You may think there is not much to say about tape, but I beg to differ. In fact, over the years I have learned and experimented a great deal with this lovely office supply. In fact, when Covid took hold of the world and pushed most of us online, one thing I really missed was my roll of tape!
Episcopal Relief & Development has been using images to help teach and support communities for more than twelve years. Currently, it uses picture cards in fifteen countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America focusing on helping young children grow and learn, stopping and preventing violence against women and girls, improving nutrition and income sources, and preparing for climate-related and other disasters.
There is little more magnificent in a training than a wall full of contributions from participants. Ideas, drawings, photos, numbers, events, questions, data, and thoughts – it always warms my heart when I know a group collaborated to record, create, share, and discuss what is offered there.
Although there are many reasons for sharing collaborative thinking visually, the collective sharing of a timeline of events is one that intrigues me.
Facilitation is facilitation is facilitation. Right? Well, not quite.
In her interview Designing Engaging Remote Workshops with Gwyn Wansbrough, Nathy Ravez works to understand how online learning is different from in person learning, and how to facilitate in this unique space to maximize learning. Gwyn points out that virtual audiences don’t have the same non-verbal cues. They ask themselves, “Do I trust this facilitator? Do I belong? Do I have something to offer here?”
A great joy for me is knowing I will have access to a large blank wall in a training room during a multi-day training or gathering. What emerges from that blank wall is always surprising and often magical. With an intentional design in-hand, I walk a group back and forth from their tables to that space to add thoughts, move around ideas, build connections, and show interconnections and relationships with what is there. This common place to deconstruct and construct, play and illustrate, ques
‘Take 20 minutes to move around the room with a partner …’ Those words can be music to the ears of many learners when we have been sitting for a long-time training or they have been in a multi-day event.
So why don’t we see this technique used much? Why do we feel we need to stay in the training space and can only use other spaces during breaks and down time? Why do we keep people in their seats so much when we know they are getting tired and distracted?
Years ago, I was on a Board of Directors for a local charity. Another board member always brought her knitting to our meetings and when someone asked why she did this, she simply responded, “It helps me concentrate.” After 30 years of meetings, trainings, and other convenings — in the role of facilitator, teacher, participant, member, Chair, Secretary, leader, professor, or facilitator
Many of us are back on the road facilitating in-person events. It feels great! We can move around the room to engage with content and each other, we can sit in a circle for personal sharing, and we can touch, add and move ideas around to co-create meaning as we stand at a wall or move around a table.
Most groups will have a range of literacy represented. When you are working with a group that has low literacy, consider the tips below to make sure everyone feels included and able to learn. Use language that is familiar to the group. In general, everyday language is...
How do you turn a concept into a useful visual to teach and reinforce that concept over time?How do you take that visual off the page so that people can interact and learn from it? Here's a story to illustrate how you might do just that. We hope it inspires you with...
The growth in online offerings has led to a more “blended” approach to learning events, with various components such as live virtual sessions, mobile-based learning and personal exploration through journaling and workbooks. A blended approach is intended to deepen...
Have you ever set up a breakout room and only half the people went there? They didn’t ‘move’ because they were no longer at their desk. But how could you know: their webcam was OFF! Have you ever found yourself begging, even pleading, for individuals in a Zoom meeting...