radical education (holistic education)
The first day will expound and clarify humanistic educational values and principles and such concepts as: self-directed learning, peer learning, contract learning; self and peer assessment, collaborative assessment, education of the emotions; the confluence of intellectual inquiry and personal growth and the action-oriented and experience-based curriculum. The second day will be a peer learning community on these and related issues. The third day will be an autonomy an autonomy laboratory on any issue of importance to participants.
small group teaching methods
A two-day workshop for teachers or trainers who want to develop their skill in their own group methods or wish to learn about new methods. A variety of small group methods will be used throughout the course to enable participants to share experiences, design and explore alternatives in practice and examine theoretical and practical issues relating to style and management.
experiential learning methods in education and training
This multidisciplinary workshop is aimed at teachers and trainers who wish to increase their competence in designing and facilitating structured learning experiences, training exercises, spontaneous experiential activities and encouraging strategies for learning in daily practice. Experiential methods will be used throughout this course
(a) to enable a collective conceptual model to be developed,
(b) to experiment with a range of activities, some of which will be selected (or designed) and facilitated by volunteers who will be invited to assess their skills and receive the assessment of participants and observers and
(c) to generate ways of helping students and others reflect on their own experiences and formulate action plans for their own development. Some previous experience in this field will be helpful.
We also ran an advanced version for experienced facilitators in which we expected participants to role-play problems previously experienced or anticipated in the application of these methods.
The sample of activities is expected to cover technical, interpersonal and intrapsychic dimensions of training, separately and together where appropriate.
interpersonal skills training methods
This workshop is for trainers and educators directly and substantially involved in improving others' skills of working with people. The content of the course will involve a systematic examination of alternative models relevant to such training together with participants' underlying assumptions, values and theories, a study of the kinds of activities suitable for interpersonal skills training in courses and real life, workshop and course design issues and the role of the facilitator. Theoretical issues will be dealt with by lecture, seminar and discussion. The course will be mainly experiential and a range of practical activities will be introduced, designed and tested, to cover all aspects and levels of focus. Each course member will be expected to facilitate such an activity and role play a challenging situation they imagine might arise during their courses. Individuals and groups will design the whole of a course or workshop and test out parts of their design,
Self and peer assessment will be used throughout the workshop and a comprehensive manual will be provided.
A necessary prerequisite for this course is previous experience of training in experiential learning or participation in interpersonal skills training carried out using experiential methods. Courses (Six Category Intervention Analysis and Experiential Learning) on this programme (or their equivalent in previous years) will be suitable.
This course may be linked with three other courses, taken at any time within this programme, the Six Category Intervention Analysis, Experiential Learning Methods in Education and Training, and Styles of Group Facilitation courses for a thorough grounding in interpersonal skills training.
self and peer assessment a means for individual and team development
Traditional appraisal methods leave much to be desired, for both appraiser and appraised. In addition, members of work teams not only assess their own work, but also that of their colleagues. These often give rise to interpersonal issues which are difficult to tackle.
This workshop offers a safe way to deal with these issues and build on the existing developed relationships by collectively examining the problem of quality. The structure which will be presented has been developed over seven years in diverse settings throughout the world with a variety of groups in different occupations.
The workshop can also be offered in a variety of forms to organisations:
(a) for particular work teams,
(b) for members with common responsibilities in an organisation at at a similar operational level,
(c) for training and staff development managers or their equivalent.
The workshop will involve three stages:
1. The self and peer assessment
2. Dealing with issues of working and personal relationships
3. Consideration of future application.
The self and peer assessment will involve:
(a) selection of a key performance area common to the group, or of individuals' specialist areas,
(b) agreement of criteria and standards of quality,
(c) creation of appropriate methods of self-monitoring and self assessment,
(d) peer appraisal to agreed ground rules,
(e) individual and group action planning.
Dealing with interpersonal issues which arise from the sharing of information is a necessary step in team building. This will be consolidated by examining the extent to which the workshop procedures can be adopted into the day-to-day work of individuals and teams.
Trainers will be expected to design do-it-yourself versions of the same.
integrating personal and professional development
This workshop is designed for those involved in initial training and continuing education for the professions and associated voluntary services. It will also be of value to practitioners and managers interested in continuing education and staff development.
It will be conducted as an experiential enquiry into two related issues:
i) the extent to which a significant personal development focus is necessary for the acquisition of the full range of skills and attitudes required in professional and voluntary work;
ii) the extent to which services offered to clients should be aimed at personal development and the acquisition of personal development skills and attitudes.
Strategies and methods for enabling practitioners and managers and trainers to acquire the relevant skills will be devised and tested in the workshops. Means developed by the Human Potential Research Project will be offered as a basis for the inquiry. Participants will be expected to develop strategies for their own settings and skills to implement them.
role play and simulation
This workshop is aimed at teachers and trainers who wish to explore and improve their competence in the use of role play and simulation as an effective learning tool, Participants will be challenged to experiment, create new activities and to select and test out exercises suggested by the facilitator. Criteria for assessment of activities will be explored, together with ways to help students reflect on and integrate their experiences.
the uses of video in education and training
This workshop will explore the use of video within different training and therapeutic contexts. We will explore the ground rules for the introduction and use of the equipment and then test out several activities, including self-modelling, psychodrama, play therapy, individual and group work, training and supervision and other activities suggested by participants. You will be encouraged to experiment with the equipment and to adapt and create activities relevant to your own needs.
how to run "New Games" sessions
New Games are cooperative sports and games where participants only compete against their own abilities, not other people. No one wins and no one loses, so everyone can just play and enjoy themselves. Anyone can play them, even those not normally associated with game playing, because New Games require no special skills. Experience them yourselves, they are to be played, not explained.
In this workshop we will learn about playing and refereeing New Games and about including New Games in situations where people get together, whether in group sessions on courses, or in families, clubs or parties. We will consider the ways in which New Games can illustrate and enhance learning, and change the mood of the group. We will pay attention to the special needs of children and old people, of the disabled and the able bodied, playing New Games.
On the Sunday afternoon we will open the doors to the public (tell your family and friends!) and we will get a chance to design a programme of games and to referee some games "for real".
curriculum design and development in in-service and continuing education
This course is designed for managers, educators and trainers with responsibility for the ongoing education of qualified practitioners in any occupation who are familiar with basic models and practice of course design. Basic issues such as the following will be discussed:
- Methods of identifying and agreeing priorities of need
- organisational constraints in mounting and evaluating appropriate provision
- challenges in choosing relevant objectives and methods and agreeing innovatory approaches
- ways of linking theory and practice and encouraging ongoing personal development and support for the practitioner
- assessment methods appropriate to the experienced adult formative evaluation and redesign of courses.
A comprehensive model for decision-making in developing learning programmes for adults will be introduced which covers:
- major areas of decision and associated evaluation,
- collaboration in decision-making in these areas
- a framework for selecting worthwhile course goals which identifies technical, interpersonal and personal dimensions of the major work roles and which is applicable to any occupation.
