An enriched community lifelong learning hub would encourage participants (students, faculty, community leaders) to contribute as co-learners, contributors and curators.

Though the focus for some participants may be to develop skills such as digital literacy, others might require ways to connect with community leads to get referrals to employment and volunteering opportunities, community services and programs; others might seek information about training programs, learn first-hand about careers, or connect with mentors to learn how to set up a small business, or develop their language skills. Still others might want a way of communicating with community influencers.

Such a network, however, needs to have several key ingredients:

1. A flattened hierarchy, with the Lead Mentor, contributors and community leaders acting as equals to act synergistically towards building up mutual information sharing, referral networks,  and learning opportunities.

2. To begin with, a Lead Mentor who acts as a co-learner with autonomous lifelong learners who work to foster one’s own and others’ contributions towards lifelong learning;

3. Over time, the community learning hub will nurture connections and build mutual support partnerships between individuals and various local groups.

4. Opportunities will arise to develop, build and maintain resource sharing and exchange of skills and knowledge among the various participants, in the forms of both an online learning network and a number of in-person workshops facilitated initially by a Lead Mentor, growing gradually and expanding to include different community organizations and institutions.

5. Later on over time, the one community learning hub will grow out to include a number of lifelong learning hubs (such as the local College campus or the local Public Library) within the community that act as skills exchange hubs, idea incubators, and learning spaces.

6. A community learning network will bring resources together and act as a bridge to create more discussions and information sharing among key community information providers, but it would require the efforts of all to contribute towards a distributed lifelong learning agenda that benefits everyone.

LIFELONG LEARNING PROJECT – Ideas for Community Project Activities

• Community Blogging Circle
• Tech Skills Workshop Series
  • computer literacy skills; digital writing; presenting skills
• Guest Speakers and Interviewees
  • Asks individuals who would like to share their knowledge, experience and respond to requests to provide information interviews, or to invite them to visit in person as a guest speaker and visit the study circle participants;
• Community Podcast
  • Asks participants to interview and prepare recorded talks with community social service organizations about their services, events, and programs as part of a podcast;
• Mentoring
  • Asks community leaders, Elders, and career professionals to consent to work with community hub participants  as mentors to prepare talks, presentations, and commentary;