Orality Journal Volume 3, Number 1, 2014 | Page 15

Creating Learning Communities

Our relationships in the cohort
were highly supportive and noncompetitive because we were
largely from different parts of
the country, and in some cases
in different denominations and
in different types of churches.
This life experience, coupled
with intellectual sophistication
(all of us had Master’s degrees),
meant that we could learn from
each other. It was truly an iron
sharpening iron experience.
This article provides a working
architecture for developing and
sustaining cohorts that increase the
effectiveness in achieving student
learning outcomes.

Definitions
The cohort learning experience
is a peer-learning affair that
assumes significant life experience,
coupled with significant life goal (a
degree) with a significant level of
motivation. Before the Internet age,
peer groups flourished in business
schools like Harvard, where case
study learning produced leadership
wisdom. Peer-based learning also
took place among physicians in
their residency programs. But
in this Internet age, where good
information is abundant and
plentiful, and students are often
older, cohort-based learning can
be used in multiple settings. It

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is ideal in scholar-practitioner
disciplines like the DMin, EdD,
and DMiss degrees.

Developing a Cohort
Below are five steps in developing
a cohort.
1. Discover emerging needs. The
path to discovery is learning
to ask the right questions.
Nehemiah modeled this well.
What set this servant apart,
however, was not only the
in-depth interview questions
he asked his brothers from
Jerusalem (Neh. 1:1-3). What
was remarkable is how his
theological core directed his
journey of discovery. Nehemiah
was driven not by sociological
curiosity, but by theological
necessity. Out of a deep and
abiding relationship with the
LORD, an understanding of his
word and compassion for God's
people (Neh. 1:4ff), Nehemiah
was on a mission to discover
emerging needs in order to
lead to change and spiritual
transformation.
2. Frame the cohort. Once the
emerging need(s) has surfaced,
the second step is to build a
framework for the cohort.
Paint in broad brush strokes
a picture of the central focus.