~ 1 ~
EDITORIAL: Zooming Around
~ 2 ~ EVENTS: Active Reviewing
Workshops with Roger Greenaway
~ 3 ~ ARTICLE: Zooming In and Out
~ 4 ~ ACTIVE LEARNING BOOKSHOP and
SAVE THE CHILDREN
~ 5 ~ ARCHIVE: Big Picture Reviewing
~ 6 ~ PREVIOUS ISSUE and FUTURE
ISSUES
~ 7 ~ About Active Reviewing Tips
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~ 1 ~ EDITORIAL: Zooming Around
It was a happy accident that the article for this
issue (about zooming in and out as a facilitation
skill) happens to coincide with a concentrated
period of my zooming across continents to provide
trainer-training workshops in faraway places -
that may be close to you. (Only a small part of
these workshops is about zooming.)
My schedule for April and May includes trips to Boston
(The Agile Games Conference) and New York
(an open workshop: High-Octane
Active & Experiential Learning). I am
also providing in-house training events in
Taiwan and open workshops in Shanghai and
Hong Kong. Details of these events are in my
workshop calendar below.
This is the second issue in this new format for
Active Reviewing Tips. I hope the improved
features tempt you to read
it more and use
it more. I welcome your feedback on the changes.
You may also now feel more inclined to recommend
Active Reviewing
Tips to others - please use the 'forward' link in the very
last line of this issue.
Also on the theme of zooming, I will be zooming
around Barcelona in a few days time - hoping to
set a new personal best for the marathon.
And it would be especially pleasing if my trips
to the USA and China provide an opportunity for us
to meet up at one of my interactive
workshops!
Roger Greenaway
roger@reviewing.co.uk
http://reviewing.co.uk
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~ 2 ~ EVENTS: Active Reviewing
Workshops with Roger Greenaway
New
York, USA. 2-3rd April 2013
High-Octane Active
& Experiential Learning
Fuel your training, conference, meeting or
consulting engagement with ready-to-use tools and
activities unlike any other.
For details email: Ruth
Almen (USA) or Roger
Greenaway
Boston, USA. 4-6th April 2013
Keynote 'The Game
After the Game' and workshops at Agile
Games 2013
Games in
Context: How to use games, when to use what kinds
of games
Agile Games conferences explore how concepts like
serious play, collaboration, and experiential
learning apply to the field of Agile software
development and project management.
http://www.agilegames2013.com/
Shanghai, China: 14-17th May 2013
Open courses
Fundamental
Reviewing Skills
http://www.sino-associates.com
(plus in-house and public workshops in Hong Kong)
For details email: Mandy
Chen or Roger
Greenaway
Germany, 20-22 June 2013
preconference workshop, conference workshop and
whole conference session
METALOG® training
tools annual learning event
http://www.10jahremetalog.de/anmeldung-2013
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: 19-23 August 2013
Train the Trainer: Experiential
Learning
and Debriefing Skills
http://www.fishcamp.com.my/
Australia, early September 2013
For details email: Roger
Greenaway
The above information is copied from
The
Calendar of Reviewing Skills Training Workshops
where you will find the most up to date list of
open/public workshops provided by Roger Greenaway.
The
Experiential-CPD
Calendar
This calendar lists 'trainer-training' and
'educator-training' events from several
UK providers. The events listed here are
of interest to facilitators who work indoors or
outdoors. The Experiential-CPD calendar features a
'Thought for the Month' about experiential
learning from the editors or from readers. This
sister publication has also had a makeover to make
it more user-friendly.
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~ 3 ~ ARTICLE: Zooming In and
Zooming Out
by Roger
Greenaway, Reviewing Skills Training
Are you a zoomer in or a zoomer out when you
facilitate learning? If you feel that you zoom
both ways, do you know which is your preference or
your dominant style?
Don't worry - I am not about to offer you a
questionnaire to help you discover your dominant
'zoom style'. That would be a little tricky
because 'zooming in and out' is really just a
flexible metaphor that can apply to many different
dimensions and situations. Here are some examples
showing how
you can zoom in and out with questions:
ZOOMING
IN
AND OUT WITH QUESTIONS
From real to what if ...
Zooming
in > "What exactly did you say?"
Zooming
out < "If you could replay the
situation what would you say?"
From restricted to unlimited ...
Zooming
in > "Can you sum up what you want to
say in 3 words."
Zooming
out < "What would you like to add that
has not already been said?"
From essential to also ...
Zooming
in > "What was the turning point?"
Zooming
out < "What else helped to produce a
successful outcome?"
From initial explanation to alternative
explanations ...
Zooming
in > "Why did this happen?"
Zooming
out < "Let's take care not to jump to
conclusions. Are other explanations possible?"
[The actual search for other explanations might
involve both zooming in and zooming out.]
From your perspective to someone else's
perspective ...
Zooming
in > "Why did you behave in that way?"
Zooming
out < "What would x say if she had
witnessed what you did?"
From this context to very different contexts
....
Zooming
in > "What was the best example of
good teamwork?"
Zooming
out < "Would this be seen as 'good
teamwork' in all situations and cultures?"
From this system to the wider system ...
Zooming
in > "How has greater efficiency been
achieved?"
Zooming
out < "What will be the consequences
for other parts of the system?"
From small picture to big picture ...
Zooming
in > "Did you use your resources
optimally?"
Zooming
out < "What other resources / people /
stakeholders could you have brought in?"
From short term to long term ...
Zooming
in > "What has been the impact of your
efforts so far?"
Zooming
out < "How sustainable is this
process?"
ZOOMING
IN AND OUT WITH TASKS
Zooming in and out is not just about the nature
of your questions. Tasks are another option. For
example:
My world – our world – their world ...
Zooming
in > Make a headline for this event
that sums up what was most important for you
Zooming
out < Make a headline for this event
that you would like to see in your organisation's
newsletter.
Zooming
further out << Make a headline for
this event for a big circulation news publication
of your choice.
From snapshot to storyboard to video clip
(of future expectations) ...
Zooming
in > Choose one picture (or
photograph) to accompany the story of this event.
Zooming
out < Choose a series of pictures (or
photographs) that tell the story of this event
(with no words or few words).
Zooming
'in' on behaviour and zooming
'out'
to the future: Create some short video
clips that demonstrate how you expect to apply
your learning.
From capturing significant learning to
building into a future scenario
Zooming
in > Produce a group poem (or
collection of phrases) that captures the essence
of some of your most significant learning.
Zooming
out < Draw an imaginary future team
project working like a dream, adding in captions,
speech bubbles or thought bubbles that re-cycle
(or adapt) most of the words and phrases from the
group poem.
From reflecting indoors to reflecting outdoors
Zooming
in > Spend time completing your
reflective journal or talking with your learning
buddy.
Zooming
out < Make a leisurely journey
(walking or canoeing) with a learning buddy in a
relaxing and inspirational natural environment.
For out and back journeys, switch roles at the
turning point, so that each person takes it in
turns to be the centre of attention.
WHY ZOOM?
The value of zooming for facilitators,
learners and transfer of learning
As you zoom in, new details appear that were
previously invisible, and as you zoom out, the
broader view reduces the visible detail but
creates an ever-widening context and panorama. Zooming out
reveals the macro system, zooming in reveals the
microsystem.
Sometimes the patterns discovered at the micro
level are similar to patterns found at the macro
level. (Search for 'fractal images' for some
beautiful illustrations.) When we are shown
photographs without any clues about scale it can
be difficult to work out whether we are looking at
a span of kilometres or a span of millimetres.
Whatever you current focus, it is always worth
considering whether to go large, go small or stay
much the same. You
are
not looking for
the perfect focus that you make permanent.
This is because there is a value in changing focus
and making connections from one scale (or zoom
setting) to another. It is valuable for
facilitators to be adept at changing focus in a
timely fashion. It is even more valuable for
participants to develop such skills.
Perhaps our hope as facilitators of learning is
that zooming in (such as detailed personal
feedback sessions) will reveal insights that allow
participants to zoom out and discover their
broader relevance. Transfer
of learning often equates with 'zooming out'.
But sometimes the initial experience is a
mind-opening, horizon-broadening,
confidence-building, eye-widening, life-affirming,
whole-world-of-possibilities kind of experience.
And transfer arises from settling on a small
achievable project through which to channel these
mind-expanding discoveries. So transfer
of learning can also equate with zooming in on
the next step to take.
Have you noticed how film directors create
suspense by zooming in on the detail such as
close-ups of the character who is vulnerable to
attack, or on the fresh footprint they have just
spotted? Zooming out to wide angle provides a
sense of safety – scanning the horizon so that we
can see more of the surroundings from where
threats may come. In darkness, floodlights are
more reassuring than the beam of a pencil torch -
which gives so little information to the
vulnerable torch-bearer while giving
mission-critical information to the assailant. The
actual danger (or learning opportunity) can be
near or far. The
habit of zooming in and out maximises
opportunities for learning from experience.
Zooming
in
and out: part two
In part two of this article in the next issue of
Active Reviewing Tips I will provide a little more
background to zooming in and zooming out – from my
own research about how managers learn, with some
snippets from theories about convergent and
divergent thinking, analytic and contemplative
thinking, tight and loose construing, and freezing
and unfreezing. It is my view that the dynamic
nature of these models gets eroded over time with
facilitation practice drifting towards the more
tangible and actionable end of the spectrum:
convergent, analytic, tight and frozen.
In part two I will also show how a variable focus
(zooming in and out) can help to bring more life
and purpose to active and creative reviewing
methods and to your facilitation style.
Roger Greenaway
roger@reviewing.co.uk
http://reviewing.co.uk
Your turn!
One of the benefits of writing two part articles
is that if you have any thoughts, comments,
observations, references, links etc that you would
like to see included in part two of Zooming In
and Out, just let me know. I will only
publish what you give me permission to publish.
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~ 4 ~ ACTIVE LEARNING BOOKSHOP
and SAVE THE CHILDREN
Thanks to your purchases, Roger's Active
Learning
Bookshop has now raised £2,550 for Save the
Children. Do all your Amazon shopping (not just
books) via Roger's Active Learning Bookshop and not
only do YOU get a good deal, so do CHILDREN around
the world who need our help.
Thank you :-)
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~ 5 ~ ARCHIVE: Big Picture
Reviewing - seeing the wood as well as the trees
Although reviewing sometimes needs to be about
narrowing down, separating out, and examining the
detail, reviewing can also be used for 'big
picture' learning in which boundaries are blurred,
bridges are built, strands are woven together and
the whole is more real than the parts - because
reviewing is about the wood as well as the trees.
How much do you 'zoom in' and how much do you
'zoom out' when you are reviewing? Think of
reviewing as providing different lenses through
which to 're-view' what happened. When
participants look at an event through different
lenses they notice things that were not apparent
at the time. Sometimes you may want to bring out
details that were overlooked. At other times you
will want people to step back, zoom out and see
the big picture. Big picture reviews are not just
for senior executives. Learners of any age,
whatever the size of their world or their
responsibilities, can benefit from seeing a bigger
picture.
The 'big picture' reviewing techniques described
in this article:
- TIME
LINE: seeing time by walking through it
- THE
OUTSIDER: seeing the group through the
eyes of an outsider
- TURNTABLE:
seeing issues from unfamiliar perspectives
- AS
IF: experiencing different perspectives
- METAPHOR
MAP: a fresh perspective on past and
future
For descriptions of individual methods, select a
link above. For the whole article see Big
Picture
Reviewing which was originally published in
Active Reviewing Tips 7.1:
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~ 6 ~ PREVIOUS ISSUE and FUTURE
ISSUES
The last issue ARTips
15.1 featured the second part of Avoiding
Common
Traps in Reviewing.
Topics in Future Issues will be influenced by
questions raised during my training workshops and
by questions/suggestions from readers. Most of my
writing arises from issues and questions raised by
facilitators who are excited by the possibilities
and benefits of experiential approaches to
learning and development.
One challenge that some facilitators struggle with
is trying to convince 'others' that reviewing is a
valuable process. Sometimes these 'others' are
colleagues whose programme design includes little
or no time for reviewing. Sometimes these 'others'
are the people you are working with. So a future
issue of Active Reviewing Tips will offer tips
about productive ways in which you can respond
when faced with people who lack your own
enthusiasm for reviewing.
Thanks to Damian Hesdon's message to me I am
thinking of the possibilities of writing
about 'reviewing over a cup of tea'.
Damian wrote: "Reviewing skills are transferable
to every sector and have been useful even on
construction sites along with a cup of strong
tea." Unfortunately it is too late to interview my
grandma who was an expert on this topic (ie
sorting things out over a cup of tea). So maybe
you have some thoughts to share? If so, please
write to roger@reviewing.co.uk
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~ 7 ~ About Active Reviewing Tips
TITLE: Active Reviewing Tips for Dynamic
Experiential Learning
ISSN: 1465-8046
EDITOR: Dr. Roger Greenaway, Reviewing Skills
Training
EMAIL: roger@reviewing.co.uk
Feedback welcome - especially about this new
format.
ARCHIVES: Index
of
back issues
HOME PAGE: Active
Reviewing
PRIVACY: see foot of page
"I like the way
you look at everything and then return to what is
simple, effective and memorable."
"You always have material I don't want to miss."
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