[OSList] Ten Weeks in Open Space

[Harrison Owen]

               For some odd reasons, I  committed to “teaching” a course
which met once a week for 10 weeks. I think my hosts assumed I would do the
standard “Lecture/Discussion,”  but I had a different plan. Do it all in
Open Space. It has become an interesting experiment. 

               I have been involved in multiple, multi-day events, but the
days were always contiguous. What would happen, I wondered, if you did 10
Open Spaces, each an hour and a half, and separated by a week? I had little
question that something useful (rich learning, community, etc) might occur
in the first session – but would it continue, build, attenuate? The question
is neither idle or purely academic, and could point in the direction of
enhancing extended, formal learning environments. 

               My host was a university and my experience to date has been
that no matter how fiercely universities pursue “advanced learning
environments/approaches,” they are terrified of Open Space.  Those may not
be the words the academics of my acquaintance would be comfortable with –
but those words do seem to fairly describe the behavior. Open Space is
occasionally allowed as an “experiment” – with the full and certain
knowledge that it could not possibly “work.” I have also witnessed massive
and sustained efforts devoted to the eradication of Open Space in those rare
instances when it seemed to have taken root.

               Why these attitudes exist, I do not know (but I do have some
suspicions) – however the opportunity to test the academic environment was
irresistible. Certainly the statistical significance of my experiment is
negligible. There is an effective N of 1
 all the way around. One class, one
university, one time. The participants are all senior citizens, and the
course content perhaps bizarre: Death, Dying and Life.

               We are now three quarters of the way through. Prudence would
dictate waiting for the end and a follow up with post-tests. However the
trends are pretty clear and academic purity was never my strong point.
Besides if the definitive word is not written others (that could be you!)
might do a replication, and that would be wonderful! For the record, I did
everything “by the book” – including post-its, masking tape, Issues of
concern stuck to the wall. In the first session we posted issues to be
addressed over the next 10 weeks, with the clear understanding that
additions and changes could be made at any point along the way.

               The first session happened just like usual – no surprise. We
took about half an hour to create the agenda leaving one hour for the first
groups, of which there were four. Reports were generated over the next week,
emailed back to me – and then combined and resent.

               One week later everybody returned (16) and the next round of
groups occurred (I forget how many) without prodding or assistance. In fact
I left to get some coffee. When an hour had expired, all returned for a
brief Closing Circle, actually sort of square, as it seems that circles are
a step too far for the university J I thought we might be getting somewhere
when one of the participants said the whole thing was really odd. “We were
talking about Death and Grief
 and people were laughing.”

               This past week I received an email from the university
official saying that she wished to “visit the class, possibly for 15
minutes.” I responded that she was certainly welcome, but that I was unsure
what, if anything, she might see or hear. The room we had been assigned was
rather small and definitely noisy with multiple groups conversing. It took
the participants virtually no time at all to discover a number of small
“conversation nooks,” furnished and private, located all over the building.
Of course, during class hours everybody else was in class – except for our
participants. They were everywhere and kept moving. I suggested that the
official might do better to come for the whole time (1 ½ hours) so she would
at least know where to start. I also told her that she would be treated just
like all participants – no special handling or introduction.  I knew she
would make her way and the people would take care of her – as they did for
everybody else.

               When the session was over, everybody came back to the “home
room.” We never did have a “sit down” closing circle because the place was
just buzzing and people had busses to catch. Our official visitor had this
bemused smile and was now totally enveloped by the group. I never did
formally meet her, actually I’m not even sure exactly what she looks like.
But I did receive an email from her when I got home saying that something
quite strange must be happening. Apparently all of the other classes in her
program area were losing participants, sometimes by half. She was so
impressed that our full compliment arrived promptly at the appointed hour,
and everybody was there at the end. I confess I smiled too, always believing
the Law of Two Feet is the most powerful test for, and indicator of,
Customer/participant Satisfaction. One might suspect we were hitting pretty
close to 100%. 24 hours later I got another email asking if I could do
mini-courses in the summer and a full repeat in the Fall. I thanked her for
the honor and declined – saying that I only did it once for any group.
However there were now 16 people who could do as well or better. We’ll see.
In any event it is an experiment you can try, and I wish you as much fun as
I have had.

               The points of significance for me were several. First, the
topic (Death, dying and Life) which is taboo in many circles and difficult
in most – was freely and openly explored by people for whom it was all
pretty much virgin territory. Of course as senior citizens, that territory
was getting smaller and smaller (bigger and bigger?). Secondly, I was struck
by the evolving feeling of warmth and connection. I can’t imagine how you
would measure that, but even my faculty visitor couldn’t escape. Lastly, and
certainly least provable, was a sense expressed by several and certainly me

 that 10 discreet weeks evolved into one connected open space. Sometime of
greater intensity, sometimes less 
 but always connected.

               For our last gathering I have invited everybody to my house
to enjoy a rich performance of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis done by the
Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, followed by lunch at a small country
restaurant down the road. I call it my Office. Gathering for a requiem mass
might seem rather ghoulish, but as I said when making the invitation, “No
dead person has ever listened to a requiem.” They are all written for the
living and in their own way are a celebration of life. This was explicitly
true of the Brahms German Requiem – and frankly the 9th Symphony (Ode to
Joy) has nothing on the mass – I think. Try it. It’s amazing. 

 

Harrison

                 

 

 

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