[OSList] study circles

Wed Oct 2 10:35:37 PDT 2013

Harold:

“Study Circles” as a specific methodology were pioneered in the US in the
1990s by the “Study Circles Resource Center” which then renamed itself
“Everyday Democracy” and continues its work to this day. Here is their
resource center, which includes pdfs on basic Study Circle process and much
more: http://www.everyday-democracy.org/en/HowTo.aspx

Regards,

Ben

Ben Roberts

The Conversation Collaborative

www. ConversationCollaborative.com
<http://www.conversationcollaborative.com/>    

(203) 426-1039

Skype: benjamin_j_roberts

tagxedo 1

From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Harold Shinsato
Sent: Wednesday, October 02, 2013 12:30 PM
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Subject: Re: [OSList] study circles

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

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

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