It\u2019s only a few months since we celebrated the launch of the AmplifyFE Communities of Practice Sector Audit Report 2024<\/a>. I wrote the foreword for the report and in it I suggested that AmplifyFE provides structure for FE\u2019s online communities, without attempting control<\/strong>. It seems to me that this is more important than ever. There is a lot<\/em> of fear out there – in post-16 education and in the world – and fear leads to panic measures, which can include reactionary attempts at control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everything that is coming out of the major business schools about leadership in our modern times is calling for new and relational ways of networking* to drive affirmative momentum in times of perma-change. John Kotter\u2019s article, \u2018Accelerate!\u2019, published in the Harvard Business Review more than a dozen years ago, introduced the concept of the \u2018second operating system\u2019 in organisations, because \u201cthe old methodology simply can\u2019t handle rapid change<\/em>.\u201d His vision was of two systems that operate in concert, traditional hierarchies that keep the cart on the wheels and an \u201cagile, networklike structure<\/em>\u201d, galvanizing energy and action around transformational change. I\u2019d call this changemaking<\/strong>, and it\u2019s the only way I can imagine of addressing the momentum problem we have in FE, where good intentions fizzle out in the face of the day job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And we have it! As the AmplifyFE map<\/a> and Sector Audit Report shows, we already have an agile, networklike landscape<\/em> in FE, a tapestry, as Chlo\u00eb calls it, which we have built ourselves. A landscape of constellations, where people move in and out as their interests, enthusiasms and energy determine, where leadership shifts, where work is done. There\u2019s a freshness about this constellation approach and it nourishes the sector, bringing changemaking energy (potentia<\/em>) into the workplace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We could do with more of this within organisations<\/em> too and maybe the concept of the \u2018dual operating system\u2019 will help shift some fixed ideas. But the days are hopefully long gone when it was considered \u2018disloyal\u2019 to have colleagues outside your own organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In its fifth year, the AmplifyFE Sector Audit Report maps 3000 connections across 371 virtual communities of practice. If we think about FE as a system, our communities are very much part of that, rippling all that community changemaking energy back into organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet much has changed. In their podcast, Emma and Chlo\u00eb begin by reflecting on the original intention of AmplifyFE<\/a> – \u2018to network the networks\u2019 – and how on Twitter, back in the day, a hashtag effectively became a community of practice. With so many leaving what\u2019s now X (including AmplifyFE) they ask, \u201cWhere are those conversations going?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was fascinating to listen to them reminisce and reflect on memories of my own, as I was very involved in those early days, going right back to the OG #UKFEChat<\/a>. It was a truism of the time that it typically took people six months to find their feet on Twitter and projects around that the time such as #APConnect and #PDNorth were able to welcome new accounts with practical help and an invitation to belong. Now, social media is a \u201cweird space with lots of platforms<\/em>\u201d and hashtags don\u2019t have the power they once did on platforms like LinkedIn. With this platform diffusion, new and existing communities have to try that much harder to grow. As Emma says, there\u2019s nothing now that fits the bill for being informally professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chlo\u00eb wonders about the infrastructure projects (such as #APConnect<\/a>, #PDNorth<\/a> and AmplifyFE itself). What happens when the funding runs out? Back to that issue of control! It\u2019s very clear that when project capacity is used to empower, facilitate and amplify, there is no dependency to recover from when funding ends. Energies may be directed elsewhere, but connections remain. (I\u2019d love to suggest a counter example of an infrastructure project that attempted control, growing dependency rather than agency, but in fact they never work out 😌).<\/p>\n\n\n\n I would say this, being a co-founder, but #JoyFE<\/a> is a great example of a hashtag community that didn\u2019t need financial support (in fact, deliberately did not go there). Started on the day of lockdown, as a hashtag and Twitter live (broadcast) #JoyFE quickly grew a following of educators determined to find joy in challenging circumstances. Over the years it was a magazine, Ideas Room, skills exchange, writing room and much more, initiatives ebbing and flowing with different leaders. We went where the energy was. These days, #JoyFE is an idea, something embodied and immanent<\/em>. When we announced that we were closing down our social media recently, people said how much #JoyFE would forever be in their heart. Will it stay on the AmplifyFE map? Certainly, for now. I only have to mention it to a stranger at a conference for faces to light up. We will never know how far that joy has rippled out. But when it\u2019s time to go, we\u2019ll know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Chlo\u00eb and Emma so wisely say, the simple truth of the hashtag community on a single social media platform belongs to the past, there\u2019s no going back there. Meta (Instagram, Threads, Facebook) is increasingly seen as compromised and BlueSky still emerging, with LinkedIn as a place for FE to hang out, currently. But whilst LinkedIn sees lots of posts, engagement is less: at best, many-to-one rather than the messily connected growth of many-to-many. It\u2019s harder to follow the conversation, so we are seeing a resurgence in the once-moribund newsletter – the transmission of information rather than the engagement of community. There\u2019s plenty not in the public domain via WhatsApp groups, of course (by invitation only, which is different again from the expansive public invitation of yesteryear).<\/p>\n\n\n\n So change is here for our grassroots FE communities, as it is for much else. And who is more resourceful than us? Check out #AIwithKI<\/a> on LinkedIn, Digital Innovation Manager Kirsty Ingleson from Kirklees College using her reach to grow a national community around AI in FE, interspersing campaigns with live events. Or #SustainFE<\/a>, combining a LinkedIn group with meet-ups around environmental sustainability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re having to work a bit harder to find one another, but – crucially – we continue to do that for ourselves<\/em>. We\u2019ve had a taste of self-directed, autonomous, empowering online communities which are open-borded, agile and courageous enough to know when to walk away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I look forward to AmplifyFE mirroring back to us where we\u2019re at, at the end of another year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks for reading this AmplifyFE post! AmplifyFE<\/a> is a strategic partnership between ALT and the Ufi VocTech Trust<\/a>. AmplifyFE connects over 3000 professionals in Further Education and Vocational Education, providing a strong networking community to share, collaborate and learn. We connect innovators, industry and educators, therefore, AmplifyFE posts may include contributions with a commercial focus. AmplifyFE\u2019s posts are included on the #altc blog to support networking, collaboration and sharing. For more information, please check AmplifyFE\u2019s dedicated submission guidelines.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"#AmplifyFE\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2023\/03\/AmplifyFE-logo.png?resize=1024%2C713&ssl=1\"){kind=logo}
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