Creativity and Connectedness: A Digital Third Space for Umoja Learning Community

I feel like my project is just beginning. The hardest part is getting something tangible together to start with. In this sense, I feel like my action project was effective; it served its purpose—a starting place. And even though I’ve had this idea (or at least part of the idea) in the back of my mind for a while, I would have likely never had the time to develop it if I did not take this class, which created the space to think my ideas through, conduct research, and tinker around with creating a website, which can take way too much time than it needs to.  

​

My process for this project ranged from swimming in the ocean to very focused and in turn, from the research process, to creating the website, to organizing the presentation. I tend to both “think big” and “include everything” and then embark on the tedious task of descaling and refining the scope, and then overthinking the sequencing of everything (especially the presentation). I’ve noticed that I have this tendency with many projects, but it was more pronounced with this one, most likely because it was a pretty big project to pull off, and it was also one that I was passionate about, which triggered the perfectionist in me. My project is far from perfect, though. In fact, I had to continuously remind myself not to get stuck whiling away my time on details that would likely change when I pilot the project. To this extent, I focused on a clear structure for the website and good resources and examples to get it started; in this way, it would remain flexible so that student ideas can drive the content of the site as it evolves. 

​

I loved doing the research for this project. I could really just spend my whole time researching theory and writing long-winded essays as any good academic would. Coming from an academic background in world literature, this was what research amounted to, an essay which may or may not be published. Taking research and leveraging it to implement something actionable and focused on my professional goals was exciting for me. When I started the program, one of my goals were to develop strategies to enact ‘community’ in a digital space, and with particular respect to adapting the principles of Umoja learning community to digital spaces. I put this in my personal statement when applying for the program, so, in this respect, I am somewhat content that I have a tangible stepping-stone to enact my intentions with this program.  

​

As I move forward to piloting this project, I want to keep in mind that positive change is not done alone. I want to share this idea and allow it to evolve with the minds of others. I have a tendency to just do my own thing at times, and I want to be mindful of this tendency. With this project, as with any big project, working to build buy-in with other faculty and staff is crucial to the life of the project. To this end, keeping a running reflection of experiences and “lessons learned” is also valuable to spreading the idea to other contexts within the college.