BEING ALONE TOGETHER: A CRITICAL EXPLORATION OF LEARNING IN “LEARNING GROUP” AND “LEARNING COMMUNITY”

This chapter considers the meaning of “learning” in the terms learning group and learning community, and critiques the assumptions of individual learning that are common in learning groups/communities. The terms learning group and learning community convey an underlying assumption of mutuality, togetherness, and belonging. However, the chapter argues that this togetherness is more about personal learning within a group/community than it is about understanding the social and organizational grouping in which learning is both encouraged and restricted. While reflection on personal learning in a group/community is common, reflection on social structures, oppressive relations, and the consequences of emotional contagion are rare. The “learning” in learning groups/communities reinforces learning alone and ignores how the complex politics of communities affects people’s social and emotional experience of learning together. Using examples from the literature and from the authors’ own practice, the chapter shows how power, conformity, and control—as well as prescribed and/or expected emotions surrounding learning—undermine and seek to individualize communities and groups. It speculates on what a critical notion of “learning” as a prefix would mean for groups and communities.