOCIAL
LEARNING
The Building Blocks of
Learning Communities
The PARTNERSHIP model
@suebecks 2022

24. PARTNERSHIP: The Building Blocks of Learning Communities
PLACE personally and physically inviting, accessible, multiple ways to participate
ALIGNMENT clear articulation of shared common goals, learning objectives and anticipated achievements
RELATIONSHIPS collaborative, cooperative, interdependent
TRUST a safe space to share, to explore and experiment, to learn from mistakes
NURTURE supporting, human centred, culture of care and compassion
ENGAGEMENT reading, watching, listening, questioning, discussing, doing, making
REFLECTION being reflective and reflexive, acting on feedback
SOCIAL LEARNING social interaction, active, collegiate and connected, open and closed groups and forums
HARMONY respecting and valuing diversity, relational and culturally responsive, inclusion and equity
IDENTITY individuality, self expression and self belief, empowered, sense of belonging
PRACTICE co-created, sharing implicit and explicit learning and interrelated knowledge
@suebecks 2022

25. personally and physically inviting, acessible, multiple ways to participate
Place
personally and physically inviting, accessible, multiple
ways to participate.

26. Place
brick and mortar spaces

27. Spaces a community may meet can be
purpose built spaces or in between spaces
inside or outside
online or virtual
formal or informal
Place

28. Place
What makes a space into a place?
What begins as
undifferentiated space
becomes place as we
get to know it better
and endow it with
value.
Tuan, 1977

29. Place
Transition from space to place
Place is a reality to be
clarified and understood
from the perspectives of the
people who have given it
meaning.”
Tuan, 1979

30. Place
”
“Increased mobility and the shift of
computer based communication away
from fixed computers to ubiquitous
social technologies has resulted in a
merging of physical places and online
social spaces.”
(Willis, 2015)

31. Alignment
clear articulation of common goals, learning objectives and anticipated achievements
clear articulation of shared common goals, learning
objectives and anticipated achievements.

32. Alignment
Learning communities
provide a space and a
structure for people to align
around a shared goal.
The Centre for the Developing Child at Harvard University

33. Alignment
”
“ Our engagement in practice is rarely effective without some degree
of alignment with the context - making sure that activities are
coordinated, that laws are followed, or that intentions are
communicated. Note that the notion of alignment here is not merely
compliance or passive acquiescence; it is not a one-way process of
submitting to external authority or following a prescription. Rather it
is a two-way process of coordinating perspectives, interpretations,
actions, and contexts so that action has the effects we expect.
Following directions or negotiating a plan are forms of alignment as
are enlisting a colleague’s collaboration or convincing a manager to
change a policy.
Wenger, 2012

34. Relationships
collaborative, cooperative interdependent
collaborative, cooperative, interdependent.

35. Relationships
“As feelings of trust and group identity
develop, students become more
motivated and share more, leading to
increased feelings of friendship”
Bikowski, 2007
Valuing
friendship

36. Relationships
Promoting Active Learning is an effective way for students
to get to know each other
“Active learning simply means getting involved with the
information presented - really thinking about it (analyzing,
synthesizing, evaluating) rather than just passively receiving
it and memorizing it.”
From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side (King 1993)

37. Relationships
McWilliam, 2009:8
”
“Both Sage-on-the-Stage and Guide-on-the-Side have their
place in the complex landscape that is teaching.
Medlar-in-the-middle is defined as follows:
Meddling is a re-positioning of teacher and student as co-
directors and co-editors of their social world. As a
learning partnership, meddling has powerful implications
for what “content” is considered worthy of engagement,
how the value of the learning product is to be assessed,
and who the rightful assessor is to be.

38. Trust
a safe space to share, to explore and experiment, to learn from mistakes
a safe space to share, to explore and experiment, to
learn from mistakes.

39. Trust
A learning community is identified by how close or
connected the members feel to each other emotionally
and whether they feel they can trust, depend on, share
knowledge with, rely on, have fun with, and enjoy high
quality relationships with each other
West and Williams 2017:1573
Building belonging with a warm welcome
Building safety through setting collaborative norms
Building trust with public learning
Portugal and Tayabas-Kim 2021

40. Trust

41. Nurture
supporting, human centred, culture of care and compassion
supporting, human centred, culture of care and
compassion.

42. Nurture
Nurture is to care for and protect (someone or
something) while they are growing.

43. Nurture
Care
Intentional
listening
Be personable
Offer help
Be
understanding
Be kind

44. Nurture
@lihzandmollie 2022 https://twitter.com/lizandmollie/status/1500898330410323968

45. Engagement
reading, watching, listening, questioning, discussing, doing, making
reading, watching, listening, questioning, discussing,
doing, making.

46. Engagement
Healey et al (2014:15)
”
“ Within learning and teaching engagement can be
divided into two broad areas:
(i) student engagement as the way in which students
invest time and energy in their own learning, and
(ii) the ways in which students are involved and
empowered by institutions to shape their learning
experiences.

47. Engagement
Multidimensional Components of Student Engagement (Kinsella et al, 2022)
Student
Engagement
COGNITIVE
How I
intellectually
relate to and
understand my
course
BEHAVIOURAL
How I participate
in and perform
on my course
AFFECTIVE
How I feel about
and connect
with my course
SOCIAL
How I interact
with people
within my course
AGENTIC
How I contribute
to and shape my
course

48. Engagement
Thomas (2012:16)
Social
engagement
Social engagement can be seen to create a sense of belonging and offer
informal support through interaction with friends and peers. Social
engagement takes place in the social sphere of the institution, including social
spaces, clubs and societies, the students’ union, in student accommodation
and through shared living arrangements.
Academic
engagement
Krause (2011) extends the notion of engagement in the academic sphere by
arguing that “learning occurs in a range of settings, both within and beyond
the formal curriculum. It involves developing connections within the university
as well as building on prior learning, along with learning that takes place in the
workplace and community settings”
Professional Services
engagement
Engagement in the professional service sphere includes participation in
academic, pastoral and professional development services. These services
often contribute to developing students’ capacities to engage and belong in
higher education and beyond.

49. Engagement
”
“ Social intelligence is not a separate type of
intelligence. All intelligence emerges from the efforts
of the community. Work starts from problems and
learning starts from questions. Work is creating value
and learning is creating knowledge. Both work and
learning require the same things: interaction and
engagement.
Esko Kilpi 2019 (cited by Jarche, 2022)

50. Reflection
being reflective and reflexive, acting on feedback
being reflective and reflexive, acting on feedback

51. Reflection
Reflexivity
Reflection
Reflection is in-depth review of events, either alone – say, in a journal - or
with critical support.
Reflexivity is finding strategies to question our own attitudes, thought
processes, values, assumptions, prejudices and habitual actions, to strive to
understand our complex roles in relation to others.
Bolton and Delderfield, 2018

52. Reflection
“To be reflexive is to examine, for example, the limits of our
knowledge. of how our behaviour plays into organisational
structures counter to our own personal and professional values,
and why such practices might marginalise groups or exclude
individuals.”
Bolton and Delderfield, 2018:10

53. Reflection
Reflective Practice: a political
and social responsibility
“We may not be fully
in control over
feelings and
thoughts; we are
surely responsible for
our actions.”
“Reflective practitioners take their
share of responsibility for the
political, social and cultural
situations within which the live,
learn and work, as well as for their
own actions and values.”
Bolton and Delderfield 2018:13

54. Social Learning
social interaction, active, collegiate and connected,
open and closed groups and forums

55. Social Learning
LEARNING
IDENTITY COMMUNITY
PRACTICE MEANING
learning ad
belonging
learning as
experience
learning as
doing
learning as
becoming
Adapted from Components of a Social Theory of Learning (Wenger, 1998:5)

56. Social Learning
Stodd, 2013
“Social learning is a term
that we can use to
describe the semi formal
layers of sense making
that surround formal
learning activities.”

57. respecting and valuing diversity, relational and
culturally responsive, inclusion and equity.
Harmony

58. Harmony
The central message is simple: every learner matters and matters equally.
UNESCO 2017

59. Harmony
Inclusion is a process that helps overcome barriers
limiting the presence, participation and achievement of
learners.
Equity is about ensuring that there is a concern with
fairness, such that the education of all learners is seen
as having equal importance.
UNESCO 2017
”
“

60. Harmony

61. Harmony
”
“To build community requires vigilant awareness of the work we
must continually do to undermine all the socialization that leads us
to behave in ways that perpetuate domination.
Dominator culture has tried to keep us all afraid, to make us choose
safety instead of risk, sameness instead of diversity. Moving through
that fear, finding out what connects us, reveling in our differences;
this is the process that brings us closer, that gives us a world of
shared values, of meaningful community.
Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope (bell hooks, 2003)

62. Harmony
Yan and Yang is a Chinese philosophical concept
that describes how obviously opposite or
contrary forces may actually be
complementary, interconnected, and
interdependent in the natural world, and how
they may give rise to each other as they
interrelate to one another. Wikipedia

63. Identity
individuality, self expression and self belief, empowered, sense of belonging
individuality, self expression and self belief,
empowered, sense of belonging.

64. Identity
”
“ Learning communities should be purposefully designed to:
Develop a sense of group identity in which all participants
recognize one another as learners, while still valuing the
contributions of each individual. Students recognize that
participants are neither solely independent nor dependent.
Brower and Dettinger 1998:20

65. Identity
Ikigai is defined as "a motivating force; something or someone that gives a person
a sense of purpose or a reason for living".
Oxford English Dictionary
García and Miralles, 2017

66. Practice
co-created, sharing implicit and explicit learning and
interrelated knowledge.

67. Practice
Both independently and
collaboratively sharing how we are
learning, where we are learning,
what we are learning, when we are
learning and why we are learning.

68. Practice
Healy et al, 2013

69. Practice

70. discussion
critical
evaluation
collaborative
investigation
asking
questions
open
inquiry
How can we learn
more though social
scholarship and digital
engagement?

71. ONLINE PRESENCE Create a digital online presence
PROFESSIONAL
IDENTITY
Develop a digital professional identity to
showcase your academic work
PERSONAL
LEARNING
NETWORK
Build a personal learning network by
connecting with other academics
NETWORKS OF
PRACTICE
Interact by discussing
shared topics of interest
Taking the steps to becoming a digital scholar

72. Acknowledge the digital scholarship, teaching
excellence and student learning gains shared by
peers and students.
Interact by commenting, asking questions, or
signposting related information that may be
useful.
Share the
digital
narratives
with others
in your
network
Engaging with digital scholarship

73. References
Anderson, E. (2016) Learning to Learn. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/03/learning-to-learn
bell hooks, (2003) Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. Routledge.
Bikowski, D. (2007) Internet Relationships: Building Learning Communities through Friendship. Journal of
Interactive Online Learning, 6(2). https://www.ncolr.org/issues/jiol/v6/n2/internet-relationships-building-
learning-communities-through-friendship.html
Bolton, G. and Delderfield, R. (2018) Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development 5th Edn. Sage.
Brower, A. A., and Dettinger, K. M. (1998). What is a learning community? Toward a comprehensive model.
About Campus 3(5): 15–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/108648229800300504
Cohn, J. (2020) Hybrid, HyFlex, Online, and Everything in Between: Course Models at a Glance
https://www.jenaecohn.net/2020/06/09/hybrid-hyflex-online-and-everything-in-between-course-models-at-a-
glance
García, H. and Miralles, F. (2017) Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life. Hutchinson.
Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K. (2014). Engagement through partnership: Students as partners in learning
and teaching in higher education. York: HE Academy. https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-
hub/engagement-through-partnership-students-partners-learning-and-teaching-higher

74. References
Jackson, N. (2011) Learning for a complex world: A lifewide concept of learning, education and personal
development. Authorhouse.
King, A. (1993) Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side. College Teaching, 41(1), 30-35.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/27558571
Kinsella, M., Wyatt, J., Nestor, N., Rackard, S. and Last, J. (2022) Supporting students’ transition into higher
education: Motivation enhancement strategies. Access: Contemporary Issues in Education, 42(1), 3-20.
https://doi.org/10.46786/ac22.8193
McWilliam, E. L. (2009) Teaching for creativity : from sage to guide to meddler. Asia Pacific Journal of
Education, 29(3). pp. 281-293. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/32389/1/c32389.pdf
NSW Government (2021) Learning modes. https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/school-
learning-environments-and-change/future-focused-learning-and-teaching/learning-modes
Portugal, N. and Tayabas-Kim, M. (2021) Belonging, Safety, and Trust: A Recipe for Better Professional Learning.
https://www.edutopia.org/article/belonging-safety-and-trust-recipe-better-professional-learning
Shea, V. (1994). Netiquette. Albion Books.
Stodd, J. (2013) How we arrived as social learning. https://julianstodd.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/how-we-
arrived-at-social-learning/
Thomas, L. (2012) Building student engagement and belonging in Higher Education at a time of change.
https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/system/files/what_works_final_report_0.pdf

75. References
Tuan, YF (1977) Space And Place: The Perspective of Experience. University of Minnesota Press
Tuan, YF. (1979). Space and Place: Humanistic Perspective. In: Gale, S., Olsson, G. (eds) Philosophy in
Geography. Theory and Decision Library, vol 20. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-
9394-5_19
UNESCO (2017) A guide for ensuring inclusion and equity in education.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000248254
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University
Wenger, E. (2012) Communities of practice and social learning systems: the career of a concept.
https://wenger-trayner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/09-10-27-CoPs-and-systems-v2.01.pdf
Werquin, P. (2007) Terms, Concepts and Models for Analysing the Value of Recognition Programmes.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development https://www.oecd.org/education/skills-beyond-
school/41834711.pdf
West, R.E. and Williams, G.S. (2017) “I don’t think that word means what you think it means”: A proposed
framework for defining learning communities. Education Tech Research Dev 65, 1569–1582.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-017-9535-0
Willis, K. S. (2015) Netspaces: Space and Place in a Networked World. Routledge

76. Learning as a Partnership: The Building Blocks of Multimodal Learning
Communities
Learning to learn is a lifetime endeavour. Anderson (2016) proposes
that aspiration, self-awareness, curiosity, and vulnerability can help us
to address new learning curves. Key to this is learning with and from
others – learning as a partnership. My keynote will consider the
different modes of learning students may experience in higher
education and reflect on the importance and value of learning
communities for each. I will share the PARTNERSHIP framework I am
developing which proposes a collection of building blocks that when
considered, can help to scaffold the development of learning
communities.

78. Sue Beckingham | @suebecks
National Teaching Fellow and Principal Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University
with a research interest in the use of social media in education.
Blog: http://socialmediaforlearning.com/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/suebeckingham
Image credit: Where not notes images used in this presentation are CC0 Creative Commons free for use https://pixabay.com/