When we live in a community filled with people different from ourselves, there are people and interactions that make us more or less comfortable than others. Change and growth happens only when something is perceived to be an issue…an irregularity, a discomfort. We call the edge of our comfort zone the learning edge. When we are on the learning edge, we are most open to expanding our knowledge and understanding – as well as expanding our comfort zone itself. Being on this edge means that we may feel annoyed, angry, anxious, surprised, confused, defensive, or in some other way uncomfortable in response to something someone else has said or done. These reactions are a natural part of the process of expanding our comfort zones, and when we recognize them as such, we can use them as part of the learning process – signaling to us that we are at the learning edge, ready to expand our knowledge and understanding. The challenge is to recognize when we are on a learning edge and then to stay there with the discomfort we are experiencing to see what we can learn.
Why request a workshop?
Learning Edge workshops serve to:
- Build a universal experience and shared understanding while increasing awareness, knowledge, and skill surrounding issues of social justice, social identity, privilege, power, and oppression.
- Bring people together to challenge themselves and each other in areas with social justice.
Who benefits?
- Living Learning Communities
- Inter-cooperative Councils
- Student Senior Leader Trainin
- Student Organizations
- Greek Organizations
- Academic Courses
- Residence Halls
- Faculty/Staff
To Request a Workshop:
- Make sure the workshop request is at least 3 weeks before the potential session dates
- Click “Workshops” and then click “Request a Workshop”
- Contact will happen shortly after to schedule an Intake meeting with a member from the Learning Edge team.
- Once we confirm facilitators, we will confirm the workshop.
