Connection Before Content: Enacting a Relational Curriculum to Enhance Student Learning
Abstract
Peter Block recognizes the importance of community and connections, especially within educational environments. His work encourages and challenges educators and students to focus on building authentic relationships. This session will expand on Block’s idea of ‘connection before content’--recognizing that students need to have an established set of relationships in order to learn most effectively (Block, 2008). These relationships (with each other, with themselves, with the content, and with the world around them) enable the co-creation of a transformative educational environment in which all members can learn and
thrive. Through an interactive session, presenters will engage in a discussion of Block’s principles of community development and how those principles might be viewed as a teaching and learning philosophy. Chad Littlefield (2024) expanded on Block’s work by saying that connection before content is centered on three main goals:
1. Connect people to the purpose of why they’re there
2. Connect people to each other because without relatedness, no work can occur. 3. Create space for authenticity and vulnerability
Viewing these goals in a holistic and interconnected manner can inform the design of syllabi and courses. This session explores the ways in which Block and Littlefield’s work can be intentionally infused into course design and pedagogy to create spaces for connection. A common critique faculty make is that infusing new pedagogical practices feels untenable or burdensome. We believe that teaching from a ‘connection before content’ method doesn’t require a wholesale shift in pedagogical practices, but invites an intentional mindset shift in how faculty think of and interact with their students. This session is intentionally focused on Mentoring the Emergent Scholar. Through reflection on these ideas, our goal is to engage in and model a critically reflexive practice that early career faculty can utilize to inform their own thinking and co-create engaging, inclusive, and effective learning environments.
Presentation Description
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Location
Room 2
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Small, Evan and Varker, Frannie, "Connection Before Content: Enacting a Relational Curriculum to Enhance Student Learning" (2025). Curriculum Studies Summer Collaborative. 26.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cssc/2025/2025/26
Connection Before Content: Enacting a Relational Curriculum to Enhance Student Learning
Room 2
Peter Block recognizes the importance of community and connections, especially within educational environments. His work encourages and challenges educators and students to focus on building authentic relationships. This session will expand on Block’s idea of ‘connection before content’--recognizing that students need to have an established set of relationships in order to learn most effectively (Block, 2008). These relationships (with each other, with themselves, with the content, and with the world around them) enable the co-creation of a transformative educational environment in which all members can learn and
thrive. Through an interactive session, presenters will engage in a discussion of Block’s principles of community development and how those principles might be viewed as a teaching and learning philosophy. Chad Littlefield (2024) expanded on Block’s work by saying that connection before content is centered on three main goals:
1. Connect people to the purpose of why they’re there
2. Connect people to each other because without relatedness, no work can occur. 3. Create space for authenticity and vulnerability
Viewing these goals in a holistic and interconnected manner can inform the design of syllabi and courses. This session explores the ways in which Block and Littlefield’s work can be intentionally infused into course design and pedagogy to create spaces for connection. A common critique faculty make is that infusing new pedagogical practices feels untenable or burdensome. We believe that teaching from a ‘connection before content’ method doesn’t require a wholesale shift in pedagogical practices, but invites an intentional mindset shift in how faculty think of and interact with their students. This session is intentionally focused on Mentoring the Emergent Scholar. Through reflection on these ideas, our goal is to engage in and model a critically reflexive practice that early career faculty can utilize to inform their own thinking and co-create engaging, inclusive, and effective learning environments.
