Learning Circles

Learning circles, developed by Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU), are an innovative model of nonformal education that increases accessibility, utility, and equity of OER. Meeting weekly for 6-8 weeks in public libraries, learning circle participants work through online courses together with a librarian facilitator in a subject of their choosing, such as resume writing, web design, or public speaking. Learning circles began in 2015 as a means to alleviate barriers that many adults face with online courses, including a lack of perceived relevance, digital barriers, and social isolation. During a one year pilot, P2PU and Chicago Public Library demonstrated that learning circles can both increase online course completion rates and reach new audiences of learners. Moreover, learning circles provided a strong social bond for citizens from diverse backgrounds to come together and work towards a common goal, and centered the library at the center of community learning experiences. After releasing an open source learning circle toolkit in 2016, the ecosystem grew dramatically: close to 100 libraries around the world have now run learning circles reaching 1,500 learners, most of whom are new to OER, MOOCs, and open ed. As a small open source project, learning circle growth has been contingent on an empowered community: librarians in Kenya are now preparing to train librarians in neighboring countries; in Detroit, learning circle participants are now facilitators. In two years, learning circles has influenced many dimensions of open education, including: open courses designed for learning circles (Pittsburgh Children's Museum Making and Learning MOOC), new open ed research (Cristiane Damesceno’s award-winning dissertation: “Massive Courses Meet Local Communities: An Ethnography of Open Education Learning Circles), crowdsourced feedback on high quality OER and MOOCs ( https://p2pu.org/en/courses), as well as FOSS and open pedagogy (the learning circle toolkit and accompanying facilitator training workshops).