Learning Circle Checklist

Facilitating a learning circle requires about 3 hours per week on the part of the facilitator, most of which is spent in the actual learning circle. In addition to that, some time is often needed for set up, clean-up (if meeting in person), communicating with learners between each meeting, and familiarizing with the upcoming week of course materials.

Below is a recommended checklist that outlines the steps needed to get your learning circle running. We recommend that you schedule your first learning circle at least four weeks in the future, but you can compress or expand this timeline to suit your needs. If you don’t already have a dedicated group of learners, we recommend spending four weeks promoting your learning circle once you’ve finalized the date, time, course, and location.

First Steps

• Set Your Intent by connecting with your own goals, your community, or your colleagues to identify the learning objectives and audience you want to support with your learning circle

• Decide your learning circle details:

  • Choice of course, learning materials, and/or facilitator guide

  • Number of meetings and length of each session

  • Meeting Dates & Times

  • Set Up Your Space (where you'll meet)

• Confirm supplies will be available (laptops, headphones, pens, nametags, snacks, etc.)

• Reach out to affiliated or relevant local organizations to share your plans and look for advertising opportunities

4 weeks prior

• Create your learning circle using P2PU's free tools (see Creating learning circles)

• Begin promoting online and offline (see Promote your learning circle)

• Connect with local communities to find prospective participants (see Finding Participants)

2 weeks prior

• Begin making a facilitator's guide by exploring the learning materials and creating an outline for how you want to proceed through the materials

  • We recommend using the last session of the learning circle to review the facilitator guide with learners. This wrap-up activity is an opportunity for collective reflection. You can share your guide by emailing it to us at [e-mail] - we'll add it to our website to help future facilitators.

• Visit your learning circle's management page to check in on your current number of of registrations and close sign-ups if needed (see Managing Learning Circles)

1 week prior

• Follow up with all registered learners to make sure they plan to attend, ask about accessibility considerations, and make plans for any technical troubleshooting (as needed)

• If in-person, confirm reservations with your meeting venue

• Gather supplies

Before each meeting

• Edit reminder messages – these will be sent automatically 2 days before the meeting and will include an RSVP link and information about the meeting space (unless you choose to edit that out)

After each meeting

• Capture feedback and communication with learners

  • Facilitators will receive an email notification after each meeting prompting them to reflect on the meeting.

  • Additionally, facilitators can send a recap message to learners to recap what was discussed during the meeting and loop in participants who could not attend.

  • Lastly a facilitator might want to edit the reminder message for the next meeting if there is anything to be done for that meeting.

Final learning circle meeting

• Review and share your facilitator guide

  • During the last session of your learning circle, invite your class to review your facilitator guide with you. This is an opportunity to reflect collectively on the structure and activities that worked best from week to week.

  • When you're finished reviewing your facilitator guide, please share it with our community by emailing it to [e-mail]! We would love to share your experiences to help future facilitators.

• Surveys

  • The P2PU portal will send emails to learners before the final meetings, asking them to complete a survey about their experience

    • Ask learners to complete this survey during the final meeting during plus/delta

    • You can also find the learner survey link on your dashboard

  • After the last meeting, facilitators can rate their learning circle, course and complete an additional survey. The responses to the learner surveys can be downloaded, and a facilitator can view a Learning Circle Insight summary in their dashboard.