I have previously written about how online communities helped me to thrive as a teacher. Last October, I posed the question to colleagues: “If the Covid restrictions ended tomorrow and your students were back in a classroom together, would they know each other?” 

It got the cogs turning - the majority answer was “no”. For so long, students have operated within a safety bubble, worked with a small group of peers, anything social or interactive has been with the same group of around 10 students. To them, anything outside the bubble is new territory, new people, new faces and new personalities. All of this combined with national restrictions on mixing with friends and family, the uncertainty adds salt to the wound of normality, social skills have been impacted - how many steps have been taken back in the past 10 months?

Thinking further into it, actually it would be like their first day at college, that nervous time, the feeling of anxiety at the thought of speaking in front of others they don’t know - does this really need to happen more than once in their life at college? Would this be a setback to their progression, having to overcome these types of feelings? After being so isolated, If we break down the comfort bubbles which have been their safety place for so long, what would happen?

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Speaking to students, it became apparent they did not want their bubble to burst - they felt safe, they knew their bubble buddies. As a teacher and a parent, I knew how important it was to develop social skills and build their confidence, which, in turn, helps to build on their knowledge - more importantly, their wellbeing. I wanted to create a community for students.

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And why not? As a college, we have all this tech now. We are in full swing turning ourselves into G-Suite professionals. Could the students use this for themselves? For their own communities? I really wanted to move away from this notion that ”bubbles can’t mix”. Of course they can. And now more than ever is the time to do this. 

Back in October, I created online communities for my tutor groups to start mixing with each other. As my students are studying business, I wanted to keep it within that context, so that they could practise and develop professional skills they will need in the future.

“Business Leadership Groups” arrived within my Google classroom - four groups, four leaders and weekly meetings that students attended. My students took full ownership of organising them, working in a team (outside of their bubble), creating minutes - but, most importantly, creating their own communities. After a few weeks, the leadership groups swapped round, new leaders, new topics to discuss and “new people”.

Hand on heart, I can say this worked wonders and the idea of being “bubble strangers” diminished. They also got a sense of pride in being selected as a leader. Organising a meeting promoted so many of the employability skills we try so hard to embed. The bubbles were popped and there was no floating around aimlessly, no panic...a barrier had been broken.

Here we go again

Now we are in February, returning after Christmas to 100 per cent online teaching and no teaching bubbles - all of sudden bubbles are thrown together as online teaching allows that to happen. My earlier concerns at the beginning of the year became reality. Bubble strangers - who are all these people? We don’t know them, please don’t put me in a breakout with people I don’t know.

As an advanced practitioner at Oldham College, I have the opportunity to work with colleagues across the college to support them. All of a sudden one of the biggest challenges for teaching staff is that their students won’t talk, they won’t put cameras on, breakouts are uncomfortable areas where when entering there are just smarties on the screen and the mics are off - nothing is happening. Teaching online then brings new challenges in overcoming bubble fear and supporting the building of communities.

Assigning students to a breakout rooms where nothing is happening means learning is not happening, progress is not being made, and that is worrying. They are scared, they feel vulnerable and they need encouragement. Some of these students have never met each other and it is important we create that safe space for them to thrive in. 

Moving Forward

We don’t know how long teaching 100 per cent online will continue, but either way, I say let’s start community building  - let’s help students to pop those bubbles. Currently, I am working with students on my course to pop the bubbles across year groups. My aim is that Year 2 students can provide a role model type approach to support my Year 1 students. Working with other colleagues, I have seen great examples of community building - online nature walks, small-scale projects to support tutorial topics, assigning breakouts for individual tasks but working alongside a few other students so they can chat whilst working. 

It takes time but if you guide them, they will follow.

Stacey Salt is an advanced practitioner at Oldham College. She would love to hear what others are doing to build communities. Stacey tweets @TutorStacey_AP