George Kao Courses

Netcaring

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Netcaring with fellow course participants

10:10 Video (83 MB) HD Video (298 MB) Audio (9 MB)
Let's apply net caring to the context of what you're going through right now, which is being in a course You probably have taken other courses and you probably will continue to. And I have noticed that most people do not make use of probably the most the greatest value of a course. in my opinion, is not the content that the teacher gives to you. That's fine. That's part of value.
And the greatest value in the course isn't even you trying to do the stuff on your own. I think the greatest value in the course is the curation of the community that comes together around a topic. and around a set of values. That's much harder to do because information as someone who sells information, I shouldn't say this. But information is so easy and cheap now to get through Internet search through AI search AI conversations, just through online groups, you can get information.
but the curation of a dedicated community of students around a topic that is worth paying for. Why? Because you you can't find it's hard to find another group of people who are dedicated to making progress on a particular project or topic or skill together, you know, particularly in the in the set time window. But even if you're taking the Evergreen Course, the people who are there obviously are interested in the topic. So what I've noticed is that most students do not make use of that great value of a course.
They aren't reaching out to each other. They aren't net caring with one another. And it's like, as you know, when you're neck carrying in the real world among strangers, people who get who aren't friends yet, it can be awkward to know how to start the conversation. Right? And people might assume you have some agenda or something like that, which you probably do.
Right? You would like to, you know, maybe have a potential client or a a potential collaborator or something like that. That's understandable. There's nothing wrong with having having an agenda or having an intention for what a connection might become. But with a course, you you you have an acceptable agenda to reach out to someone to say, hey, I saw that you're in this course I saw your profile, if they have a profile and their their student profile or I saw your comment, and I liked what I saw because of this and because of that.
And I would you know, since we're both in the course, I wonder if you wanna get together briefly to talk about the course and how we're applying it and, you know, kinda share share ideas with each other. Share feedback, maybe accountability if you're up for it. Most students don't do this. I have been teaching courses for 14 years and I just am just shocked at how little of that goes on in courses. And whenever I take courses, I'm like one of the only people doing this.
So the fact that you're watching this means you're going to be one of the few who reach out to others in the course. Not just in this course, but in, you know, this this course, you'll probably get more people reaching out to you because of this lesson, but in other courses. Okay. So Let me look at my notes real quick here. So every single course you take is a rich source of colleagues.
who are actively growing in the topic that you're interested in too. You know? And by the way, colleagues who are meeting many other people because they're actively building that skill and they're gonna take other courses and they have their own network and So it's like these people are like it's like it's really high leverage connections, basically. They mean people who have a growing web of of relevant probably relevant connections for you. Okay?
And number 2, most Most most students don't comment, number 1. But number 2, most students don't reply to other people's comments. And so when you are one of the few people or one of the only people who replied to a comment, they're like, who is this? Right? Okay.
So what do you what are we practicing when we're net caring within a course? A couple of things. One is we're practicing deep listening. Whether you are responding to someone's comment or whether you're meeting with that person and sharing ideas from the course and, you know, accountability and you get to practice really listening to what is their experience of the course's topic, what are their struggles around it, what's really working for them, Why do they think it's working? You know, all that stuff.
And then you you you you learn. You really I mean, if you wanna really wanna learn a topic, you not only try to apply it yourself, but you watch and and really study how others are applying the thing. Right? So deep listening. Number 2, deep encouragement is also what we're practicing.
take learning a new skill is vulnerable, and students don't encourage each other often enough. I I mean, when I'm in a course and I I, you know, I make a comment about what I'm trying out, I rarely get a reply. And when I do, I feel so encouraged. So deep encouragement is what we're practicing as well, specifically appreciating that person's energy, that person's you know, something they said, their efforts. Right?
If they did something and something worked or something didn't work, you still can appreciate and encourage them on the path. Share your own vulnerability about your maybe sense of, oh, I don't know if this is gonna work for me either. I'm with you and this. Right? Or, oh, I tried this too.
And, yeah, I had a difficult time with that too. Right? Someone said, I'm having difficult time with this. They feel pretty vulnerable. So encouragement.
And then let's move on to talking about reaching out for 1 to 1. Because like I said, most students don't do that with each other. So what do you do when you reach out to a fellow course participant for net caring? Like I said in the beginning, hey, I appreciate this particular comment you wrote or I appreciate that you've been writing about this in the comments or I appreciate the profile you said this, or I just I found you in a directory, and I I, you know, looked you up on Facebook or whatever. I looked you up on Instagram, and I like that this is the work you're doing.
Ideally, you would reach out to somebody who has a profile written, so it doesn't seem like you're out, like, stocking them or something. But, you you know, reach out to someone who has a profile who've who've had comments Right? And then offer to say, hey. If you're up for it, I would love to get together even just for 15 minutes or 30 minutes. to see how we can support each other in the course.
So just even even to share what we're doing with the with the material will help us to apply it more because it's more on, you know, on the top of my mind. And lastly, and then we'll move on from here. When you are one of the engaged commenters in the course, this is what happened. Meaning, when you're the one when you're one of the few who are commenting in the lessons and also when you were like studying other people's comments and things like that, guess what? You become more of an expert about the the student reactions about the course, then sometimes the instructor is.
Actually, I I I as an instructor of a course, I really would appreciate your help with that. Right? Like, I when I start teaching a course, especially when it's, like, during the live, you know, 3 weeks, 6 weeks I'm teaching, I'm inundated with a course comments. Right? I'm grateful at this point, and I have enough students where people make comments.
And I guarantee you, if you read the comments and engage with it, you're gonna be more expert than me on how the students really feel about things. And if you came to me and said, George, I just wanted to share with you now that I've been reading the comments, here is kind of like the general theme I'm sensing. Here's the general struggle. I hope this is helpful. Maybe you already know this.
And if so, maybe this is a reinforcement of that, but I wanted to share with you what I'm seeing. I would be so I mean, I think most instructors, hopefully, instructors are open to that kind I am super open to that kind of thing. Most constructive be like, wow. Thank you. Yeah.
I've been drowning in comments or I I just even if it's, like, 20 comments, I haven't had the chance to because I'm preparing the materials. Right? So and, you know, if if you're reaching out to the instructor and sharing what you're seeing, the structure might bring you on as some kind of a, you know, case study, if you're you're you're much more you have a connection with the instructor now and you're much more able to say, hey, you know what? If you wanna use me as a case study for the course because I'm actively working through it, I'm meeting with another course student or several other course students. I would be happy to be a testimonial for the course or the case study for it or or even to share a particular in site that I got that you haven't mentioned yet.
I don't know if you will, but, you know, I'll share this insight or I'll share a different perspective. That might be helpful. Right? Most instructors, I I would say instructors who are themselves students of the topic would be really open to the IIM. So I hope this is helpful.
this kind of net caring is, like I said, rarely done in courses, and you're taking courses anyway. So you might as well apply your net caring skills among this rich source of relevant colleagues. So I hope this is helpful. I look forward to seeing your comments below. Thanks.
  1. These are rich sources of colleagues who are actively growing and meeting many other people.
  2. Most course comments don’t get replies. You can be one of the few.
  3. What you get to practice in re: netcaring:
    1. Deep listening to understand more perspectives and be more able to truly connect.
    2. Deep encouragement: say what you specifically appreciate about their energy, words, their efforts. Share your own related vulnerability about the course topic.
    3. Connected commenting: aim to be more specific about what they said, and less generic in your response. It’s a practice of being an excellent commenter.
    4. Look for ways to connect with them 1-1 for co-working, co-learning.
  4. Most course participants don’t reach out 1-1 to offer encouragement, accountability, mutual coaching about the course’s topics.
  5. By being one of the engaged commenters – and especially, repliers to comments – you get to know the themes of what the students are most engaged with, and confused about.  Reach out to the instructor in genuine appreciation and support:
    1. That you have seen some common themes in your review of student comments, and they are… 
    2. That you’d be happy to be a success story for the course.
Last updated 11 Aug 2023.