Course 1 is set at three hours, but if you are working as a group the discussion activities are likely to take more time. This will depend on the size of the group, how often the group meets, and whether meetings are online or face to face. It will also depend on how well everyone knows each other.

Before the first meeting, or in the first meeting, agree together on how and when to work through the courses: face-to-face, online, or a mixture of online and face-to-face. What would be the best way for everyone to participate? How often will the group meet or communicate? For instance, you could alternate in-person meetings with online meetings.

Shorter meetings may be more manageable and effective than longer ones.

Decide together how the group will work, for instance:

• individuals could read through the course (or part of the course) and do the activities before the meeting, and then use the meeting time to discussion
• the group could use the meeting time to read the course (or a section of the course) and do the activities together

Before the first meeting, encourage people to look at the Course Collection page and the Course 1 Introduction.

If you need to print out the course pages, or any of the readings, do this in good time so everyone can access the materials.