Comments for Interactivity Foundation

Comment on Finally, in the loop again! by Dennis Boyer

Dennis Boyer — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:30:29 +0000

Hi Maria: Do you see any lessons in your approach for the notions of “strategic planning” or “organizational development”?I’m currently working with an environmental consulting firm on adaptive use of IF process for planning purposes. The issue they are hung up on is whether the process of developing the possibilities is too determinative if the actual decision makers ae involved. They feel that a more disinterested group of consultants should perform the pre-work of possibility development as a foundation for deliberation by the decision makers.I was just wondering how that thinking might play out in a series of courses that built on each other.Another group is wondering how to use the process in contingency planning in military and emergency relief planning.warm regards Dennis

Comment on Interventions and Uncertainty by Laura Black

Laura Black — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:44:13 +0000

Keally, I want to take your class! The thought essays are a really good idea. Like Jack, I’ve been frustrated by the vague comments my students often make on their feedback forms. There is helpful stuff in the forms, but after a while they are tired of doing them and start making really general positive comments which are nice and all, but really seem to me to be a cop-out. Sometimes I wish my students had the passion and vigor that you describe.

Comment on Interventions and Uncertainty by crit

crit — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:43:16 +0000

Hey, Keally: I’m interested in the thought essays that you assign. Have you actually thought that you might scrap the self-evaluation form for these essays? I’m still getting too many general comments and not enough specifics on mine. I don’t want little McCarthyites ratting out their mates, but I’d like more thought to go into answering the questions. Have you got better prompts now? Please share if you do…not that I don’t LOVE your originals from this summer.

Comment on Interventions and Uncertainty by Jill Bouma

Jill Bouma — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:37:00 +0000

Wow, Keally, I’m blown away by all your class is doing! I was happy just to see my introverts talking. I really like the way you’ve structured your IF sessions to facilitate collaborative research. The fact that your students have been able to use the format to essentially run their own sessions and “dismiss” you from class (don’t I wish!) speaks volumes. Incidentally, the description of your third group made me laugh – sounds just like our faculty meetings!

Comment on Confessions of a Failed IF Blogger… by Jill Bouma

Jill Bouma — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:29:14 +0000

Hi Laura, Thanks for the feedback! My first IF session went well overall – the introverts definitely talked more for each other than for me, I’m glad to say. I appreciate your point about the potential of the ”quiet listeners” to be good facilitators. In their reflections, they had clearly thought deeply about the issues, and I like your insight about their ability to use silence to work through inquiry. The note-takers did a great job, in part b/c the facilitators had led pretty organized sessions and their own notes were fairly easy to work from. We have our next IF session tomorrow, and I’m hoping the trend continues.

Comment on Let the Chaos Begin! by Keally

Keally — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:25:12 +0000

Jack,I think the directing comments at the facilitator is natural in the start, and I’ve seen my groups start to work more as a cohesive unit as they get more comfortable with one another.I can’t wait to hear what the policy suggestions are for the good society.

Comment on Integrating Course Content by Sue Goodney Lea

Sue Goodney Lea — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:04:38 +0000

Debra– I really enjoyed your description, in paragraph three, of how your students have worked to make this process their own– and how this has connected to their engagement with the course material. Very useful insights/observations.

Comment on Confessions of a Failed IF Blogger… by Laura Black

Laura Black — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:58:20 +0000

Hi Jill, Thanks for the interesting blog entry! I think that’s a really good insight that one benefit of the IF process is helping students to learn to take notes. I hadn’t thought about it, but when I look at the wide range of detail in the notes my students have taken, it seems to me that you are right this is a learned skill. That’s a great observation about a benefit to first year students in particular (my seniors really have no excuse for bad note-taking). It sounds like things are going well in your class, good luck drawing out the introverts! Do you think the material is intimidating to them? If this were my course, one thing I might note to them is that a big goal of facilitating is *listening* and helping people think deeply. Good facilitators are often comfortable with silence and can use that silence to help the group work through inquiry. In my experience many “shy” people are much better at that task than talkative extroverted types. Hopefully the agenda and pre-meeting materials help them feel more comfortable with leading the discussion. If they really are as shy and quiet as you say, you might have the potential for deep and meaningful conversations.

Comment on Integrating Discussion into a New Course by Jeff Prudhomme

Jeff Prudhomme — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:24:52 +0000

Michael, Glad to hear about the Leadership presentation. My advice would be that showing can be better than telling. So if you can work in a bit of a live discussion facilitation this would go a long way toward demonstrating some of what you did in the class (especially if facilitated by your students). I think you could then do the telling–talking about what you did in the class. You could discuss how it relates to a model of “leadership” where the leader is not the director of a group but the facilitator of group discovery. In a sense, the leader then is in the service of the group’s thinking, not the other way round (as we often think of it).

Glad to hear that you’re working in student-centered discussion into your upper level course. Sounds like they do need some guidance about the above point on facilitating collaborative discussions as different from the usual approach to leading discussions.

Let us know how the Leadership presentation goes–and if you have more questions in advance! –Jeff

Comment on Let the Chaos Begin! by Jeff Prudhomme

Jeff Prudhomme — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:16:34 +0000

Jack,

Wow, you’re feedback loop looks really tight! You’ve got lots of opportunities to provide needed guidance. On your “individual rights vs. social responsibility” group, here are a few comments. 1) I’d say their tactic of defining then “undefining” terms is not helpful. You want open exploration from the start. Taking a “definitional” approach works against generating material and alternative perspectives, which should be the emphasis throughout–and especially at the beginning. 2) I’d discourage the “vs.” framing. It can make it hard to pursue different interconnections or different ways of relating the 2 things. If they just say it’s “individual rights and social responsibility,” they can explore the “and”–different ways of relating the 2. 3) Make sure the facilitator is focusing more on generating lots of material without evaluating as they go. This can relate to your last question/observation. Emphasize that the facilitator is not a typical discussion leader or arbiter of comments (so the participants aren’t making proposals to meet the facilitator’s approval). The facilitator is in the service of the group–capturing their thinking and helping their thinking develop. The group should think of their comments as addressed to each other–even if the facilitator is the focal point for capturing those comments. Hope this helps!–Jeff