Can communities
learn? Our experience as community developers has convinced
us that communities do indeed learn, change and grow as do
all living organisms. Research
from the Caledon Institute confirms this. Communities CAN learn. The key to learning
is active engagement with the information through a mediating
process that entails the exploration, discussion and implementation
of the material.
Principles behind Learning - Findings from
the Caledon report:
 Sherri
Torjman, Vice President of the Caledon Institute, and co-author
of Caledon's report on learning spoke about community learning
at a gathering for the Vibrant Communities initiative in Guelph,
Ontario in 2001. Hear what Sherri has to say about how communities
learn by checking out our video clip.
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Here are some interesting
links we've found on community learning and change. Do you
know any other resources we should feature? Please email Tamarack
at tamarack@tamarackcommunity.ca with your suggestions. We'd love to hear from you!
How Communities Learn
Community learning is a rich organic process that can assist
communities solve local problems and strengthen its overall
quality of life. Read more about it in this Caledon paper here.
ACEnet
The Appalachian Center for Economic Networks facilitates community-based
action-learning processes that aim to grow the local economy
and create income, employment and business opportunities for
low income residents. Find out more about ACENet’s work here.
Study
Circles
The Study Circles Resource Center is dedicated to finding
ways for all kinds of people to engage in dialogue and problem
solving on critical social and political issues. Its website
offers a wide array of tools to help conduct community-wide
study circle processes. Check it out at here.
Putting
People in the Picture
A comprehensive toolkit designed by a nonprofit in the UK
to help nonprofits of all sizes develop a framework for analyzing
and meeting learning needs within their organizations. [Source:
Charity Village]
The
Ron Faris Homepage
Dr. Ron Faris, President of Golden Horizon Ventures, has
produced this site on lifelong learning strategies, including
learning community development, community service-learning,
global training reform and interactive learning technologies.
There are a number of great resources available here, but
see especially:
Do you know of some good links or resources that you'd like
to see on this page? If you do, please email us tamarack@tamarackcommunity.ca.
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Sherri Torjman on community learning.