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Wes Kao — Learning first, community second: The juicy challenges of building course communities

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Communities are a focal point of cohort-based courses (CBCs). You can't have a start and end date, and just expect a high completion rate. You need community to help students stay motivated and stick through learning hard things. So how is community building different for CBCs vs other types of organizations? What unique challenges do courses bring? By understanding the nuances facing community managers, you’ll build a stronger community for your own course, gain a newfound appreciation for the hard work community managers do, and evaluate the right hire when growing your team. 1. Build trust among students quickly because courses don’t last forever. Cohort-based courses have a start and end date. This sense of urgency (from a deadline) is exactly what most of us need to get our shit together and focus. But, the time bound element means you can't build community with a slow burn. Like a Michael Bay movie where cars are blowing up in the first three minutes, there needs to be action

Learning first, community second: The juicy challenges of building course communities Communities are a focal point of cohort-based courses (CBCs). You can't have a start and end date, and just expect a high completion rate. You need community to help students stay motivated and stick through learning hard things. So how is community building different for CBCs vs other types of organizations? What unique challenges do courses bring? By understanding the nuances facing community managers, you’ll build a stronger community for your own course, gain a newfound appreciation for the hard work comm

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