| By Darlene Goetzman,on November 2nd,2011 I find that sometimes Learning Needs and Resource Assessment (LNRA) work can be limited to sending some questions to the people coming to a course/learning event. In my experience,it’s helpful to see LNRA work in phases. How does this strike you? Here is a chart that depicts my thoughts on this topic. What would you add,delete,change,or suggest I reconsider? What do you find in your work? Phases &Strategies of a Learning Needs and Resource Assessment Phase One Intervention/Design: There’s a problem or vision for which you’ve been asked to design training | Phase Two Piloted Design Ready to be Launched | Phase Three During Learning Event | Phase Four Following Learning Event | Cycles of: Cycles of piloting (see Phase Three);suggest a minimum of two cycles. Ultimately resulting in a design led by teacher that “teaches” what is needed and promised. | ASK:Connecting with the real people who will be coming to your workshop/course through email,phone and other mediums (read Tips and Tools May 2011). What else might you need to do (STUDY,OBSERVE) in order to feel confident that your design and teaching are engaging,immediate (useful) and relevant for this specific group? Do you have examples in mind that are directly related to the learners’ lived experience? If not,what will you? | The type and quality of dialogue that is ideally present in a learning event using the Dialogue Education approach,means that throughout the course you and the learners will be asking,studying and observing for what needs to be modified,said,seen or otherwise to increase the learning for you and the learners. The teacher is accountable for designing and teaching in ways that ensure the Achievement-based objectives are met. The learners are responsible for their learning. | In this Phase,we are using the feedback from the learners,our assessment of the course,and feedback from whoever (or whatever) has been put into place to determine what changes are actually happening back at work or at home.* ** |
*When data is identified ahead of time (indicators of learning) and gathered during the event,this information can be evaluated for level of effectiveness,quality,etc. and taken into account for any needed changes in the design. **One time in-services or events in an ideal world are tied to the overall objectives of the organization,business,department,or program (for example:professional development),and are assessed and evaluated as it relates to the whole initiative. By JANE VELLA,on October 20th,2011 My newest passion about adult learning is depth. Whence depth? How can we be sure we are inviting and challenging learners to go deep! I want learners to not only learn the surface facts and figures,but to imagine implications,to reconstruct a concept to fit a context,to apply a skill and look at that application critically –to go deep. I realize in my own life that depth has come over time,the long mulling over a concept sitting by the fire with a glass of wine;the quiet,searching conversation by the same fire with a good friend –and the same wine;the writing of another book about the same topic! Often in a course or short session,such delicious time is rare. How about inviting and challenging learners to “go deep”by an intentional sequence of depth in the implementation or “applying”part of a learning task? Suppose we designed a movement from reviewing the input concepts and skills to questioning them to connecting them to other relevant concepts and skills to projecting an application in a demanding context,to naming implications with particular groups… We do some of that in the four I’s:inductive work,connecting,anchoring;
Input:content,adding new facts and skills;Implementation,applying the content;and Integration,projecting the new knowledge away from the course or workshop. How can we go deeper in our designing so learners get a chance to celebrate a depth of learning? By Joan Dempsey,on June 28th,2011  When I was a kid, about twelve years old, I went to a YMCA special weekend called Inward Bound (the link isn’t to the same program, but this one is close, and looks great!). It was for kids all over the state and we learned about ourselves, about how we’re all different, and got some great communication tools. One I remember distinctly was called “The Haircut” and it was an entrée into sharing critical feedback with someone else. For example, if I wanted to tell Bruce that what he said about me to Julie hurt my feelings, I’d approach Bruce and say “I’d like to give you a haircut.” Because he’d been trained just like I had, he knew then that his job was to simply listen with an open heart before responding.
It was great practice for how to talk with people about difficult things, and it’s a lesson that’s served me well ever since (36 years). In part I think the experience stands out so strongly because it was so unique. Today, enter a new book for educators: Educating from the Heart: Theoretical and Practical Approaches to Transforming Education, edited by Aostre N. Johnson &Marilyn Webb Neabley. Would that all my teachers had this book, not only when I was young, but in every class I’ve ever attended! Educating from the Heart “supports the belief that heart and spirit are intertwined with mind and intellect, and that inner peace, wisdom, compassion, and conscience can be developed together with academic content and skill.” According to the publisher, the book is “based on the questions: ‘What does it mean to educate from the heart? What does it mean to educate with spirit?’ It offers both theoretical overviews and practical approaches for educators, academics, education students and parents who are interested in transforming schools. Well-respected voices in the field of education provide a framework that includes recent findings from the world of neuroscience, as well as fresh perspectives about traditional wisdom. Practicing educators describe methods directly applicable in classrooms. In addition, many chapters emphasize the importance of educators attending to their own inner lives. The book encourages reinvigorating approaches to learning and teaching that can easily be integrated into both public and private K-12 school classrooms, with many ideas also applicable to higher education. It supports an educational system based on the beliefs that heart and spirit are intertwined with mind and intellect, and that inner peace, wisdom, compassion, and conscience can be developed together with academic content and skills.” Sounds pretty great, doesn’t it? And what’s even better is that our own Peter Perkins, GLP co-owner and partner, wrote a chapter in this book entitled Paying Attention to the Whole Self, in which he shares, among other things, his first encounter with a holistic wellness experience “in the mountains of Old Snowmass.” He tells us that what he learned about himself and everyone else during this encounter “planted a persistent question” in his mind. “The persistent question,” he writes, “looks mostly like this: If holistic wellness is about caring for the whole person, and if as human beings we are of many dimensions which help us to survive, to be healthy, and potentially to thrive, then what are these essential dimensions,and shouldn’t everyone – parents and friends of youth, as well as professional teachers, counselors, and service providers – know how to tap into them?” I’d answer that with a resounding YES, as does everyone else who’s contributed to this welcome book. You’ll have to check it out to learn more! For more on this subject, take a look at Talk About Wellness. What have you done in your work that stresses the heart and spirit? Do share! By Joan Dempsey,on June 13th,2011  The Diamond of Participation,Chris Corrigan It had been a grueling day and we were winding down for the night. This was our semi-annual Global Learning Partners business retreat and most of the core team was gathered together for more than three intensive days of work. I admit I was a little cranky,despite the gorgeous setting on the shores of Shelter Harbor in Westerly,Rhode Island. We’d spent the day in cognitive mode and had really haggled over a lot of the details about where to take our business in the next three years. I had a headache. “Why is it,” I asked,trying to sound genuinely curious,rather than annoyed,“that we’re in a room full of master Dialogue Educators and we’ve just had an un-dialogue day?” I went on a bit,wondering why no one had used the 8-Steps of Design to plan our time,why we’d spent so much time hashing things out in the large group rather than engaging in fun learning tasks. Being the kind people they are,no one rolled their eyes or snapped a pithy response,and that should have been my first clue that the principles and practices of Dialogue Education had never been absent from the meeting. “Actually,” said Peter Perkins,“we have been practicing dialogue.” He and the rest of the team patiently listed the principles and practices that had been at work for us throughout the day: respect,safety,teamwork,engagement,relevance,and sound relationships that let us get through the “groan zone” of making some tough decisions. We listened carefully to each other,checked our assumptions (often times more than once),and treated each other with a great deal of respect. “Dialogue isn’t always easy,” someone said,“but that doesn’t mean the dialogue isn’t working.” It was one of those revelatory moments. My headache dissipated. I thanked my colleagues and friends. It was,in short,a day of exceptional dialogue. We learned a lot about each other,made amazing progress in planning GLP’s future,and spent that evening celebrating with Jane Vella for her birthday – lots of laughter,reflection,and good cheer. All the result of good dialogue!
By JANE VELLA,on May 18th,2011 This short story will tell you a great deal about Global Learning PARTNERS. The partners and staff are having their summer meeting in Rhode Island at Valerie Uccellani’s parents’home in early June. I received a sweet invitation to join them –not for the meeting –but for the good fellowship,good food,ocean air and rocking chair porch so they can celebrate my June birthday with me. Enclosed in the invitation was a round trip air ticket and a reservation for nights at a nearby Ocean Inn. Friends who know me are not surprised that the invitation brought me to tears –of joy,of gratitude of deep affection for these PARTNERS. By Joan Dempsey,on May 3rd,2011  The Dome at MIT In my last blog post I wrote about our evolving educational systems and one of the things I mentioned was MIT’s Open Course Ware program and how great it is that they give away their courses for free. GLP’s astute marketing manager,Debra Cagwin,took some time to check out their offerings and uncovered their Guidelines on Learning that Inform Teaching. Gee,we thought,these guidelines sound an awful lot like Dialogue Education,don’t they? So I checked out this publication,which is essentially a list of resources for teachers,a treasure trove of research and articles about the following topics: - Engaging students in learning
- Contextualizing students’ learning experiences
- Creating an inclusive learning and teaching experience
- Designing an engaging,contextualized and inclusive curriculum
- Teaching an engaging,contextualized and inclusive curriculum
Here’s a sample of the kind of thing you’ll find in this publication: Analysis of the literature suggests that students must do more than just listen:they must read,write,discuss,or be engaged in solving problems. Most important,to be actively involved,students must engage in higher order thinking tasks such as analysis,synthesis,and evaluation. Bonwell,C. &Eison,J.,Active Learning:Creating Excitement in the Classroom,ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education,Washington,D.C. (1991). http://ericae.net/db/edo/ED340272.htm or http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/91-9dig.htm Are we right? Doesn’t this sound like what we Dialogue Educators use every day in our learning environments? Or how about this? There are many roads to learning. People bring different talents and styles of learning to college. Brilliant students in the seminar room may be all thumbs in the lab or art studio. Students rich in hands-on experience may not do so well with theory. Students need the opportunity to show their talents and learn in ways that work for them. Then they can be pushed to learn in new ways that do not come so easily. Chickering,A. &Gamson,Z.,“Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education,” AAHE Bulletin,vol. 39,no. 7,p. 6 (1987). http://learningcommons.evergreen.edu/pdf/fall1987.pdf Lest you think we’re affiliated with MIT,we’re not (but we could be . . . “Hey,MIT,how about hiring some great Dialogue Educators?!”). We’re just spreading the good word about this terrific list of resources. We hope they help inform your work with Dialogue Education. Check out the complete guidelines here:http://web.mit.edu/tll/learning-guidelines-2008.pdf. Find anything you like? By Joan Dempsey,on April 20th,2011 We are living in revolutionary times when it comes to education.  Evolutionary Timeline,by atheist @ flickr More and more,people are turning to the internet for their learning,and before too long I expect our entire educational system will be turned on its head because of “non-traditional” offerings. Even if the educational norms aren’t turned completely upside down,new models will undoubtedly emerge. Consider,for example,that MIT has an “Open Course Ware” program that’s been around for the last 10 years,a clearly revolutionary idea that makes MIT courses available to anyone for free. No signing up,no payments,just wide-open courses on topics ranging from holographic imaging to modeling environmental complexity to writing about literature. Granted,these courses aren’t designed for online learning,they’re in-class curricula made accessible,but certainly an enterprising and serious student could learn an awful lot from MIT for free. Of course education is about more than content. It’s about engaging with others and the credibility that comes with a degree. And while we Dialogue Educators don’t necessarily think engaging online is the same as engaging face-to-face (and it isn’t),nevertheless our world is racing ahead in such a way that both online communities and connections between people in cyberspace are engaging enough – and sometimes even preferable – for those who want to band together around common interests without attending in-person learning events.
But what about accreditation? A degree? Is it necessary?
I anticipate that it will be a long while before a degree from Stanford or Harvard doesn’t carry any weight,but I also anticipate that new forms of credibility will spring up and become viable resume-builders as learning online only increases in scope and quality.
I can envision a future in which a person builds her own degree based on interest alone and learns at her own speed and from her own chosen sources. And I imagine new evaluative systems will spring up to accommodate this type of learner,much as the university systems have learned how to evaluate people who were homeschooled.
All of this bodes well for Dialogue Educators,wouldn’t you agree?
What do you think our future holds? By JANE VELLA,on April 10th,2011 Paulo Freire continually asked,“What is to know?” I want to add another open question: How do you know you are right on,doing what folks truly need for their learning and yours? This week I realized: Joy is the measure. I feel and realize deep joy in learning and teaching –seeing groups of adults awakening,challenging one another,arguing an issue,sharing very diverse perspectives. When this happens,my heart leaps with joy. And indeed,I know. We do not believe in the principles and practices of Dialogue Education: We test them daily in our life and work. We are scientists,on the cutting edge of a quantum leap of educational research and practice. How do we know? I propose: Joy is the measure. By Joan Dempsey,on March 29th,2011 In the TED video shown below,Simon Sinek talks about his discovery about what separates successful organizations,leaders,or entrepreneurs from those who are not. What made Apple,and Martin Luther King,Jr. and the Wright Brothers successful,when in each case there were plenty of others out there doing what they were doing? Sinek says it’s because they focus primarily on the WHY instead of on the HOW or the WHAT. He defines the why as your purpose,your belief,your cause,the reason you exist. And by starting with the why and moving to how you do what you do and then to what you actually do,you’ll be more successful than if you’d started with the what and moved inwards towards the why. Sinek uses the computer giant Apple to illustrate this story – it’s worth a look at the video to feel the difference between starting with the why versus starting with the what. This got me thinking about how we at Global Learning Partners might define our reason for existing,our purpose,our deepest beliefs. We know what we do: workshops,seminars,coaching,consulting,meetings. We know how we do it: through dialogue. But why do we do what we do? Some would say our purpose is peace. Others might say our cause is personal and organizational transformation. Still others might say we want to revolutionize the way adult educators educate. All of these are noble,worthy,and related reasons for existing. But given what Simon Sinek is saying,I wonder if we should more carefully define,in a focused way,our own why? Over and over Sinek repeats this mantra: “People don’t buy what you do,they buy why you do it.”He goes on to say that “the goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have,the goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.” Both of these statements resonate deeply with me,and maybe that’s because,as Sinek explains,the why touches the limbic area of our brain,the part that deals with feelings,the part that has no capacity for language but still drives all of our human behavior. It’s what we might call our gut,or our heart,or our soul. I also got to thinking about how Dialogue Education uses those same words – WHY,HOW,WHAT – in our 8-Steps of Design,and about how little time in my own design work I have spent on the why. In our flagship course,Learning to Listen,Learning to Teach, we define the why as follows: “the situation that calls for the learning event in terms of what the participants want and need.”I typically complete that step of planning with a small paragraph that says something boring like “the participants want and need to understand how to facilitate.”While that might be true,isn’t that really the what? I’m reminded to be like a young kid,who repeatedly asks “why”until they get to the heart of the answer they’re seeking. Why does someone need to understand how better to facilitate? Because it’s demanded by their boss and they don’t want to get into trouble? Maybe. Because they feel insecure when in front of a group and their self-esteem is damaged and they want to feel better about themselves? Maybe. Because they’re on a career-path to a leadership position and this is a skill they want to master? Maybe. And even within these statements there is still room to continue to ask why. And of course the answers to those repeated whys – whether they’re directed at organizational purpose or the reason an individual is participating in a learning event – clearly dictate what you decide to do,and how you decide to do it. Simon Sinek’s words are worth repeating here: “People don’t buy what you do,they buy why you do it.” Do you know why you use Dialogue Education? ? By JANE VELLA,on March 29th,2011 Monday was a dark cold March day in Raleigh North Carolina. As I tried to get moving,and go to my morning swim,I found myself sluggish and slow. then I opened the laptop:VOILA!
Peter Noteboom’s photo albums from his HAITI learning to listen learning to teach course with PVO group leaders. Wow! Then a Skype call from Elena in NICARAGUA with a request for a review of her design for a glorious program. Then an e-mail from Fatemeh from IRAN ( now working in UGANDA ) requesting a review of her design for a health education program. My goodness! No longer slow or sluggish I got on with my constant daily work:thanks and praise. | Upcoming CoursesVisit our website for information about 2011 courses. |
