Relational Learning Communities 2.0: Updating a Pedagogical Framework

• In Event: Building Relational Learning Communities in Higher Education: Lessons From Practitioner and Self-Study Research

Abstract

Purposes:
This paper provides a theoretical grounding of the Relational Learning Community Framework and offers an updated conception of the original model. In particular, this paper will interrogate the ways that RLCs can support discussions of race and culture in higher education classrooms.

Theoretical Framework:
The RLC model was developed from practitioner action research studies that examined the experiences of teachers who were engaged in intensive summer institutes focusing on the study of Jewish culture (Author 1 et al, 2014; Author 1, 2017). Six distinct components were identified as essential to the construction of RLCs. The first is building a holding environment (Kegan, 1994) – a protected space in which risk taking, vulnerability and nascent ideas can be articulated and engaged with a community of peer learners. The second dimension focuses on the core capacity of relational awareness which is required of RLC facilitators and important to cultivate in RLC participants. The third is the implementation of relational pedagogies, such as descriptive processes (Carini, 2001) and havruta text study (Holzer with Kent, 2013). The fourth component includes supporting, challenging and voicing practices which invite peer learners to engage in textual interpretations in ways that require them to take responsibility for one another’s learning. The fifth element focuses on the selection of texts that the community studies and the centrality of the decision making in this regard. The last dimension requires that group members attend to issues of identity that can be elicited as they engage in intensive study with peers and texts.

Recent Practitioner Research:
Recently, the RLC model was implemented in higher education settings – in both graduate and undergraduate spaces– and practitioner inquiry was conducted to study the affordances and challenges of this framework in these contents. (Boehr et al, 2022; Author 1 2022; Author 2-paper 2 in this session,; Author 3-Paper 3 in this session, 2022) In these studies, it became clear that structures to support discussions of race were not sufficiently addressed in the original RLC model.

Results: Core practices of Relational Awareness
In a recent self-study, Author 1 (2022) studied the ways that core practices of relational awareness (building connection, detecting disconnection and facilitating repair) can be applied in graduate classrooms as integral to culturally relevant pedagogies (Ladson-Billings, 1995, 2014, 2021). Findings from this study suggested that these practices were helpful to the cultivation of an academic RLC, and that even sharper honed skills when engaging issues of race were essential. While the original model found that participants in RLCs often examined their cultural identities, this model did not suggest explicit practices that could support such examinations and more importantly, address the disconnections that may emerge in the group when conflicts arise. The updated model offers more specific guidance in this regard.

Scholarly Significance:
Addressing issues of race in higher educational classrooms is essential and can be challenging for instructors. Research-based practices that have been implemented and refined through implementation, reflection and modification offer important resources to teachers in higher education settings.

Author

• Miriam Raider-Roth, University of Cincinnati
  Presenting Author