Community: A Challenge Worth Undertaking
‘Community’ is a word that we encounter daily, sometimes even hourly. It appears in many institutions’ mission statements and is employed generously throughout higher education—and for good reason; it conjures up images of teamwork, altruism, support, and general positivity. But a community is more than just a passing notion of kindness or assistance, it is the foundation of human existence. Sharing knowledge, insight, and research can’t happen in a vacuum. Higher education institutions shouldn’t just offer communities, they should be communities that allow their members to focus on, reach for, and achieve their goals in an open and collaborative environment.
In the past, it has been easy to confirm that those around us share our hopes, concerns, values, and ideals. Interactions could be organic and productive. Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard (of the eponymous and world-famous HP) met while studying at Stanford. Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler (founders of SoulCycle) were set-up on a blind date by friends. Yelp was started when Jeremy Stoppelman asked his coworker Russel Simmons if he could recommend a doctor in the area. These kinds of chance meetings are unpredictable in one sense—you never know who you’re going to meet in the elevator—and yet are perfectly predictable—in that a community’s very existence guarantees that some meaningful interactions will occur.
Three years ago, passing a colleague’s office on your way out the door could have led to an easy exchange of ideas. A casual working lunch within your department might have cleared the air and reset everyone’s focus. These days, things look a little different. A meaningful exchange of ideas now might require scheduling a Zoom call (sometimes weeks in advance). A virtual work lunch is tough to come by (who wants to try to eat a sandwich on camera?). Even for those of us in the sphere of distance education, for whom the idea of online communities might seem commonplace, the complexity and challenges of remote-based communities still exist. Feelings of frustration and isolation can still rain on even the most energetic of parades. Is there a silver lining to be found here? Can we leverage online tools and resources to build meaningful distance-education communities? Can community truly exist in a virtual space? The answer to all of these questions is, of course, yes (or none of us would have jobs).
1) Purpose
A higher education institution breeds community first and foremost through its mission. This is, perhaps, the biggest reason that an institution’s mission statement matters. The faculty, administrators, and staff refine and further the mission through their work. Students align themselves with a mission through school-selection and patronage. The community’s purpose is defined at the outset. A mission statement is unifying; it says, “We’re doing this specific thing, if that sounds cool, come join us!”
2) Infrastructure
Second to purpose is function. How do people exchange ideas and information? Yelling, “Hey! We’re a community!” is not the same as actually being a community. Each institution tackles this question differently: some have online symposia, virtual office hours, chat rooms, synchronous classes, discussion boards, or Zoom calls. Based on its mission and resources, an institution chooses the best way to facilitate ongoing exchanges that further build relationships. By design (and by necessity), these interactions may initially feel less organic and more intentional, and there’s both good and bad to that—the bad being that there can be fewer opportunities for such exchanges, the good being that these exchanges are likely more thoughtful, intentional, and measurable.
3) Work
Where the proverbial rubber and road meet. An institution can have all the right people hired/enrolled and all the right groundwork laid, but if no one is working toward and actively building a community, one will not exist. This can be the most difficult component of a community to define but has the farthest-reaching effects. Do students feel like they belong? Do staff and faculty find their work to be meaningful? Are the institution and the people within the institution symbiotically thriving? These things are achievable and worthwhile, but they require work and time. It’s much easier to sit in a room alone, unchallenged, than it is to expend the time and energy to engage with those in your community. Engaging, however, is the only way to contribute to something meaningful.
As a recent article in Times Higher Ed highlights, creating effective communities require a tremendous amount of work, even in the best of circumstances. Add a global pandemic to the mix, and things become more difficult. There’s not really a choice, though; education only works when we can share, pursue goals, try (and sometimes fail) within the safety of our communities. Students, faculty, and staff all need each other, resulting in one simple truth: if higher education institutions aren’t building community, they aren’t succeeding.
“[An institution] that doesn’t understand its raison d'être as fostering community will inevitably underperform.” -Danny Meyer
