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Roger Greenaway's Active Reviewing Tips ~ ISSN 1465-8046
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~ EDITORIAL: What
does engagement look like? How might you describe what active participation in reviewing looks like? What does it take for your participants to get fully engaged in reviewing? How often is each participant fully engaged? Imagine that each participant draws a graph showing how their engagement level fluctuates during a reviewing session. Here are some examples... _________________________ Always 100% engaged: Variable engagement: /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Occasional brief engagement: /\___/\_____/\_________/\__ No or low engagement: __________________________ It looks simple. But suppose each participant has a different understanding of what you mean by 'engagement'? Some may interpret 'engagement' as happiness: they get engaged more when they are having fun. Others may get more engaged when there are conflicts and problems, while others turn away from conflict and see it as a cue for disengaging. For some participants, 'engagement' might correspond to pulse rate, But if your review is a relaxing, meditative style of review, those who are most 'engaged' in the process are probably those with the lowest pulse rates! For those who like to be busy doing something, 'engagement' in reviewing might mean speaking or writing or drawing or acting. But others may find that they are more engaged in reflection when they are less 'busy' and have time to make sense of what others are saying or doing - without feeling rushed. Perhaps you think of 'engagement' as being fully alert in the present moment? But for others 'engagement' does not really happen unless and until there is some significant connection between the present moment and a past or future event that matters. So drawing individual engagement lines can be the start of an interesting discussion about engagement: what is 'engagement' and what are the conditions that generate full and meaningful engagement in the reviewing process? I welcome your views on engagement in learning as well as any links on the subject that you would like to share with other readers in the next issue - which is about what facilitators do. Roger Greenaway roger@reviewing.co.uk |
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~ ARTICLE: Engaging Participants in Reviewing Preface/Editorial (above): What does engagement look like?
Engagement matters because without engagement nothing much happens. For example, I know that I need to engage you in this article pretty soon if you are going to read much further. There could be a brilliant section half way through this article that is new, inspiring and ready to apply to a current issue or opportunity in your work. If I do not engage you now, you may never discover that 'buried treasure' further down the page. That is itself a tactic for creating engagement - dangling a carrot - even if in this case, the carrot is a bit vague and unconvincing. "If you stick with it there may be a reward of some kind" is not a very compelling offer. But in the context of reviewing this is perhaps the best honest offer you can make. You can talk (honestly) about how other people have benefited. But you never know just where a review and reflection process will lead. For example, personal feedback is one aspect of reviewing that can be very powerful, positive and practical. But there is no guarantee that a feedback session (however well managed) will produce a positive result for each and every person. And there is a risk that a negative or disappointing experience of feedback will disengage that person from everything that follows. To avoid the risk of disengagement, you may decide to play things safe and keep things light and fun. But you then have the problem that 'light and fun' may not engage everyone. And 'light and fun' is a long way from 'deep and meaningful' - which is probably an aspiration you have if you have read this far. 2. How full is "full engagement"? If you want to engage people in reviewing, which 'parts' of them do you want to engage? You will clearly want to engage their thinking - and perhaps many kinds of thinking including memory, curiosity, convergent and analytical thinking, divergent and creative thinking and more. Some of this thinking involves picturing and visualising and exploring, stepping beyond normal boundaries, taking fresh perspectives and seeing things from other points of view. 'Full engagement' implies engaging 'whole persons' in reviewing - not just their thinking but also their emotions, actions, values, spirit, etc. Is this a case of the more the better, or do we want to be selective about which aspects of self we do and don't engage in the process of learning? Can we throw ourselves in to being detached?? Reflection implies a kind of detachment from what is being reflected upon, but surely this does not diminish the value of mind, body and soul within the process of reflection itself? There is a view that activity gets in the way of reflection. And there is another view that activity supports reflection. So the following ten tips explore what kinds of activity ENHANCE the quality of learning, and in what situations activity can be a DISTRACTION from learning. And tip #10 will help you find out. 3. 10 tips for achieving optimal levels of engagement in reviewing 1. Don't have people sitting or standing for too long. Look out for signs of discomfort or disengagement and use this as a cue for moving on. Example: The early stages of Horseshoe (find your position on the spectrum and speak with a 'friendly neighbour') usually create full engagement, but the next stage (essentially a group discussion while standing) can result in discomfort and disengagement. Solution: invite everyone to sit down at their chosen position or (better) ask a related question within the same topic so that people move and speak with a new neighbour (rather than spending a long time with just one question). Horseshoe: http://reviewing.co.uk/toolkit/horseshoe-and-turntable.pdf 2. Don't let the reviewing 'activity' rush people so much that they do not have enough time to reflect or participate. Example: If the seat changing in a Turntable discussion happens too quickly, some participants may never get a chance to speak. Solution: You can slow things down. But if you go too too slowly, the energy goes and the pattern of participation may not even change. So a better solution is to intervene in a way that gives everyone time to think and prepare: give each 'side' a minute or two to work together to prepare what they will each say, before resuming the whole group Turntable. Turntable: http://reviewing.co.uk/toolkit/horseshoe-and-turntable.pdf 3. Involve the 'audience'. If using methods in which some people are presenting or performing while others watch and listen, you will no doubt be wanting the audience to reflect. You can help the audience to reflect by asking them to form pairs or small groups to discuss their responses. You can even ask for their response to be shared in the form of a presentation or performance (for which the previous performers now become the audience). Frequently switching roles between audience and performance, helps to generate full engagement in reflective processes. 4. Switch roles frequently Example: If using observers within a 'learning buddy' system, those in the less active observing role will generally disengage sooner than those involved in the activity they are observing. So time the switching of roles to suit the less active role. Extra benefits of frequent switching (say every 5 minutes) are that it puts pressure on the observer to be more attentive (engaged), while also accelerating the feedback cycle and speeding up the learning process. Pause during the switch so that learning buddies can talk to each other before moving on. 5. Vary the pace Example: In Action Replay, you (or a participant) can use the remote control to fast forward to raise energy levels and then hit 'slow motion' or 'pause' to focus on a seemingly critical moment. A 'pause' can be sustained for longer if people need a rest following an energetic fast forward. In Action Replay, you are not seeking an 'optimum pace', but you are deliberately varying the pace to bring calm and focused attention to what seem to be the most significant moments. But even in pause mode, engagement tends to be high, especially if the interviewer is bringing out new and interesting information from the 'players'. Action Replay: http://reviewing.co.uk/archives/art/10_2.htm#5 6. Go for a walk Why: A paired walk with a partner can create a dynamic that is conducive to many kinds of reflective conversations. It seems particularly well suited for loosening thought patterns or freeing up conversations that have got stuck. Because people tend to look straight ahead when walking together, the speaker can more easily choose whether to get absorbed in their own story, or whether to look at their partner for reassurance or other reaction. In suitable outdoor locations, it is easier to have confidential conversations. And regarding the 'optimal level of activity': pairs tend to automatically find the mutually perfect pace for walking and talking. Beyond these basic benefits, you can frame and structure the conversation as much as you like by providing topics or questions for each section of a walk. 7. Use maps for meaningful journeys Why: So much of our language about personal and career development is wrapped up in the metaphor of life as a journey (or of a project as a journey) that it seems fitting to create a map on which people can walk their journey (past and future). Examples: Story Line, Objective Line, Back to the Future, Future Walking, Metaphor Map. Each of these methods involves constructing a map on which the learner walks (and talks). In most cases there is a starting point and a destination. Metaphor Map is the exception: it is a more complex map on which many different journeys are possible (past, present or future). Physically moving along a line or from location to location seems to result in more focused reflection, perhaps because the map becomes a stage on which the learner becomes a player. Storyline: http://reviewing.co.uk/archives/art/11_4.htm#5 Objective Line (forerunner of Back to the Future): http://reviewing.co.uk/archives/art/11_1.htm#5 Metaphor Map: http://reviewing.co.uk/archives/art/11_2.htm#5 8. Use physical scales for reflecting on 'how much?' questions Why: If you just ask for a show of hands indicating 'how much', people quickly forget the relative heights of each other's hands. Whereas if you have a linear scale on the ground, people stand in their chosen position and everyone's answer remains clearly visible. Example: Spokes is a two part method which starts with each individual moving to a point on their own individual scale which shows how they assess their own performance in answer to the question asked. People then look around and are encouraged to invite others to move further along their scale if they feel they have under-rated their performance (while also providing evidence to support their invitation). It is called Spokes because each self-assessment line converges into a central hub (like a wheel with spokes). Spokes: http://reviewing.co.uk/articles/ropes.htm 9. Use physical activity that fits the desired mental activity Examples: If you want to walk through what's happened, then get walking - don't just talk about it. If you want people to see something from a different perspective, then ask them to move to a new position that represents that perspective (as in Turntable). If people are talking about how they would do something better 'next time', create a quick test of that learning/intention by letting them try out some key aspect of this better way - perhaps through a short role play. Whatever the situation that people are talking about (past or future) bring it to life by inviting them to enact key aspects. If envisioning ideas through diagrams is useful then enacting those ideas allows people to see (and even test) the ideas in action. Facilitate that move from envisioning to enacting: from seeing the change, to being the change 10. Review the review Once you recognise that the level of activity in reviewing can help to engage, focus and intensify the quality of a review, then be sure to keep a dialogue going with learners about how the activity is helping or hindering their learning. If this extra layer of review/evaluation would be intrusive, then put time aside for getting feedback relating to the optimal level of activity in review. Through this dialogue learners will become more wise and responsible for how they learn, and you will become wiser about the level (and nature) of activity in reflection that will be optimum at this time with this group in this situation. [You get bonus marks if you use an active method for getting feedback!] And double bonus points if you write in with suggestions for tips 11, 12, 13 etc. for full engagment and active participation to roger@reviewing.co.uk |
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~ INTERVIEWS: Experiential Learning for Universities What are the advantages of Experiential Learning for Universities? Universities regularly ignore the research finding that demonstrates the ineffectiveness of lecturing as a teaching method. If universities paid more attention to research about learning (especially to research about adult learning) they would become much more committed to 'experiential' approaches to learning - and would become much more successful too. According to Colin Beard. author of The Experiential Learning Toolkit: "Speech and visual presentations are dominant in lectures and seminars but can discriminate and exclude some people: they represent one type of learning experience, and they can be very linear in format. Speech for example is not good for example to explain spatial-relational complexity, or even a simple shape!" Experiential learning requires and develops a broader set of learning skills. Students are exposed to a fuller range of learning experiences which help them become more versatile and successful learners. Experiential learning is also more inclusive and offers something for everyone: it can serve to stretch gifted students while also more readily engaging students of all abilities. PhD students become more employable if given the opportunity to develop interpersonal skills through experiential learning. What kind of learners and educators are developed by experiential learning? Educators become more versatile because experiential learning gives them a broader range of strategies for facilitating learning. And students develop a broader set of learning skills and are more likely to thrive in the workplaces where 'reading the situation' can matter more than 'reading the book'. Once teaching skills are considered to be important, experiential learning offers a wider range of teaching strategies for enabling student learning. Much depends on how high on the agenda universities place 'teaching skills' (or student outcomes). That change is already well under way. Colin Beard writes: "The spaces and places in which learning takes place are changing due to a global increase in more experiential methods of learning. In addition the whole experience of university is becoming increasingly recognized as being of significance to learning. The development of knowledge is increasingly recognized as only a part of the mission of the university student experience." The text above is an edited version of interviews with Roger Greenaway and Colin Beard that were recently published at the ICEL 2011 conference website for the imminent conference in January 2011. Conference details and full text of interviews: http://www.icel2011.com/index.html Colin Beard is the author of The Power of Experiential Learning (with John Wilson) http://digbig.com/5bdcaq and The Experiential Learning Toolkit (2010) http://digbig.com/5bdcar |
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~ ACTIVE LEARNING BOOKSHOP ... keeps growing The Myth of Generational Differences in the Workplace "Despite all we've heard recently about the differences between the four generations in the workplace, a new book flies in the face of the conventional wisdom on the subject. Jennifer Deal's research shows that regardless of age, we all want the same things: respect, trustworthy leaders, and opportunities to grow. (And nobody likes change.)" "The conventional wisdom about generational differences in the workplace is mostly wrong, according to a new book by Jennifer J. Deal, a research scientist with the Center for Creative Leadership." Read more about Deal's findings at http://digbig.com/5bbepb or buy the book 'Retiring the Generation Gap: How Employees Young and Old Can Find Common Ground'. Find Deal's book at amazon USA: http://digbig.com/5bdctc or at amazon UK: http://digbig.com/5bdctd Making Learning Happen Making Learning Happen by Phil Race provides an accessible and practical discussion of teaching and learning for the post- compulsory sector of higher and further education. The book is centred around Phil Race's well-known 'ripples on a pond' model of learning, which has identified five fundamental factors underpinning successful learning: 'wanting' to learn; 'needing' to learn; 'learning by doing'; 'feedback'; and 'digesting - making sense of what has been learned'. This text will allow teachers and learners to address these factors head-on in a wide range of contexts, including large-group teaching, small-group work, online learning, and in their use of formative feedback to help their students. Included in the book is a self-analysis questionnaire, to enable learners to reflect on how these factors contribute to their own approaches to learning. (Amazon) http://reviewing.co.uk/reviews/new.htm Roger's Active Learning Bookshop has raised £1,776 for Save the Children since January 2006. Thank you for your purchases. Do ALL your Amazon shopping (not just books) via http://reviewing.co.uk/reviews. You get a good deal and so do children around the world who need our help. I worked for Save the Children for 4 years so I know about the value and quality of their work. Please support Save the Children by buying your books (or other Amazon goods) via Roger's ACTIVE LEARNING BOOKSHOP at: http://reviewing.co.uk/reviews |
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~ ARCHIVE: Encouraging Active Participation Here are 7 strategies to encourage active participation in reviews. This list also serves as a numbered index to examples that you will find further down the page. 1) INVESTIGATE Find out why people are not contributing, what would make it easier for them to contribute. 2) FACILITATE Make contributing easier. Use tasks. Give preparation or thinking time. Encourage the use of visual aids. 3) CLARIFY Clarify expectations and objectives 4) DEMONSTRATE Show how experience-based learning works. 5) CHANGE Change the dynamics. Create smaller groups. Silence louder group members. Use temporary rules and gimmicks. 6) CONSULT Consult the group. Give responsibility. Ask the group to come up with solutions. Be open. Use transparent training. 7) INSPIRE Be radical - do the opposite, change the routine. Be imaginative - make reviewing at least as appealing as the activities being reviewed. Above all, ensure that reviews are alive to learners' needs. You can find the rest of this article on Encouraging Participation from issue 3.2 at: http://reviewing.co.uk/archives/art/3_2.htm#1 The Archives of Active Reviewing Tips include these four articles about engaging learners: Getting Involved 1.6 http://reviewing.co.uk/archives/art/1_6.htm#1 Reviewing for Development 7.6 http://reviewing.co.uk/articles/reviewing-for-development.htm Reviewing For All 9.2 http://reviewing.co.uk/archives/art/9_2.htm Turntaking in Group Reviews 11.1 http://reviewing.co.uk/archives/art/11_1.htm#2 |
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~ EVENTS: Reviewing and Facilitation Skills Training REVIEWING SKILLS TRAINING WORKSHOPS Upcoming open training workshops are listed at: http://reviewing.co.uk/_news.htm These include: > China Feb 14-17: Shenzhen > England Mar 5-6: Castleton (at the Outdoor Learning Festival) > Devon April 15-16: Chulmleigh, Devon > Denmark April 13: Aarhus > Scotland May 12: Aviemore > England Nov 18: Carnforth See: http://reviewing.co.uk/_news.htm for more details If you would like to host an open event or arrange for an in- house customised trainer-training programme please get in touch. Write to: roger@reviewing.co.uk Sample training workshops are listed at: http://reviewing.co.uk/trainingworkshops.htm FACILITATION TRAINING [VARIOUS PROVIDERS] If you are a provider of facilitation training, please send me the details if you would like the details included in future issues of Active Reviewing Tips. 10-14th January, 2011 The Energy of a Learning Experience ICEL Chile 2011 International Consortium for Experiential Learning How do we ensure that learners get the most out of their learning experience? And how do we release the powerful energy of deep learning? http://www.icel2011.com 3rd February 2011 Making the Most of MTa Materials Leeds / Bradford, M62 J26 MTa workshops are experiential learning in action. They are a dynamic mixture of activities, thinking and discussions with minimal theoretical input. So join us, have some fun and learn! http://digbig.com/5bdbxe 17-18 March, 2011 Facilitation Fundamentals Your next opportunity to attend our two day training workshop. Freshen up your facilitation skills, increase your confidence and leave with a host of tools and techniques to get the most out of meetings & events. http://www.facilitatethis.co.uk/training/ 27 April - 1 May, 2011 Experiential Educators Europe 15th EEEurope annual conference Debeli rtic peninsula, Slovenia http://www.eeeurope.org Discover more events for experiential educators & trainers at: http://reviewing.co.uk/outdoor/notices.htm |
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~ LINKS: Other perspectives on reviewing and debriefing Reflection Activities Short descriptions conveniently grouped for using at the beginning, middle, and end of a learning process. http://ebistro.org/documents/ReflectionActivities.pdf Reviewing Exercises and Activities by Stella Collins http://digbig.com/5bbhrg Critical Friends: A Process Built on Reflection http://depts.washington.edu/ccph/pdf_files/CriticalFriends.pdf Debriefing Sessions: Opportunities for Collaborative Reflection Mary E. Henry, Montclair State University http://www.kon.org/archives/forum/15-2/Henry_2.htm The essentials of debriefing in simulation learning: a concept analysis. Nursing Education Perspectives http://digbig.com/5bdcbc |
| ~ 8 ~ PREVIOUS AND NEXT ISSUE OF ACTIVE REVIEWING
TIPS PREVIOUS ISSUE Reviewing for Different Ages (Part Two) is now at: http://reviewing.co.uk/archives/art/12_1.htm Or BETTER STILL you can now read the complete article at: http://digbig.com/5baywh NEXT ISSUE The next issue sets out to answer the question 'What do facilitators do?' - especially facilitators of experiential learning. Most of my writing deliberately focuses on what learners do, so I am looking forward to providing some balance by looking more closely at what facilitators do. ISSUE AFTER NEXT Please let me know what you would like to see in a future issue of Active Reviewing Tips. |
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~ WHAT'S NEW IN THE GUIDE TO ACTIVE REVIEWING As well as the more user-friendly home page at http://reviewing.co.uk you will find siginificant updates to ... TRAINING WORKSHOPS http://reviewing.co.uk/trainingworkshops.htm CLIENT LISTS http://reviewing.co.uk/clients/list.htm OUTDOOR AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING NOTICEBOARD http://reviewing.co.uk/outdoor/notices.htm WRITING BY ROGER GREENAWAY http://reviewing.co.uk/bookshop/books-by-roger-greenaway.htm including a new article on Chaotic Meetings and the appeal of chaos (listed near the foot of the page under 'other articles'). |
| ~ 10 ~ About Active Reviewing Tips EDITOR: Dr. Roger Greenaway, Reviewing Skills Training 9 Drummond Place Lane STIRLING Scotland UK FK8 2JF Feedback, recommendations, questions: roger@reviewing.co.uk phone (UK office hours): +44 1786 450968 The Active Reviewing Guide is at <a href="http://reviewing.co.uk/">http://reviewing.co.uk</a> "Your site is a 'goldmine' for lots (and lots) of people. Thanks from all of us!" Chris Cavert COPYRIGHT: Roger Greenaway 2010 Reviewing Skills Training CONTACT: Your active participation is always welcome. Get engaged with your thoughts, comments or questions by writing to: roger@reviewing.co.uk |
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