SONJA BURROWS, PhD | Portfolio
The Daily Connect | A team-building online community
Project Description: This community of practice is an online, cross-institutional connection space for digital scholars at Middlebury that provides members with the opportunity to communicate with one another in both informal and formal ways, collaborate on projects, brainstorm new ideas, and map expertise across the institution in order to form a vibrant and active community of innovators around digital learning. Within this space, members can collectively envision and create a place to share notes and/or works in progress, write or syndicate blog posts, participate in fun, low-barrier community-building activities, access a collective portfolio of digital projects, as well as share their digital scholarship with the community both within and beyond Middlebury.
Design: This space is built with a full-installation of WordPress and designed in partnership with staff and leadership in Middlebury’s Office of Digital Learning and Inquiry. Here, members are invited to respond to a series of creative challenges, called The Daily Connect, presented on the site at regular intervals. Each challenge provides an opportunity for participants who may not be co-located to connect asynchronously and with one another. Challenges imagine digital ways to replicate the kinds of informal conversation and social connection that members might experience if they worked in the same building, ran into one another in the parking lot, or if they were hanging out at a favorite local cafe. To participate, members respond to prompts by posting words, images, or other media as desired. By actively connecting with one another in simple ways, all members take steps toward forming a strong community built on friendship, trust, communication, and collaboration.
Sonja Burrows designed, built and managed this community space as part of her work with Middlebury’s then-newly-formed Office of Digital Learning and Inquiry. Please send a message to request further information.
