Open Space - Cambodia - Street Children

Mon Aug 14 03:04:25 PDT 2006

Dear All - and in particular Peggy,

"A Better Future for Us - The Issues and Opportunities"

Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

I am afraid it is a bit long so I have, hopefully, attached it which means
you don't have to read it if you don't want to.but I wanted, inspired by
Peggy's amazing story, to recount how Open Space and the World Bank have
started a series of meetings around South East Asia working with street
children, and to share my personal experience with you. 

There is little to add - it works!

All the best

Nigel

Nigel Seys-Phillips

Fulcrum Business Management Solutions

30 Mount Elizabeth

#04-34 Highpoint

Singapore 228519

Tel: +65 9639 2510

E-mail: nigel at fulcrum.com.sg

  _____  

From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Peggy
Holman
Sent: Wednesday, 9 August 2006 1:18 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: OS in University Settings (long)

Apologies for responding to such an old thread but there is a university
story that I can't resist sharing.  It isn't mine -- it is from Sara Halprin
and Herb Long who taught a graduate course in Open Space.  This story
appeared almost 10 years ago in a special Open Space issue of At Work (a now
defunct hard-copy journal).  

>From sunny Seattle,

Peggy

We Passed the Flowerpot from Lap to Lap: Using Open Space to Create a
Learning Community

by Sara Halprin and Herb Long

In Spring, 1996 we co-taught a course called "Human Learning and
Development," for the Master's of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (MAIS)
program at Marylhurst College. Given the vast subject matter and limited
time (three weekends) of the course, we decided to hold it in Open Space, a
methodology we had recently learned about from Harrison Owen and Anne
Stadler. Their continued support was invaluable.

Marylhurst College, located in Lake Oswego, near Portland, Oregon, offers
four-year undergraduate programs and several master's programs. Students at
Marylhurst often comment that the atmosphere is especially welcoming to them
in all their diversity of age, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and life
experience.

The focus of this article is on the ways we used Open Space in an academic
setting; some of the problems we encountered along the way, problems which
were, at best, transformed into learning opportunities; and ideas we plan to
implement next spring, when we offer this course again.

 We want to emphasize the usefulness of Open Space for the particular
subject matter we were exploring: theories and practices of human learning
and development.

 Fourteen students registered for the course. When each student registered,
she received a letter from us with the class syllabus including a pre-class
reading list of four books. Our intention in providing this list was to
prepare students for the approach to learning and development we have
adopted. We handed out a more extensive reading list on the first morning.
This list offers a map of the vast territory of theories of human learning
and development from our particular perspective, one that is multicultural
and gender-specific.

 We met for three weekends, during the period from March 15 through April
14.

 EXCERPTS FROM SARA HALPRIN'S JOURNAL:

 First day notes:

 * Setting the atmosphere

 We had fresh bagels and cream cheese, coffee and tea, offered on a
checkered tablecloth, a rug in the center of a circle of chairs with potted
flowers, crayons and paper, signs on the walls and charts indicating rooms
and times. We welcomed each person individually. Several helped to set
things up.

 Herb welcomed the group, asking everyone to say their names and who they
are when they're not at Marylhurst. He spoke about his own ways of learning
and developing and asked for others'. A few people spoke about learning out
of mistakes, by letting go of expectations, etc. Then I introduced the open
space format of the course.

 * The Stampede

 I expected a long silence when I opened the agenda. Just before I did so,
one woman said she was feeling anxious, and so was I! But there was a
general rush for paper, markers and the bulletin board. I had to stop people
putting their topics on the board before they announced the topic, and soon
every space was covered and people were starting to negotiate. So we went on
to

* The Village Marketplace.

 No problems. I did tell one woman she couldn't take the room and time
post-it off my sign to put on hers, otherwise it was ripple-free. A couple
of people asked permission to do this or that, and I just beamed at them.
They all got the idea. Realizing I'd forgotten to announce morning and
evening news times, I had to stand on a chair and yell to get their
attention for the announcement!

 * The first session.

 I was still feeling skeptical. There was only one scheduled session, and
Herb and I both went to it. It started slowly, but built magnificently, into
genuine open dialogue, very stimulating. At one point I realized I was wide
awake and really interested. From that point on the day just built on
itself.

 * By the end of the day a group on art learning had constructed several
colorful collages out of the brilliant-colored post-its we'd brought and
these embellished the walls. One was called "Life's a Rough Draft."

 * Evening news

everyone was excited, exhilarated, and also much less tired than usual at
the end of a Marylhurst weekend day. People expressed real pleasure with the
format and mentioned that they wished all their classes could be like this
one.

 * Late night thoughts

 Of course, I'm nervous as hell--what if it goes downhill from here? I did
mention the need to express any possible grumpiness or whatever, which was
well-received, but I do believe this group will just go from good to better.
Some conflict may and should emerge, and hopefully, as one man suggested, we
can disagree without being disagreeable!

Second day notes

* Morning news

Everyone came in full of excitement and bearing gifts--food, candles, hand
cream (!), extra computers...angel cards and hearthstones. But, when we rang
the bell for morning news, there was a big silence, which Herb broke by
saying, here we are at morning news, etc. There was a tendency to ask us for
permission, turn to us as teachers...

* Disagreement happened.

Against the good advice of Harrison and Anne, I convened a session offering
an overview of theories of development, and it was difficult.

I had some passion for the discoveries of setting up the reading list, and I
wanted to share that. But the role of teacher came up right away, and in
speaking about that and gathering responses, evaluation seemed to be a ghost
hovering over the group. I addressed that ghost, and right away things got
heavy. The discussion went on and on.

Eventually I tried to sum things up and ended up with a woman feeling
steam-rollered because I would not take sole responsibility for evaluation.
We worked on that issue, and the group seemed relieved, but the discussion
continued. In response to a student's request, I announced that it was time
to talk about my topic, and I did so, whereupon a hot discussion followed on
development, gender, and culture. 

I got us to adjourn to lunch by mentioning that I needed to pee and that I
was hungry.

 * Evening news

 People were tired. One woman left early, saying she was getting a migraine
and needed to get home to deal with it. I suspect the group is poised on the
edge of really taking responsibility for their own learning. They need to be
helped along by Herb and me keeping space open for that.

 Am I sorry I didn't follow Harrison's and Anne's advice about dropping my
presentation? Yes and no, but ultimately no. If it's a mistake, I certainly
learned a lot from it, and several people mentioned that the group had come
to community in that session. I did follow my heart, and my own enthusiasm
for what I had learned and wanted to share. It didn't feel right to me to
cancel the session. Next time I just won't schedule one so early in the
proceedings.

 Third day notes:

 Most people were ecstatic about the weekend, and today was a time of
deepening realization. The students were really taking responsibility, even
handling the big silence at the start of each large circle. Once someone
spoke, everyone spoke, of course. We decided to use the flowers a woman
brought as a talking piece--you could speak only if you held the flowerpot.
People spoke of how thrilled they are with this format, happy to take a
break and really looking forward to the next gathering, feeling they've made
real friends and learned a lot.

 * Academic standards

 Herb said his professorial side feels nervous about how much actual
learning is going on and a woman echoed that and asked that Herb and I share
more of our passion with the group next session. I responded by saying the
professor in me absolutely believes that the only real learning that can
happen is happening in this format, which, like chaos theory, seeks the deep
structure underlying chaos. While all is patterned, each pattern is unique
and unpredictable. Therefore I look forward to seeing how much learning and
development will take place as we all continue in open space for the next
couple of weeks. (See Herb's journal note on this discussion.)

 There is, clearly, still a strong tendency to look to us for learning as
well as direction, understandable in such an academic context. There is also
interest in working on that tendency, becoming more self-aware.

 At the End of the Second weekend

 Herb and I are both exhausted, and so were several at least of the
students. There was a repeated request for Herb and me to convene more
sessions. I gracefully or not declined, and Herb pointed out that he had
just convened one!

 We moved from debate over learning in this course into a discussion of
learning and teaching, based on bell hooks's book on radical pedagogy. The
group is showing a tendency to want to be together as a whole group and not
split into separate pieces.

 Third weekend notes:

Saturday:

Today started with a strained atmosphere and ended quite joyous and lively,
with lots of energy for tomorrow. How did we get there?

* At morning news,

Mentioning the atmosphere of the group led us into a discussion of what we
have been doing so far. One woman helped by framing the whole discussion in
terms of reflections on group work. Another woman brought in her concerns
about encounter groups (she doesn't want this class to become one). This led
us to discuss the relationships between thinking and feeling in group work
and in learning and development.

* Good sessions followed:

one on adult development , then one on safety in groups. A woman brought in
two very strong paintings she had done in the aftermath of an anti-gay
initiative in Oregon. She spoke of her feelings as a lesbian, then a Latina
woman spoke of her anger at feeling repressed by others' requirements that
we have a "safe" group. Great discussion of safety, abuse, respect, and
other group issues in relation to learning and development.

Sunday, last day of class:

* At morning news

one woman needed a chance to express herself, after having felt attacked by
some of the students yesterday. We supported her to speak, which she did at
some length, and then she seemed to feel better. This was an example of
providing safety in groups through increasing awareness.

 The atmosphere stayed good all day. The group clearly had no intention of
splitting up, and at the end of the day several people said explicitly that
it had taken time and trouble to form a sense of group and they didn't want
to split up.

 Later Herb and I commented to ourselves about how, from initially looking
to us for approval and guidance for just about everything, the group got to
the place where they could cheerfully ignore, reject, and discard our
suggestions and do what was right for them.

 * The end of the day

 seemed strained as we tried to figure out how to do evaluation, then it got
silly and fun as it evolved into writing comments on our colorful post-its
and attaching them to each other. We took a class photo, taken by the campus
cop, of all of us festooned with post-its. The cop,.camera in hand, grinned
at us all and barked, You're all under arrest!

 * Evaluating the class experience

 Some expressed interest in having an ongoing group. Several said they were
sad to leave. Most expressed great appreciation for the whole experience.
Harrison Owen's idea of turning outward and thinking of going out into the
world worked well, and we all joined hands and sang row row row your boat,
very anarchically. On the whole, an excellent experience for all.

 But why were Herb and I so exhausted at the end? How can we do this without
being quite so drained? I suspect that the more vigorously we keep the space
open, for ourselves as well as for everyone else, the more invigorated we
will feel.

 ``

The changes we are making in our presentation to next year's class are based
on feedback from this year's students, which has been overwhelmingly
positive. We are adding Owen's Open Space Technology to our pre-reading list
and changing one of the the other titles. We are updating the general
reading list, and we have rewritten the syllabus, to be more explicit about
the nature of Open Space. We are offering both classes on a pass-fail basis
only.

 We are also increasing the spacing between weekends, adding a consultation
day between the first and second weekend. We hope that students will take
advantage of the longer interval to pursue in-depth research on the areas
which most interest them.

 In terms of the most controversial issue that came up for us, the roles of
"teacher" and "learner," I think we are both aiming to feel free--free to be
passionate as well as fluid, free to be a teacher when that felt right, in
the moment, and to be a learner when that felt right. Modeling what we
expected. Hopefully that will leave us with more energy by the end of the
course.

 HERB LONG'S NOTE ON USING OPEN SPACE IN AN ACADEMIC CONTEXT:

 It was a stretch for us to use the open space format for a course on human
learning and development. This was especially the case for me--after all,
with so much to cover and so little time, how could I possibly expect that
students would learn anything if I didn't hold forth--summarizing,
critiquing, offering gems of wisdom and insisting that the students respond
with formal research papers?

My own ambivalence appeared when I shared my "professorial" concern with the
students, that maybe serious learning wasn't happening. Coming from me as a
facilitator, such a comment might have sunk the whole effort. But it didn't,
because a deeper learning was taking place than any I had experienced before
in academe.

 This deeper learning was the result of offering an opportunity for students
>to reach into their own personal history, and to make connections between
that history and the learning process. They could connect their own
development with what they were reading, discussing, and thinking about.

 The context of Open Space provided an atmosphere in which feeling and
intellect could combine rather than split off. In a remarkably short period
of time, we became a learning community.

 At the same time, my own passion for teaching was re-awakened. That is,
open space provided me with the same supportive environment as it did the
students. I too could begin making connections between my own lived
experience and what I was learning as a result of my passionate involvement
in the learning enterprise that engaged all of us. The boundary separating
student and teacher became more and more permeable. The same passionate
interest in learning transferred naturally into a heightened desire to share
what was learned. It's as if we were all being enriched in our very beings.
and when that richness reached a stage of overflowing, teaching followed
naturally as we shared with one another out of our own being.

 To me, such sharing is the essence of true teaching and it's then that
being speaks to being or, as the Psalmist puts it, "deep calls unto deep."

 FROM THE INTRODUCTION TO OUR CLASS DOCUMENT, WRITTEN BY TWO OF THE
STUDENTS:

 The course was to be about learning and development, so what did we learn
and how do we learn? We learn by exploring. We learn by listening. We learn
through our families, our culture and our experiences. We learn by taking
risks and stretching our minds. It is a lifelong process and a spiritual
process. What we discover as we go along is that much of what we think we
need to know, we actually have inside ourselves already. The trick is to
accept ourselves and to look inside ourselves to find the teacher within.

***

 Sara Halprin, Ph.D and Herb Long, Th.D are certified Process Work
therapists, with diplomas from the Process Work Center of Portland. They
bring, in addition to their backgrounds in education and counseling, the
wide-spectrum skills of process work facilitation, which have deepened their
experience with Open Space. They live and work in Portland, Oregon. Sara is
also the author of "LOOK AT MY UGLY FACE!": Myths and Musings on Beauty and
Other Perilous Obsessions with Women's Appearance (Penguin, 1996).

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Lisa <mailto:lisaheft at openingspace.net>  Heft 

To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE..EDU <mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>

Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 12:43 PM

Subject: [OSLIST] OS in University Settings

Hello, dear colleagues -

I am talking with the business school at a university about using OS for a
large networking event, to bring together students at all levels of the
business program (from folks very new to the program to those with advanced
business degrees; from executives who have graduated from the program to
current students) and also members of other schools at the university
(engineering, energy, and other diverse programs).

My potential client is interested in hearing if any of you out there have
done OS on university campuses and / or with these different constituents.

He's great, because he 'gets' that OS can work with anyone.  But / and he's
thrilled that I am part of this rich global community of practitioners and
would love to hear other stories of how OS has been used in similar ways or
similar settings - what was the situation, who were the constituents, and
what were the accomplishments.

Thank you for sharing your stories of OS in university settings,

Lisa

___________________________

L i s a   H e f t

Consultant, Facilitator, Educator

O p e n i n g  S p a c e

 <mailto:lisaheft at openingspace.net> lisaheft at openingspace.net

 <http://www.openingspace.net> www.openingspace.net 

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