Less Passive, More Active: Supporting Different Ways to Learn Together and Grow our Community
Small changes can multiply socially and the impact of a single individual can affect the lives of others. We’ve seen examples of this many times within our own community, a recent, notable example being the evolution and rising adoption of design systems and componentized UI elements implemented with Pattern Lab. I will discuss the impact of the social multiplier effect on Drupal development and contribution and how we can harness this even more by structuring knowledge-sharing activities that support and welcome more folks with different learning styles.
Conferences, meetups, and camps are great and provide a wonderful space to network and be exposed to new and/or different ideas, but they are passive in terms of audience learning and participation. I have shifted the focus of the free trainings and office hours I co-run in NYC to focus more on active learning. This re-structuring not only builds skills but also empowers people to take risks and to share their experiences and lessons learned. In turn folks are empowered to make their own impact and are more likely to contribute back to the Drupal community.
Learning together in a supportive and safe environment grows trust and allows us to form the personal relationships that continue to sustain our community. I’ve seen this time and time again, most recently at our Drupal 8 study group held in NYC. When our group problem solves or learns something new together, it crumbles the walls of ego, fear, bias, and the feeling of being an imposter. Even if the problem we are tackling is non-technical such as planning a training, each experience gives us an opportunity to reflect and to grow our Emotional intelligence (EQ), take on risks, and challenge ourselves to think differently.
Within the space of the Drupal community, and I believe this applies to communities in general, the more we meet and collaborate with people both virtually and locally, the greater chance for new approaches and ideas to spread for the collective greater good. Adoption and internalization of these solutions or perceptions happens faster when we support the array of ways people learn. The wonderful side effect of us coming together to work on Drupal is that we’re all different, and because and sometimes despite that, we find ways to work together. Today as we look at ourselves, in the larger context of the world and global relations, there’s a returning cycle of increased unrest and distrust of “The Other.” It is critical to reflect on our own biases and challenge ourselves to step out of our comfort zones not only to benefit our Drupal community but our general world community.