[OSList] study circles

Wed Oct 2 09:29:46 PDT 2013

Thank you so much for sharing that, Eiwor. Have you any more formal 
material about study circles? This has been of special interest to me - 
as it does seem a way to help open space in communities - and it does 
seem to be happening all the time though not necessarily always with the 
benefit of others success and experience as you are sharing.

Linda Rising and Mary Lynn Manns wrote a book of design patterns for 
introducing new ideas called "Fearless Change". They called out a 
pattern that seems similar to your Study Circle, but they call it "Study 
Group". The short description of study group is "Form a small group of 
colleagues who are interested in exploring or continuing to learn about 
a topic."

Their argument of the value of the Study Group/Study Circle is that 
people don't learn well merely from hearing lectures and enabling a 
small group (for them it is no more than 8) helps the people be truly 
impacted by the work. They cited a study where two groups were 
introduced to a new approach, one with a lecture and the other with a 
discussion and group decision making process. There was little or no 
change in the first group, but the second group had a 60-100% adoption 
rate of the new approach.

Linda Rising wrote a paper of success with study groups published in 
Bell Labs Technical Journal which can be downloaded at 
http://web.lindarising.info/uploads/studygroups.pdf.

Joshua Kerievsky (also from the design patterns community) wrote a paper 
about patterns for successful study groups that is quite interesting: 
http://www.inquisitivechap.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/khdraft.pdf

This is a topic dear to my heart - and I'd love to receive any 
additional research or experience reports from your own perspective 
doing this work in Sweden for the general community, and not just 
organizations.

     Thank you!
     Harold

On 10/1/13 5:50 AM, Eiwor Backelund wrote:
> Some time ago I promised to write something about study circles. Here 
> is a really short version of what it is and how to do one: I know I 
> also wrote something about it a few years ago which I believe happened 
> to be gathered into the OST non-guide. I have worked a lot with the 
> Swedish study organizations. We have 11 national study organizations 
> (or they might be 12 right now), that are funded by the government to 
> support people to learn in study circles and also to experience 
> culture, so everyone irrespective of background, financial status or 
> where they live could enjoy music, theatre, art etc. They have a 
> special focus on people with disabilities and immigrants.
>
> Study circles -- the Swedish version
>
> When a study circle is created it is always based on people´s n need 
> or wish to learn more. The main focus for the study circle is the 
> search for increased knowledge about a certain area or topic.
>
> The basics of the studycircle is that it is free to join or leave, 
> that there are no such things as tests or examination and that there 
> is time for reflection between the meetings. The usual here in Sweden 
> is to meet once a week for 5-8 times, 2-3 hours each time. The group 
> size is important so the discussion is easy to participate in. The 
> number of participants could be as little as 3 people but no more than 
> 12. 6-8 participants is a recommended number for getting enough energy 
> in the group and still making it easy for everyone to talk and listen.
>
> At the start of the study circle, the participants create their own 
> study plan together, based on what each of them want to learn. They 
> decide what material they want to use, where they will search for more 
> information, when and where they will meet and who takes care of the 
> coffee and snacks each time. The last thing is not least important J. 
> The coffee break makes everyone a butterfly for a while and allows the 
> sharing of other things, which also contribute to the learning.
>
> The leader of the studycircle is not a teacher, but one of the group 
> that has a somewhat different role. He or she facilitates the 
> discussions and keeps the group together. The leader has sometimes, 
> but not always, more knowledge about the topic than the participants. 
> The leader should see to that everyone has the opportunity to talk and 
> is listened to and that the group follows the study plan or agree on 
> changes when necessary. The task to care for the room, coffee etc can 
> be shared among participants.
>
> I think the study circle could be seen as one of the sessions in an 
> OST, but with some reflection time in between the discussions. The 
> leader is a combination of the topic leader and the facilitator.
>
> Good luck
>
> Eiwor
>
> Gateway Creation Tools
> a holistic approach to organizational sucess
>
> +46 (0)70 2622946
> www.gatewayc.com <http://www.gatewayc.com>
>
>

-- 
Harold Shinsato
harold at shinsato.com <mailto:harold at shinsato.com>
http://shinsato.com
twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
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