I used the IF method last year in one class and found it both productive & rewarding. This semester my response is more mixed. This year, in the freshman class the benefits were less evident. Was it due to a different group composition/dynamics? I… Read More »
Yearly Archives: 2010
Response to Blog Prompt #2
Now that the term is over I think I am ready to reflect on the criteria and process used to set up ”good” student groups… I organized groups in three classes, including one freshman seminar. I formed the groups in my upper… Read More »
Response to Blog Prompt #3
The problem you want us to address in this blog — students have a hard time with abstract conversation — is VERY evident in my first-year seminar class. During the months of October & November I kept asking my students to brainstorm… Read More »
My First Discussion Classes
Alkida Hasaj is a Lector in the Tourism Department at the University of Shkodra ‘Luigj Gurakuqi’ in Albania. She was also a participant in the 50-Hour Training Course in the IF Discussion Process that IF Fellows Mark Notturno and Ieva Notturno conducted… Read More »
Crossing Sanctuary and Public Discussions for Hybrid Vigor
I grew up in the Upper Midwest. It’s a place where people love to talk about dominant ethnic traits (usually German or Scandinavian). I’d guess that it’s a habit that has to do with the agriculture of the area. In… Read More »
Audio and Visual Alternatives to Textual Discussion Starters
In previous posts I’ve emphasized that successful exploratory public discussions tend to have more to do with the facilitator than with the Reports that are used to get them going. The Reports might matter; but the way the discussion is… Read More »
Keeping Things Under Control, or Not
“This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we’ll be lucky to live through it.” Admiral Josh Painter in Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for the Red October.
“The creative process is a process of… Read More »
Chance Encounters and IF
Sometimes chance encounters plant the seeds for something great. Historic proof of this point became apparent to me when I recently attended one of the DC Music Salons… Read More », at my local library (Watha T. Daniel in Washington, D.C.) The
Building a “Bench” for Deliberative Discussion
No, this is not a “how to” on furniture design. It is more in the spirit of how to cross-recruit for both IF project panel discussions and citizen discussions of IF reports (though much of this would work in deliberative… Read More »
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