We know from biology that fear incites the amygdala in the brain to pour adrenalin into the bloodstream, to give us the sudden energy that gets us out of a burning building. We know that while the amygdala is working, synapses in the brain are inhibited so we can...
Dialogue Education in Higher Education
At a recent visit to have dinner with my mentor and friend Dr. Jane Vella I said, “Dialogue Education has come to academia.” In my experience, Adult Learning Theory which includes Dialogue Education, has become the premier pedagogy in Higher...
Dialogue Education and Love: The Power of Sacrifice
Love has different faces. In Dialogue Education and Love Part I (published December 22 2014) I reflected on 8 ways that Dialogue Education principles are really a practice of love. Below are three aspects of the costly nature of love that Dialogue Education...
What to do When Questions are Not Safe
Powerful questions spark great dialogue. Just a few well-chosen, highly-polished questions can stimulate amazing exploration of a relevant issue for a group. But sometimes posing a question can also pose something else: a threat. In societies where a person with...
Impact Studies
[Note: this piece was originally published in 2003. We love it, and have asked Jane to update it for 2015 with her new thinking.] I love the change of seasons: from winter to spring, from spring to the hot days of summer, from summer to the crisp, blue-sky...
The Praxis of Dialogue
One of my favorite axioms is: There are three things that make effective learning happen, in this order: time, time and time. While the wry humor in that axiom always gets a belated laugh, the significance and meaning it offers is not at all trivial. I discovered the...
Staying Connected When Designing
What I love about designing is how it makes us connect with our universal humanity. Those that don’t design may not understand what I mean so I’ll say a bit more. This week I’ve been asked to co-design a program to help build stability among low...
On Assessing Learning Needs & Resources: The Art of the Question
In a recent Foundations of Dialogue Education course in Stowe, Vermont, 10 wonderful and wise learners examined three aspects of engaging and getting to know participants in learning events or meetings by Asking, Observing, and Studying. This art of engaging...
Don’t Tell What You Can Ask…
When my friend Maria and I get together, watch out world! Sunday, over a cup of tea on the back porch, we struggled with this axiom: Don’t tell what you can ask Don’t ask if you know the answer, Tell, in dialogue “How?” asked Maria. “How...
What Is the Purpose of The Conference?
“We are weary of academic conferences.” That’s how Christy Wampole starts her article The Conference Manifesto in The New York Times (posted May 4th 2015). Indeed, I can relate to that. In fact, it is getting increasingly challenging for me to go to...
Education 2.0: Teaching in a Fast-Changing World
At a workshop I attended a couple of years ago, we were all asked to come up with a six-word sentence that captures who you are. The sentence I came up with in the few minutes we had for this activity is: “Learn and teach what I love”. The story of...
Valedictorian “Schools” her Teachers: A Sign of Learning
The valedictorian stands at the podium, in front of a row of beaming adults (I can only assume they are her teachers and administrators). She begins with this fable of a Zen student who is disappointed when his teacher says it will take 10 years of...