SOME CHARACTERISTIC OF  SUCCESSFUL INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES


SENSE OF PURPOSE:

A successful intentional community usually requires a strong sense of common purpose.  The common purpose of this class seems to be focused on creating a learning environment (learning community), with positive social change as a secondary goal.


OTHER IMPORTANT ELEMENTS:

--Information and knowledge (these can be supported and enhanced by the use of information technology).

--Wisdom, vision, and insight (which require an openness to reflecting on life experience).

--Leadership (this is based on character and can rotate among the community)


DEMOCRATIC VALUES

A useful set of basic values for intentional communities can be derived from Carl Rogers’ characteristics of successful psychotherapy—congruence, empathic listening, and unconditional positive regard.  The analogs for a democratic community are:
  • Integrity (a willingness to be open and honest about thoughts and feeling; no hidden agendas).
  • Compassion (a willingness to hear and understand others’ perspectives, thoughts, and feelings).
  • Inclusion (all community members have a right to participate and to be supported as persons).


    • ASSESSMENT

    It is also important to assess individuals’ contributions to community goals, and the community's contribution to the larger society.  This may seem to contradict the idea of unconditional positive regard, but it is possible to evaluate behaviors while respecting the person.  Many important truths of community life are Taoistic paradoxes.

    Jessica Froiland has contributed the following information on assessment using grades:
    “RUBRICS: When we grade a student assignment, we look for particular elements that the student has demonstrated and evaluate the extent to which the student has presented that element. The element of the answer may be present or absent and, if present, may be excellent, good satisfactory, or unsatisfactory. Based on this analysis, we award points or grades or in some other way identify how this particular assignment contributes to the overall course grade. We attempt to grade "fairly" by applying this grading method, or rubric, consistently to all student work. [Often a rubric is designed in the form of a grid providing descriptions of performance levels.]”  (Taken from a collection of materials from a Student Learning Outcomes Institute at Modesto Junior College, August 2003.)