Then tonight, in lieu of television, I have watched the video recording of the workshop session that Michael and I ran yesterday with a view to deciding how we would use this footage. I have to say, I am not quite sure, as it was genuinely a workshop, so the participants, who had no microphones , did a large proportion of the input into the session. Michael and I did the planning and gave the instructions. My reflection is - is this fair for the participants? In this instance we had billed the session as "Capturing excellence" and were quite clear that we wanted to pick their brains for the benefit of others. But how much "input" is a workshop participant entitled to receive from the facilitator, or does all the "input" come from the participants? Perhaps, the skill of a good facilitator is to have sufficient expert knowledge in the field to be able to build on participants input and to fill gaps should they form and to stand back and let it happen when the participants are fully engaged and sharing quality input. I know that sometimes I come away from a workshop and wish I had listened more and said less and then I would have learnt more. A word of warning perhaps for those of us who might like to hog the limelight. Some useful thoughts as I prepare for workshops for the ICED and STLHE conferences.
Today's picture near Almonte, Ontario. Rather English don't you think?
1 comment:
In my humble opinion the role of the facilitator is just that - to faciliate a conversation between the participants, and as you rightly say, use their knowledge and skills to plug the gaps when necessary. For me the key to faciliation is to be able guide the conversation in the required direction, without making it a vehicle for your views.
This is posted on behalf of my erudite daughter, Jennifer Wray
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