Agenda Volume 3 - Methodist Conference

57. The Fruitful Field Project
for gathering and learning need
to be safe, sustaining, welcoming
– spaces with personality within
which people find room to reflect
and to be inspired. Size, form,
location, accessibility, technological
facilities, acoustics and furniture
are all appropriate and necessary
considerations.
193 The Committee believes there is
much to be gained from taking a
systematic and informed approach
to developments in this area, and
is confident that it will be possible
to identify a number of apt and
excellent spaces for gathering and
learning across the Connexion. This
necessarily involves a redirection
of attention away from sponsoring
a number of institutions, colleges
and centres across the Connexion
towards the development of spaces,
on the understanding that such
spaces will be able to provide the
flexible and appropriately-configured
resource which will complement the
regional teams and which may also
be able to provide a base for other
types of Methodist activity in Districts
and regions. There is also strong
potential for future developments
to tie into the discussions of the
Methodist Council’s “larger than
Circuit” working party, as it considers
how best to resource other activities
and responsibilities within the lives
of Districts and regions. These
considerations provide the context for
the implementation of this component
of the core recommendation.
Virtual spaces
194 A number of institutions, colleges
and centres already make use of
virtual learning environments. Such
environments enable a range of
learning resources (including articles,
extracts from books, digital copies
of archival material, recordings of
lectures, programme handbooks,
forms and supporting materials) to be
more easily accessible. An increasing
range of software packages and
improved hardware also enable
interaction (through discussion
boards and real time seminars), thus
allowing virtual learning environments
to be spaces of collaborative
learning as well as a means of
distributing information. Rarely if
ever is engagement through a virtual
learning environment the sole means
of delivering programmes, with
institutions, colleges and centres
opting for a blend of virtual and faceto-face
interaction.
195 The Committee therefore
recommends that the Network should
develop a robust, accessible and
excellent virtual space. This will
enable the Network to complement
other types of formation, learning
and development with apt online
resources and interaction. This will
also enable pathways, opportunities,
programmes and resources to be
more accessible, including to those
who, for reasons of distance or other
commitments, find it difficult to gather
together with other learners on a
regular basis or at particular times.
722 Conference Agenda 2012