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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">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.<br>
<br>
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."<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Linda Rising wrote a paper of success with study groups published
in Bell Labs Technical Journal which can be downloaded at <a
href="http://web.lindarising.info/uploads/studygroups.pdf">http://web.lindarising.info/uploads/studygroups.pdf</a>.<br>
<br>
Joshua Kerievsky (also from the design patterns community) wrote a
paper about patterns for successful study groups that is quite
interesting: <a
href="http://www.inquisitivechap.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/khdraft.pdf">http://www.inquisitivechap.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/khdraft.pdf</a><br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Thank you!<br>
Harold<br>
<br>
On 10/1/13 5:50 AM, Eiwor Backelund wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:E8C490894C0A464B9D36DD2685BE3A8E@Eiwordator"
type="cite">
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2">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. </font></div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font
face="Calibri">Study circles – the Swedish version<!--?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /--><o:p></o:p></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font
face="Calibri">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. <o:p></o:p></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><o:p><font
face="Calibri"> </font></o:p></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font
face="Calibri">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.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><o:p><font
face="Calibri"> </font></o:p></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font
face="Calibri">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 </font></span><span
style="FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;
mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:
minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol;
mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings" lang="EN-US"><span
style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family:
Wingdings">J</span></span><span style="mso-ansi-language:
EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font face="Calibri">. The coffee break
makes everyone a butterfly for a while and allows the
sharing of other things, which also contribute to the
learning. <o:p></o:p></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><o:p><font
face="Calibri"> </font></o:p></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font
face="Calibri">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. <o:p></o:p></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font
face="Calibri">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. </font></span><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><o:p><font
face="Calibri"> </font></o:p></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"></span> </p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"></span> </p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font
face="Calibri">Good luck</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"></span><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font
face="Calibri">Eiwor</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"></span> </p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font
face="Calibri"><o:p>Gateway Creation Tools<br>
a holistic approach to organizational sucess</o:p></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font
face="Calibri"><o:p>+46 (0)70 2622946<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.gatewayc.com">www.gatewayc.com</a><br>
</o:p></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><o:p><font
face="Calibri"> </font></o:p></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><o:p><font
face="Calibri"> </font></o:p></span><br>
</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Harold Shinsato<br>
<a href="mailto:harold@shinsato.com">harold@shinsato.com</a><br>
<a href="http://shinsato.com">http://shinsato.com</a><br>
twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/hajush">@hajush</a></div>
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