If you are new to the community - start here.

Introduction

Welcome Schumies! We are so pleased to have you join us on this journey, to co-create and dream into reality this community for alumni and kin of Schumacher College and Dartington School of Arts.

This document outlines everything you need to know about the community, from how to join, to how we work and more.

This is the latest iteration of an alumni community for Schumacher College, the difference being this time the community is owned and run by alumni, and now that includes you. For the moment, we are running the community as volunteers with little to no funding, so the tools and platforms we are using are quite basic. However, the way we run the community, we hope, is where the real innovation lies.

The intention of this project is to create a single online space, a watering hole, where all alumni, current students, volunteers, interns, staff and more can gather to connect and collaborate. From this germ of possibility, we also hope to foster real life meetings, from local chats over coffee, to regional dinner parties, to global alumni celebrations.

We look forward to meeting you soon.

Joining the community

  1. Fill out this sign-up form

    1. If you haven’t already filled out this form, please do so. This allows us to verify your alumni status, and connection to the community.
    2. If you choose to give us consent, we’d also like to use your information from the form, to create a members' directory, for the community to use.

  2. Join the Discord group

    1. Discord is the container for our community, here you will find areas to connect and collaborate. You can download the Discord app to your phone or computer here.
    2. Find out more about how we run the Discord group here. If you are new to Discord here is a short video guide.
    3. Post on the #Introduce-Yourself channel, and tell us more about yourself and what brings you here.

  3. Create a profile

    1. Create a profile on the community map and tell us more about you, about the land you live on and the more than humans you share it with. You can also add information to the user profile on Discord, but if you are a member of more than one Discord group the information will be shared across all your groups. We also have a LinkedIn group, which may be an easier place to connect with other alumni.

  4. Join a ‘Welcome Ritual’

    1. Welcome Meetings are hosted online, once a month, and are a chance for new members to connect, get to know each other and to explore what community life could look like.
    2. You can see when the next meeting is on our Community Calendar, and invitations and reminders will also be sent.

  5. Find your peers

    1. Once you’re on Discord start connecting with your course mates and peers. If you don’t already have a channel set up for your course, post a request on the #Issues-and-Requests channel, and we’ll set it up for you.
    2. Invite others - you may find that not many of your course mates or cohort are members, so please feel free to send them a link to this website to get them started.

  6. Support your community

    1. This community is co-owned, co-design and run by its members. Whether it flourishes or flounders, is up to all of us. To find out more about the community check out the rest of our Schumie Handbook here or watch a short presentation here.
    2. Volunteer - we rely on volunteers to keep the essential aspects of the community going, and we have specific teams that anyone can join to help out. You can find out more about these here, and about any vacancies we currently have. We also have a wish list of projects for this community, such as creating a ‘Members’ Map’ and organising an annual in person alumni event, which will require lots of volunteers. Please talk to pod members to find out more about these potential projects.

  7. Get involved

    1. Check out the conversations and groups on Discord. We have channels for discussions, book clubs, food, fashion, and we even have a podcast. If you can’t find a topic you’re interested in, you can create your own channel.
    2. Say hello to new members as they introduce themselves on the #IntroduceYourself Discord channel.
    3. Contribute to the community newsletter. The newsletter is created by the community and anyone is welcome to write articles for it, or to be a guest editor, to curate and produce an issue. If you’re interested in doing this, contact the Content and Communications team via the #IssuesandRequests channel on Discord or via email ****[email protected]
    4. The Shared Experience team will be running regular Welcome Rituals, which everyone can join, but as we get more volunteers involved there’ll be more events you can join. However, as we’re a self-organising community, you can always set up your own events. Check out the Shared Experience guide for more information on this.