Does anyone permit first-time attendance at a Learning Circle after the first meeting? If so, please share your parameters for attendance. Thanks!
I hope I am understanding your question, but I have no problems to have people participating in my courses after the starting date. The only issue is that not all the materials of the course are posted online. There is extra information about the installation and configuration of software that will be giving on the first/second day of the course. One will have to contact me to catch up or ask for a colleague to do it.
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Good question @Barb_White. You can close sign up through your dashboard to lessen the likelihood of people finding out about the learning circle once it begins. However, if people are coming by and seeing the learning circle as it happens, you’ll have to make a call as to whether you think their participation will help or hinder the overall group dynamic. Two trends that I’ve seen emerge are:
- Have a firm cut off that nobody can join after the 2nd week
- If people come by, tell them if they want to join the learning circle they should come back right at the end of the session to talk to you for 5 minutes; if they can catch up on the course materials before the next meeting then they are free to join.
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Sometimes, people register for a course and then realize they can’t attend the first session, or the register knowing they will miss the first one. One is more frustrating to the facilitator than the other. lol.
If they’ve already registered, I will let them start a week late, but they have to do the work, so I have to send them the info they need from the first session. I especially let them skip a week if I know them and know they’re good for the work, such as someone who has taken a course with me before.
If someone asks me, by email, before they register, I will usually tell them no, they can’t start a week late. Unless I know them, anyway. It’s not fair to the other students, in my mind.
Anyway, here are my thoughts, for whatever they’re worth.
We have a related question - if registered Learners don’t show up after the 2nd meeting, do you delete them from the learning circles registration? We are using the Message functionality for reshare the Zoom link and recaps - these messages get sent to all folks who registered, not just attendees.
Yes, that’s a good point @Steph_Miller! We’ve started doing this as well when folx haven’t shown up/replied/indicated interest after two weeks. Generally I’ll send a quick good faith FYI message to them but generally if they haven’t come to the first two they won’t be coming to the third.
Ohh, I’m glad I saw the other replies to this. I really like this idea that if they haven’t shown up after two sessions then they essentially get “booted” from the course. I started deleting folks during my last class, as time went on, but having a firm rule like this is good. It’s also helpful when you’re looking at class statistics, or how many people your learning circle has “reached”, to cut down those it has not reached.