Creating a learning circle

We ask facilitators and participants a few questions at different times during the life cycle of a learning circle. We want the questions to be thoughtful and the information gathered to be useful. Here’s an overview of what we ask and when we ask it. The diagram below shows the timeline for a single learning circle:

_images/2020-01-31-timeline.pnglearning circle timeline

Learning circle creation

When creating a learning circle, ask facilitators:

  1. “What do you hope to achieve by facilitating this learning circle?“
  2. “Is there anything that we can help you with as you get started?”

The answers to these questions are shared with a Welcome Committee, which includes both P2PU staff and veteran facilitators from around the world.

_images/2020-01-31-create-qs.pnglearning circle creation

Additionally, The facilitator also has the opportunity to ask a single questions to prospective participants.

_images/2020-01-31-create-custom-q.pnglearning circle creation custom question

You should use this if there is one other question you want to ask participants. If you have a number of additional questions, we recommend you send those to learners in a separate email through the dashboard, or reach out to us about ways to streamline the process.

Learner signup

During signup, learners are asked what their goal is for taking a learning circle. Facilitators have the option of adding an additional question. Finally, learners can opt into general P2PU communications. This is what the signup form looks like:

_images/2020-01-31-signup.pnglearning circle signup

Managing learning circles


On your facilitator dashboard you’ll find all the tools required to manage individual learning circles, including: an editable sign up page, a messaging system that you can use to communicate with participants, a feedback tool for sharing information with your colleagues and P2PU, and a report feature that collects and aggregates feedback from learning circle participants.

.. image:: _static/facilitator-lc-form.png

Learner surveys

At the end of a learning circle, learners are asked to complete a survey. The survey serves as a baseline for assessing learning circle quality and a prompt for feedback about the online course. These are the questions we’re asking learners in the survey:

  1. What did you hope to achieve when you joined this learning circle?
  2. To what extent did you achieve this? (1-5 scale)
  3. Do you feel more confident about what you just learned in the course? (1-5 scale)
  4. How do you intend to apply what you learned?
  5. How well did the online course work as a learning circle? (1-5 stars and reason)
  6. Please share any other impressions you had about the online course.
  7. How likely are you to recommend participating in a learning circle to a friend or colleague? (1-5 starts and reason)

Learners will receive an email right before the last meeting asking them to complete the survey. Facilitators can also find the link for the learner survey on their dashboard and manually share it with learners:

_images/2020-01-31-dash.pnglearning circle dash

Facilitator survey

Facilitators will also receive an email right before the last meeting asking them to complete the survey. This is what the facilitator survey look like:

  1. What did you hope to achieve when you signed up to facilitate this learning circle?
  2. To what extent did you achieve this? (1-5 scale)
  3. Did anything about the learning circle surprise you?
  4. Do you have any stories from the learning circle you want to share with the P2PU community?
  5. About how many people showed up for the first, second and last meetings?
  6. How well did the online course work as a learning circle? (1-5 stars and reason)
  7. How likely are you to recommend facilitating a learning circle to a friend or colleague? (1-5 scale and reason)

A link to the facilitator survey is also available on facilitator’s learning circle dashboard.

Learning circle insights

Using the feedback facilitators and learners provide, we generate the an anonymized, public document called “learning circle insights”. Here’s an example of what that looks like:

https://community.p2pu.org/uploads/default/original/2X/2/2dc635d460dc34167b86aa4347f0fc1842613564.pngLearning circle insights