“I have had the good fortune to watch both David and Tina facilitate learning groups and have learned from the power of their modeling. . . . I am delighted that they have gathered their wisdom here in this volume to share with others eager to embark on the journey and experience the joys of facilitating learning with colleagues.” —From the Foreword by Ron Ritchhart, senior research associate, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education One of the most important shifts in schools in the last two decades has been the growing emphasis on collaboration among teachers and other educators. Whether you are a teacher facilitating a group for the first time or an experienced facilitator seeking to further develop your skills, this book is for you. Organized to be used as both an exploration of the role of facilitating and as a handbook of strategies, this resource covers a range of contexts that include faculty meetings, department meetings, professional learning communities, grade-level teams, and inquiry groups. This book is a perfect companion to the authors’ bestseller, The Facilitator’s Book of Questions, which focuses on the skills needed to facilitate protocols or structured conversations. Facilitating for Learning extends the scope of that work by also examining the facilitator’s responsibilities for supporting a group’s learning during all parts of a meeting, between meetings, and within the larger school context and culture. It is an essential resource for teachers, administrators, coaches, and teacher educators. Book Features: Contrasts facilitating for learning with other professional development roles, including staff development, coaching, and supervision.Outlines the basic responsibilities and tasks of facilitating teacher learning groups, including “moves” the facilitator might employ.Considers challenges related to school culture and leadership, group interactions, and time constraints.Provides resources to help facilitators develop their skills, including tools and references to other works on facilitation.

This book tackles the latest challenges in education in the business sector, outlining how the students of the future must be taught to adapt to a highly fluid business environment in which their ability to acquire new skills and collaborate with others is more important than possessing facts. Taking its cue from the growing body of theory advocating multi-faceted and often multilingual education, the book focuses on ‘competences’ and collaborative, team-oriented, project-based learning. Beginning with a set of studies on the differences in individual learning and ways of supporting students, the volume moves on to a collection of papers on learning at the level of the group, which include material on team learning, and the sharing of knowledge in problem-based learning. The editors view these factors in education as an inevitable feature of pedagogy, reflecting the fact that knowledge, and its acquisition, is increasingly collaborative in our working lives, and especially in business. A final section applies the principles developed in the first two parts at an organizational level, evaluating the enormous implications these developments in our ideas about learning have for the educational institutions charged with teaching future generations. Combining research and theory with practical factors in business education and training, the volume provides wide-ranging perspectives on developing best practice in the sector.

This photocopiable resource provides trainers with over 40 exercises and activities designed to facilitate learning. A flexible framework allows teachers to incorporate specific learning elements relevant to their students' skills. Teacher's notes accompanying the text provide advice about the initial choice and subsequent use of each exercise. The notes also explain when certain types of activities are appropriate for equal opportunities training, interpersonal skills training, management training, assertiveness training and resource management training.

Action Learning is based on the simple idea that leaders and managers learn best by working together in a group, helping each other find solutions to real work problems through discussions. Facilitating Action Learning is a clear, concise and straightforward guide to this well-established leadership and management development technique. The role of the facilitator is to provide guidance in the action facilitation process. In this practical guide, Mike Pedler and Christine Abbott present a new threefold model of the facilitator's role - as initiator, set adviser and facilitator of organizational learning. Supported by many real life cases and practical examples, this superbly practical book shows you how - as a manager, business coach, trainer or facilitator - you can add to your repertoire of skills and abilities, and enhance your effectiveness as a leader and developer. Suitable as the course text for ILM Level 5 and 7 qualifications in Action Learning Facilitation. "A 'must read' book providing a very practical method and approach for all those interested and passionate about helping people help themselves, and in optimizing Action Learning." Dr Yury Boshyk, Chairman, The Global Executive Learning Network, and the Annual Global Forum on Executive Development and Business Driven Action Learning, Canada "This book best reflects my lived experience of integrating learning and change in a large complex organisation; reading it was like coming home!" Mandy Chivers, Assistant Chief Executive, Mersey Care NHS Trust, UK "This is a superb, well-crafted book. The balance it achieves between conveying the spirit of action learning while providing concrete and practical tools is exemplary." Bob Dick, independent scholar, Australia "With this book, Christine and Mike have brought a significant maturity to the field of action learning. This book will go some way in helping action learning advisors improve their craft. An important contribution." Professor Jeff Gold, Leeds Business School, UK "Pedler and Abbott have done a masterful job in presenting and analyzing the wide array of roles and responsibilities that one can undertake in facilitating action learning groups." Michael Marquardt, President, World Institute for Action Learning, USA "Pedler and Abbot pack lifetimes of experience into this book - which shine through in the depth, breadth, and practicality of its coverage. Reflective tools accompany the reader throughout to help practitioners develop their own thinking and practice of Action Learning. This is a must-have for both practitioner and scholar resource libraries!" Victoria J. Marsick, Professor, Columbia University, Teachers College, New York, USA "The authors have written a book that is engaging, inspiring and practical - a book to make you think also about learning relationships as constructionist practice; which they put forth as the correct approach and warn against action learning for power, influence and dominance." Paul Olson "This is an extremely significant contribution to understanding and developing practices in action learning. It will add value, provide direction and stimulate practitioners and academics in equal measure." Brian Milsom, University of Hull, UK

The authors give guidance and advice on how to facilitate the complex change interventions that are required to build learning into the system so that it makes a difference. They highlight the need for business leaders and development professionals to work together.

Who are going to be keenest to use what they've just learned; the people you told, or the people you helped work it out for themselves? Which change is going to deliver the fastest results; the one that was imposed or the one that you helped a team develop and agree for itself? Facilitation is an essential skill for learning professionals and managers who want to deliver lasting and productive results. As a facilitator you can maximise performance by tapping into the experience, potential and enthusiaism of an organisation's people. By empowering individuals and teams to take responsibility for their own learning and achievements you can dramatically increase their chances of success. Frances and Roland Bee discuss the role, skills and processes of group facilitation and show you how to: - refine core skills such as rapport building, active listening and effective questioning - design learning events that are really learner-centred - use practical techniques for getting groups started, generating ideas and solving problems - overcome concerns about loss of control - handle challenging situations such as lack of engagement, cynicism and anger. One of the most valuable people in any organisation is the one who can help others solve problems, change and develop. This book gives you the skills to become that facilitator.

This volume is designed to present a practical approach to designing and running workshops. It is meant to introduce novice facilitators as well as those with much experience to an integrated model of workshop design and development. Grounded in learning theory, this model is used to demonstrate how to design, facilitate, and direct workshops, as well as how to identify and improve existing skills. Practical, how-to sections assist readers in creating specific experiential activities designed to facilitate different types of learning. Readers also learn how to understand and attend to individual differences as well as to take all workshop participants through a universal cycle of learning. Workshops will be useful to anyone who facilitates workshops in higher education, adult education, business, health care, and other educational settings.

An exploration of a broad range of issues relating to facilitation. It investigates understandings of facilitation; ways of equipping and supporting staff in terrestrial and virtual contexts; and ways of designing problem-based curricula that enhance learning.

Facilitators exist wherever learning happens. Anyone who works in a community organization, a corporation, a government, or a healthcare environment can end up leading a workshop, running a course, or otherwise facilitating others’ learning. Facilitators can also be consultants or post-secondary instructors who have been hired to lead one course or more. However, many people haven’t been trained in how to facilitate learning effectively. Design to Engage is a “how to” book that will help you become an effective designer and facilitator of learning events. You will: • learn about facilitation roles and responsibilities; • discover what good learning experiences look like; • plan for and design effective learning events using practical, straightforward design strategies; • raise your awareness about how to create inclusive, comfortable environments. Along with specific recommendations on developing the skills and strategies necessary to be an effective facilitator, you’ll find priceless advice on creating participatory activities to keep learners involved, assessing participants’ learning, gathering feedback about learning experiences, and how to grow your facilitation practice. The more engaging and interactive you make your learning events, the more people will actually learn from them. Practical, accessible, and jam-packed with tools to support facilitators to create impactful learning experiences, Design to Engage is a revelation and an inspiration.