Building Community vs. Facilitating Community and the Work of Belonging in Digital Communities

01/17/24 • 54 min

If you know me, you know I talk about community - all the time. Reflecting on the work of Marcus Collins, I spend this episode diving into the roles we all play in community, and how we can all evolve together. We’ll discuss how we can show up and be active advocates for our communities, defining belonging as a facet of community and how this all translates to student success.

But we’ll also dig into what a community really is. Is it though the memes we share on our schools’ social media account, the campus itself, the culture the students share, or the staff we bring on at the higher levels?

We’re also trying something new this episode, and sharing an interview I did recently with Tim Alexander, the Resident Director at Chapman University. If you were at the NASPA Western Regional Conference, you may remember he ended up being a big part of my session.

In this episode, Tim talks about how he implemented ideas from my Digital Community Cohort to create meaningful social media content that humanized Chapman’s RAs and staff even before the semester kicked off. He digs into his favorite parts of facilitating community on campus, and how he's serving the unique needs of first-year students.

Josie and the Podcast is a production of Dr. Josie Ahlquist and is produced by University FM. The show is also sponsored by Element451.

For all resources mentioned in this episode, head to https://www.josieahlquist.com/podcast/building-community-vs-facilitating-community-and-the-work-of-belonging-in-digital-communities/

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