Creating a Web Literacy Peer Learning Network
In July, Liza and I headed to Chicago to meet the rest of the Mozilla Web Literacy Leaders, and it was inspiring and educational! We returned to Portland excited to bring together our cohort of Multnomah County Library colleagues (now named the Web Literacy Peer Learning Network) and get to work. The Peer Learning Network is made up of smart, dynamic, self-motivated individuals and we are excited to have them lead the way in Web Literacy learning at MCL.
As Liza and I have been supporting this cohort, we have faced some challenges and learned some important lessons, illustrated below…
Schedule way in advance.
Between Liza and me and the six other members of the team, we work eight different schedules (some part time, some full time), report to seven different supervisors, and work in five different parts of town. Finding a time we could all meet was challenging and took longer than we anticipated.
Articulate your goals early and clearly.
Liza and I have been talking to each other about this project for months. The Peer Learning Network knew only what we they had read in our emails, which expressed our excitement but were somewhat vague regarding details. This was mostly intentional; an important part of this project was having the group define the direction this project would take. However, we jumped into the activities of our first group meeting without talking about our overarching goals; we hadn’t set aside time to make sure everyone was on the same page. As a consequence, we ended up spending a huge portion of the first meeting answering questions and clarifying our goals. Going forward, we’re working harder to build time for those discussions into our agendas.
Acknowledge that you’re asking people to take a leap of faith.
Being a part of a large government agency means that certain structures are in place, formally and informally. Not only are we asking frontline staff to take on responsibilities that are not normally part of their job descriptions; we’re also asking them to risk designing and carrying out learning activities outside of the traditional structures. It is important for Liza and I to reassure the Peer Learning Network that the two of us will support them in any way they need, whether that means providing materials or acting as their advocates with library administrators.
Shut up and trust that you’re working with knowledgeable, creative individuals.
Liza and I decided that for our second meeting we would have the group set the agenda. We presented them with our objectives for the day (choose a project, make a timeline, decide on and assign tasks, etc.) but asked them to decide the best way to get there. Once they had created an agenda, Liza and I participated in the discussions and activities as members of the team; when questions came up, we let the group brainstorm and decide on the best way forward. When they created tasks that needed to be accomplished, we waited until team members volunteered to take responsibility and then asked them to tell us how we could support them. When we got out of the way and let the team design the project, they came up with something incredibly awesome!
We’ve just gotten started and the Web Literacy Peer Learning Network has taught us so much already! We can’t wait to go forward with this fantastic team!
