<i>We’re Not Really Strangers</i> : A Card Game for Building Trust and Classroom Community

Building a sense of community creates significant benefits for community members including increased engagement, satisfaction, and feelings of efficacy. Recently, organizational scholars have pointed to ways that communities may swiftly develop a sense of community to reap the benefits more quickly. This is particularly important in situations where time is limited, such as within the constraints of an academic semester or a temporary team in an organization. This experiential exercise draws on this notion of developing a swift sense of community through a card game: We’re Not Really Strangers . The card game is played in small groups and requires that members respond to question prompts on the cards in ways that push the boundaries of vulnerability, trust, and self-disclosure. Across various settings, this exercise has been used to successfully develop a swift sense of community, thereby encouraging broader and deeper participation within the community.