Cohort-Based Online Communities: Exploitation or Real Connection?
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If you threw a random group of people together, united primarily by a shared educational goal that they can accomplish with or without the group, and had two weeks to build a sense of community among them, what would you do?
That\\u2019s what\\xa0Alex Witkowski\\xa0spends time thinking about. He\\u2019s the community lead for\\xa0Section4, which offers business courses they call sprints. These sprints are typically around two weeks long and then the experience is over \\u2013 if you want it to be. If you don\\u2019t want it to be, you can continue to benefit from and collaborate with the students that took the same course.
Alex oversees a team of four community managers that guides this growing number or cohorts and hopes to bring then together through an upcoming alumni membership program. He also believes that cohort-based communities often exploit community rather than build it. We chat about that, plus:
- Alex\\u2019s transition from English teacher to community pro and the condescension he felt when making the move
- How he determines when a community manager simply has too many cohorts
- Why Slack may not be the right tool for their alumni product
Our Podcast is Made Possible By\\u2026
If you enjoy our show, please know that it\\u2019s only possible with the generous support of our sponsor:\\xa0Vanilla, a one-stop shop for online community.
Big Quotes
Checking your assumptions when interviewing job candidates (05:02):\\xa0\\u201cI\\u2019m doing a lot of interviewing, I\\u2019m doing a lot of hiring, and I\\u2019m trying to be hyper cognizant of everything in an interview process [that] is an assumption. \\u2026 I\\u2019ve been trying to be really aware of making assumptions and holding people back from opportunities, just because I\\u2019m assuming they won\\u2019t be able to make [a specific] change.\\u201d \\u2013@HeyLifeboat
The Section4 community helps students apply course knowledge in the real world (10:55):\\xa0\\u201cI\\u2019m really hoping to build the continuing community around this idea of application. We all have this shared language, we all have these concepts, and I often think about it as the marriage of: We can offer the book smarts, the community is where the street smarts comes in. \\u2026 We can\\u2019t give you every answer for what this looks like in a B2B SaaS context in our two-week course, but we can connect you to people who can engage in discussion with how they\\u2019re thinking about applying it to a B2B SaaS context.\\u201d \\u2013@HeyLifeboat
Section4\\u2019s community managers focus on bringing humanness to the community (17:11):\\xa0\\u201cI\\u2019ve taken other online courses before, [and] I couldn\\u2019t name one person at the company. I\\u2019ve never interacted with anyone. I didn\\u2019t feel a connection to them. I felt the connection to the course, but [at Section4], I feel like there\\u2019s a connection to our ethos, which has been really exciting.\\u201d \\u2013@HeyLifeboat
Section4\\u2019s community managers focus on bringing humanness to the community (31:14): \\u201cOftentimes the self-promoters are some of the loudest, nastiest people that you have in professional groups. They are the ones who respond most offensively when challenged on it. They will attack the community manager, or they will say, \\u2018Of course, I\\u2019m not doing that. This is relevant! You\\u2019re going to kill the community! The community\\u2019s never been the same since Patrick took over!\\u2019 This is all stuff that you have to hear and deal with. Those are some of the worst folks in professional circles, but yet, if you let them do it because it\\u2019s easier in the moment to not take their abuse, it is its own insidious thing that infects the space.\\u201d \\u2013@patrickokeefe
What does community-based learning actually mean? (54:57): \\u201cAs someone who taught for six years, there\\u2019s an art to education, and throwing out a bunch of articles or a handful of videos and then dumping people in the space together and hoping that something happens, that\\u2019s not education. I think that\\u2019s where the word \\u2018community,\\u2019\\xa0 to me, feels exploitative. Just because there are other people here doesn\'t mean it\'s a community.\\u201d \\u2013@HeyLifeboat
About Alex Witkowski
Alex Witkowski\\xa0is a former high school English teacher who left the profession when he found out that he could take the best part of his job \\u2013 nurturing community \\u2013 and do it full time. Since leaving teaching, he has worked in the non-profit and educational technology space, helping a variety of communities including global volunteers, college students, college professors, and business professionals make valuable connections and memories. He is currently the community lead at\\xa0Section4, which aims to make MBA-quality education more affordable and accessible through interactive, community-based courses led by the world\\u2019s top business professors. In his spare time, he watches countless independent movies, makes themed mixtapes, and walks everywhere.
Related Links
- Sponsor:\\xa0Vanilla, a one-stop-shop for online community
- Alex on Twitter
- Section4, the business education provider where Alex is community lead
- Prof. Scott Galloway, the founder of Section4
- Patrick\\u2019s new job: Community lead at\\xa0CNN+
- Bassey Etim\\u2018s previous appearances on Community Signal:\\xa0#4,\\xa0#123,\\xa0#145, and\\xa0#160
Transcript
Your Thoughts
If you have any thoughts on this episode that you\\u2019d like to share, please leave me a comment,\\xa0send me an email\\xa0or a\\xa0tweet. If you enjoy the show, we would be so grateful if you spread the word and supported\\xa0Community Signal on Patreon.
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