Connection before Content

We co-teach a postgraduate summer intensive and a couple of years ago, midway through the unit and before our final, collaborative intensive, the classroom was feeling really flat.

We could see there was some kind of disconnect, but we weren't exactly sure what was going on. We're both trained in facilitation and there's this principle that we'd heard about called “connection before content” as a way to lay foundations for engagement. So we committed to building in ten minutes of deliberate connection building activities into every hour in the unit from then on.

Some of the ways that we actually implement our connection before content principle is the IDOART framework - a way to frame active learning really clearly - and the 10/40 rule - which carves out time for deliberate connection-building.

IDOART

We've implemented this method of framing workshops every week for the last two years to make sure that students are really clear on what's ahead in any given active learning class - not just the content, but also the expectations of how to engage with each other and us.

Watch the video below to learn how we use this framework

The 10/40 rule

The 10/40 rule is that in any given 60 minutes of active learning or workshop class, design in 10 minutes of connection building activities and 40 minutes for substantive learning/workshop type activities (and ten minutes of having a break so it adds up to 60!).

We've also developed some really tangible strategies and interesting examples of how to go about building specific kinds of connections. We've got lots of activities around different dimensions of connection that we've tried out to build them in class in practice.

Click on the tabs below to learn more about each dimension

One activity can build multiple kinds of connection - for example when the connection to place activity is done in a group, that could both be a connection between peers and connection to place and if there's a sustainability theme, then also a connection to content. The important thing is you’re clear about the purpose(s) of the connection activity and what it seeks to encourage.

There's literally thousands of activities that you could use. There's so many out there, but what we suggest is that you choose the ones that you feel most connected with, the activities that you feel most passionate about. Which is important because if you don't feel connected yourself, you won't be able to get the students to follow you in giving these a try.

Don't be afraid to take a risk. Push yourself out of your comfort zone and give things a try. If they don't work, that's alright, take what you learned from it and move on to apply to the next one you try, but just do it every week.

Being authentic, showing our enthusiasm for helping learners, and making sure that we choose activities we truly believe are valuable - as well as repeated practice - has seen us really grow our repertoires and our skills in a different way to what facilitating conventional active learning alone would have done.

The other thing that I would say about the principle of connection before content is that it's not actually a rule that has to be followed in order. It's not that you must do a connection activity before every content activity.  It’s about making sure that when you're designing how time is spent, you prioritise connection - since we find that it is so often squeezed out and deprioritised relative to more content-oriented activities.

The 10/40 rule is a rule of thumb to help structure that time, but you could absolutely introduce a connection based activity in the middle of an active learning class, or even towards the end, for example, sending students on a pair walk to reflect or do some other kind of connection based activity to close a class.

The important thing is that there's a priority placed on connection, and that it's done with intention about the kinds of connection that need to be established for learning to be strong and successful.

The final thing we’d say is just do it! Give it a go. Be authentic. Be enthusiastic. Do it every week and enjoy the journey!