Jeanette Romkema

The toughest conversations often offer the most important learning. Sometimes we really need to enter the conversations we work hardest to avoid. Tough conversations can be hard to navigate and risky. So how do we “go there” in a healthy way? Below are some tips for entering and staying with tough dialogue. Tough dialogue ought […]

The key to optimizing learning and building long-term memory is to create ‘ownership’ of learning content. (Jensen, 2005; Poldrack et al., 2001) Below are facilitation skills I have been especially aware of lately in my work. These go beyond technique. They are more about “being” than “doing.” See which ones you practice and which ones […]

To feel a sense of belonging is important because it will lead us from conversations about safety and comfort to other conversations, such as our relatedness and willingness to provide hospitality and generosity. Hospitality is the welcoming of strangers, and generosity is an offer with no expectation of return. These are two elements that we […]

After a plenary or panel session at a conference, it is helpful to protect time at the end to engage the audience with the content just presented. One idea for doing this is to pose a question for people to reflect on or discuss with others around them (or at their table):  “What key ideas […]

“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 conferences at all, for fear of experiencing undesired levels of stress and […]

Managing time is a challenge for even the most seasoned facilitators. Here are a few tips to help you ensure you facilitate the planned learning design in the designated time: Start on time. When learners don’t arrive on time, it can be challenging to know when to start. It’s okay to wait a few minutes, […]

By Valerie Uccellani and Jeanette Romkema Adapted by Global Learning Partners from Susan Cain’s Quiet p345-347   Don’t just accept a child for who she is; treasure her.  As long as they’re in settings that suit them, introverted children can be kind, thoughtful, focused, and very interesting company. Talk to her teacher(s), friends’ parents, grandparents […]

By Valerie Uccellani and Jeanette Romkema Adapted from Susan Cain’s Quiet p342-344 and p348-9 Design Tips to Honour Introverted Learners: Include solo work as well as pair and small group work.  All of us get a boost out of solo work – even if we are the type who don’t ask for it. Let learners […]

This is just one resource in a series to support the application of Dialogue Education to higher education.  For more resources, we invite you to check out our Teaching at the University collection.   By Jeanette Romkema and Dan Haase NOTE: These tips were written with the undergraduate professor and students in face-to-face full-time learning environment […]