Faith Whiting

Hi Asif,

I must admit, I am new to Liberating Structures so I may not be able to answer this question - it's one I hope to explore though! From the heart (and not an academic reference), I would look for LS that incorporate story-telling, are non-competitive and offer equality of participation (including that of the facilitator), incorporate good listening practice, are orally-based, something that taps into broader thinking and allows for multiple connections to be made, something that can move slowly and give people time, something that draws out and values life experience. I'm not sure I'm articulating why these things feel more culturally-specific to First Nation learners (shouldn't we all want to incorporate these things in our activities?) I mean, yes - drawing from FN ways of knowing and being can benefit everyone in the classroom but why does it feel like we're not there yet? Is it more about the parameters around the activity and less about the activity? I'm not sure. At this point, I (wonderfully) have more questions than answers and only gut feelings and a bit of experience (filtered through my own world-view) as a starting point. Thanks for the prompt. Maybe we should re-visit this at the end of the week.

Hi Everyone, 

I am currently working to develop five courses in a new certificate program at Yukon College. These courses will be delivered in a blended distance format - with 1.5 hours of video-conferenced meeting time, and 1.5 hours of online interaction per week, over a term.

Big Question(s)

I wonder how I can enhance the learning experience for students by implementing Liberating Structures into both the video-conferenced and the online asynchronous parts of each course. 

The majority of the learners in the program will be First Nation citizens, working in rural First Nation communities, so I also wonder if there are certain Learning Structures that support a First Nation learning context and spirit more so than others.

Give and Take

I'm not sure I have much to give in terms of expertise around LS but I have been a Curriculum Developer and Instructor working with adult learners in the North for 13 years. Much of this time I have spent working with vulnerable adult learners, (who've generally had less-than wonderful education experiences throughout life), and First Nation learners. 

I'd love to walk away from this experience with some concrete examples of how LS can be implemented - it sounds like I just might!

I am also interested in this question Doug. It is a deep one! I agree with Asif that all classrooms develop their own cultural communities to some extent (if enough time and support is provided for this to happen). However, last term I taught a communication-focused course to a group that was a mix of international students hailing from India, the Philippines, China and Kenya, alongside local First Nation students from small communities. The cultural differences in the room brought so many interesting topics to light! In general, we talked a lot about the differences in communication styles among individualistic versus collectivist cultures, which I could see playing into LS. We had the benefit of creating a learning community through discussion and naming these differences (owing to course content), but I could certainly see how things could be tricky if an assumption was made that "one size fits all" was going to work with these activities across the board. 

I think about the cultural layer in classrooms often, as I am a non-Indigenous instructor who works with primarily First Nation students. I think it's really healthy to be aware of these things and explore these questions in an effort to increase the cultural competencies in ourselves and our classrooms. I'm glad you raised this question. I like this question.

I really like your question Asif. 

To me, it ignites inquiry around how/if LS could be used to bring concepts to a more personalized and meaningful level. In an adult-learning context, if LS could serve to truly connect learning to the personal lived experience (making it individually meaningful), would the "not-necessarily-so-liberating context" be somewhat altered? I'm not sure. Thank-you for pushing me to this place of thought.

I still don't really have a clear understanding of, or practice with LS, but I am looking forward to putting myself in the learner role and relating this new idea to my existing life experience. We'll see how it goes!

Oooh - I like this!

Thank-you for bringing this big idea to a tangible level for me. Project Management is such a big term that evokes big images for me but - yes, I've planned many birthday parties and dinners! I feel validated in this course and I've connected to it right away.

I like how concise the prompt is and I see so many opportunities to reflect on other aspects too like my plan, my budget, how I thought the guests perceived the event (and how did I know this), how I felt during and after the event, what my timeline was like, etc. You might get a long response from me on this one.. it will all be in the context of the 6-year old birthday party I just planned and executed. This will help me relate to the course on a personal level. 

..And even if I simply learn to put on a more successful child's birthday party in this course, I will personally be very happy - it's not easy, you know.