# data[].attributes.body
- Problem-posing education.  "The teacher isn't the sole source of knowledge.  Dialog between students and a teacher is part of an inquiry process that encourages critical thinking" (Cowhey p. 17). This allows students to be more involved in the learning process making it more personal.
- Make sure that students understand the depth of what it is they are trying to understand. Ex. when doing a foodrive for the less fortunate, don't entice students by throwing a pizza party to whoever collects/donates the most, insetad, help them build compassion and pride in helping others. "They collected and volunteered not out of pity, but out of understanding and empathy.  They learned to transform their compassion into action" (Cowhey p.35).

# data[].attributes.body
- Learning and curiosity in their social studies knowledge.  "I believe young children can think about fairness and are deeply moved and highly motivated by the recognition of injustice" (Cowhey p. 17).  Social studies should be framed around students personal curiosity and topics that they can resonate or collect information to better their understanding.
- Keeps the learning relevant and authentic so that children care about the topic.

# data[].attributes.body
- "Theory emerges from the practice, and that the very best teachings merges theory, practice, and reflection" (Cowhey p. 18).  This quote explains the importance of having an initial thought (inquiry), practicing the new information learned and then reflecting on it to understand how/why.
- "As a teacher, I find it is powerful to draw on and speak from my own experiences..." (Cowhey p.30). Children's understanding of other people's lives can help them comprehend how to help and show compassion towards them.  This method is similar to story telling which can be more entertaining to students.  Cowhey also mentions that you can use stories from others' experiences that are complete opposite so the class is not only hearing one perspective/lifestyle.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Have you been thinking about building an online community? Do you find the idea intriguing but don't know how to get started? Let's see how Simon Sinek's "Why, How, and What" format can help you with that.
Building An Online Community - Start With Why

To find answers we approached our customers and asked them why did you decide to build an online community. Among many answers, the three most common and important were:

1. To Communicate With My Customers

Every businessperson knows that communication is the basis of close contact and excellent relationships. Accordingly, the type of platform that you most often see is the customer community platform. Using a customer community platform means that people who want to be connected with your brand are included in the product development and service optimization journeys.

The benefits are twofold: you get invaluable insights that you can use to improve your business, and your customer feels that you value their opinion, increasing the mutual trust and respect. To illustrate better how a customer community can improve your business, just look at the 'SolarPlaza Network'.

Solarplaza is a pioneering enterprise that has organized over 70 events in more than 25 countries in just 10 years. What they have been doing has advanced the field of solar and renewable energy through the global market. How does them building an online community platform helped them further their cause? For one, it connects more than 8 000 professionals across the globe. Their customer community represents the primary digital hub that connects their members from around the world.

2. To Learn From Customers

Gaining customer insights is the goal of numerous businesses. Cue the second type of platform, the project-based insights community. This is a place where you collaborate with customers to collect valuable information.

Building an insights community can be very effective for organizations with research as the first priority. If you implement incentivisation, like rewarding contributions with points, badges, and coupons for real-life rewards, your community will thrive and grow beyond the limits of your current audience.

A good example of an insights community is Consuminded, a platform managed by Branddoctors Dialogue. Another example is Profacts, who went superbly and, to quote them: "getting over 4000 contributions from just 100 community members felt amazing!"

How do they utilize insights community? They ask their members to respond to questions and surveys on how they use certain products, and convert the responses into valuable implementable data for their clients. This neat little tool returns information quickly and in overall increase the rate of engagement.

3. To Establish A Place For My Customers To Create

And what about people who want everything packed into a neat little package of insights + communication wrapped up in a form of a social network? The third answer to the big question is a "free form" of a social network called Private Social Network. A social software designed to put an emphasis on members who share a mutual interest and the relationships between them, Private Social Networks implement modules, widgets, and tools to create an engaging and dynamic online community.

The main benefit of Private Social Networks is the amplified efficiency at a lower cost. Gathering insights, testing new methods/products, and discussing opinions on niche-related topics, is easier for members, who can share relevant content and discuss on a higher level than your average social media user. Think of it like a sort-of think tank. Just for you.

Building An Online Community - The How.

So, you've decided why, and you've made up your mind about online communities. Now comes - how? How can you build an online community? Again, we're here to help you get to the best answer for you. Obviously, you need a community platform. But what kind of community platform do you need? You need to choose what aspects do you wish to include to customize it for your needs. Here is what you can choose from:

1. Types Of Interaction

The initial choice is to think about which interactive modules you would like to use. Reflect on your answer to the first question - why? - and pick those that would suit the purpose of your online community. To promote discussion among your members - host a forum. To encourage brainstorming sessions - launch a challenge. The combinations are endless: everything is at your disposal to find a perfect match for your needs.

2. Tone Of Voice

What kind of relationships do you want to foster? Formal or casual? Friends or colleagues (or both)? Everything depends on your target audience and the unifying idea of your community's specialization (or lack thereof). Perhaps you already use a certain manner of speech and tone in your marketing and PR. If that is the case, the logical next step is for you to build that same thing in your online community. If your brand identity doesn't apply in this case, observe your target audience. When you spot that certain tone, maintain it through your platform. Remember, you are providing people with the platform - it is their needs that you want to fulfill.

3. Private, Open Or Hybrid?

Another vital step when it comes to forming your online community platform. Based on your target audience, you can decide if you want to keep your platform open to anyone, keep it private with invitation-based membership, or try to find some middle ground, usually by requiring a form of registration before revealing the content.

4. Incentives

A big role in your Community can be gamification, if you decide to go for it. The concept of gamification essentially boils down to rewarding contribution to your community. Rewards in the form of points, badges, and titles can massively contribute to motivating members to engage in activities that are beneficial for the whole of your community. Add some real-life awards, and your community can swell to an enormous size!

Building An Online Community - The What.

What do you need to achieve what you have envisioned in your answers until now? This is where CMNTY Platform steps in. We have tried our best to allow our platform to be an all-in-one solution. We've come to empower thousands of communities with our software. Feel free to start a trial to get acquainted with our platform. In the meanwhile, consider this

1. Feature Selection

CMNTY Platform comes with a plethora of features. You might want to use all of them, but you might also need just a few. Check out the comparison list between plans with an easy overview of your package and the features that come with it.

2. Budget

We've built our pricing model with every budget size in mind. For example, you can start with a model with low entry level that allows your platform up to 250 members. As your community grows, your platform can grow along. Once you require more slots and more features, we can upgrade on the go. It's that simple!

3. Planning + Kickoff

When making plans, don't forget to pay attention to your internal processes as well. Keep in mind: The more effort you put into your community, the more your members give back. We recommend doing an internal kickoff for your community before you go live and out in the open!

Related Post: Community Software Buyers Guide

In Conclusion

Why, how, what? We hope this articles helps you define your business goals before actually starting to build your community. If you still have questions or would like to discuss your ideas, please reach out to our success team.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Building An Online Community: The Why, The How, and The What.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Have you been thinking about building an online community? Do you find the idea intriguing but don't know how to get started? Let's see how Simon Sinek's "Why, How, and What" format can help you with that. To find answers we approached our customers and asked them why did you decide to build an online community.

# data[].attributes.body
...I also gain priceless insight as I learn about each child and his or her family...meeting neighbors and members of the extended family, and noticing their photos, instruments, art, and artifacts...I always ask families about their work and their schedules and what skills they might like to share with us as I invite them to volunteer and visit our class" (Cowhey p .69).  Incorporating families helps the material become relevant and students feel more comfortable, motivated, and inclusive.

# data[].attributes.body
When a class has a pedictable structure and can do routines with confidence, it can have more flexibility (to accomodate more spontaneous child-centered learning) and can do more elaborate projects and ambitious work as students transfer familiar skills to novel situations" (Cowhey p. 39). Having daily routines that become familiar allows more room for children to deepen their other skills and tranfer it to real world situations and patterns while working in an efficient manner.

# data[].attributes.body
"I left the photo displayed and often noticed children going up to study it more closely" (Cowhey p. 171). This statement stood out to me because the teacher isn't necessarily pushing the students to be interested. Instead just leaving it on the board, allows children to explore it and deepen their thoughts on their own throughout the day. This allows for students to have their own intiative in the learning process.

# data[].attributes.body
"Sometimes in the course of telling a story, or making a text-to-self connection during a read-aloud, I mention when I was a single parent, or something about having divorced parents, or being in a biracial family that is “not all matching.” Doing this in an ongoing, casual manner affirms and normalizes family diversity of all kinds" (Cowhey p. 174). This extends students development in a nonchalant manner as they will casually have an undefining or unlimited idea of different situations, identites, circumstances, and other social standards.

# data[].attributes.body
"Volunteering in the class on a regular basis can give a parent valuable insights, not only into how her or his own child learns, but also into the cultivation of a learning community" (Cowhey p. 201).

"These weekly letters provide context for the families to understand homework assignments, field trips, and discussions" (Cowhey p. 200).  This allows for families to enhance their learning by talking about it and incorporating it outside of the classroom.

"Home visits are a good way to learn about and understand the diversity of my students’ families, but they also give families an opportunity to talk with me about other issues in their family’s life" (Cowhey p. 198).  This allows the teacher to understand what the student's life is like outside of the classroom to get to know their interests better.

"I called her mother, who shared her concerns" (Cowhey p. 198). Keeping the parents actively updated will help keep the student balanced outside of school.