Step 5. Build Networks that Last: Making Sure Your Students Remain Connected and Continue to Expand Their Networks

Programs that are starting to teach “networking” are doing so first and foremost through embedding relationship-building activities within and across cohorts into their models. Students learn how to build relationships that are authentic and grounded in trust and reciprocity, rather than more transactional, one-sided models of networking. Some programs formalize these connections in peer accountability or success partner structures, through which students are expected to rely on and support one another. Through those experiences, they practice telling their stories and seeing the valuable strengths and resources that their peers possess. Only then do programs start to foster new connections with industry professionals and the like.

No single technology solution exists for the purpose of helping maintain students’ relationships over time, but some models have certain benefits. For example, programs like COOP and Basta use Slack channels for alumni and current students to interact around particular industry topics and skills. On the other hand, LinkedIn groups have the benefit of maintaining connections to individuals, even if they switch jobs and, therefore, email addresses, lowering maintenance costs. As a reminder, for programs serving younger students, it’s important to secure parental permission for any correspondence expected to occur beyond the original scope of a program.

A relationship or network map (detailed in Step 1) can be a tool for students to revisit and expand on as new goals or challenges emerge.

Often, that means pairing maps with coaching and support on help-seeking behaviors and revisiting these maps on a consistent basis to reflect on and update them. For example, at the Forest School, students maintain “social capital trackers” that are displayed publicly in the school to normalize that all students are maintaining their social networks and to celebrate progress. Students update the social capital tracker twice a year with the help of a Guide (what Forest School calls educators). To keep the tracker manageable and up to date, whenever students update their trackers, they are asked to identify the top five strongest relationships in each of those categories.

Additions and changes in the tracker are intended to reflect the social capital-building opportunities that are integrated into a variety of learning experiences at the Forest School, such as apprenticeships, visiting experts who give feedback on students’ work, student exhibitions, and student “Dream Teams.” (Read more about each of these here or watch a video here). Finally, to graduate from The Forest School, students must prove that they have successfully built social capital; the tracker is intended to serve as a way to build evidence of that mastery for their final practical exam (which you can see here).

Keeping alumni connected to one another and to current students can accomplish two things at once: brokering student-alumni connections while also increasing programs’ and institutions’ abilities to keep track of their alumni post-program. While many institutions focus on alumni as a source of financial capital, some are starting to tap alumni for their social capital to enhance students’ opportunities for real-world learning, career exposure, and mentorship. In turn, alumni become more engaged with their alma mater’s current community. For example, Big Picture Learning has partnered with researchers to leverage “connectors”—those staff members whom they have identified as maintaining strong connections with former students—to contribute to longitudinal evaluation projects on program outcomes that inform their work.