[OSList] study circles

Thu Oct 3 04:08:01 PDT 2013

  Thank you Ben, there are many good sites out there, I also found a report in English from Linköping University in Sweden with a bibliography with lots of resources at http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:328351/FULLTEXT01.pdf. And a quite short guide for the facilitator at  http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/teach/adult_reading_scg_tips.pdf

  If I have one advice it would be to keep it as simple as possible. When you are familiar with OST, facilitating a study circle is not difficult, you can easily use the four principles and the law of two feet. You can even use a talking object that conducts the dialogue instead of yourself doing so.

  Eiwor

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ben Roberts 
  To: 'World wide Open Space Technology email list' 
  Sent: Wednesday, October 02, 2013 7:35 PM
  Subject: Re: [OSList] study circles

  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   

  (203) 426-1039

  Skype: benjamin_j_roberts

  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

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