Based on our book, Data-Driven Dialogue: A Facilitator’s Guide to Collaborative Inquiry, this advanced seminar expands on and extends skills for applying the Collaborative Learning Cycle that is introduced in the foundation seminar. This session increases facilitation skills for helping groups grapple with the assumptions that are guiding current practices and producing current results. In addition, we will explore tools and strategies for developing shared theories of causation to support productive planning processes.
Topics include:
Selecting and using data to focus collaborative inquiry
Problem framing determines the choice of data and how it is displayed. You will deepen your knowledge and skills for supporting groups in moving from anecdote to data-based exploration. Learning to dig for root causes of persistent problems empowers groups by helping them to search for and engage with the factors that they can most influence. Expand your repertoire of strategies for interpreting, analyzing, and applying quantitative and qualitative data to the work of school improvement.
Applying The Collaborative Learning Cycle
Refine your skills for facilitating The Collaborative Learning Cycle. This three-phase model for guiding data-driven dialogue and collaborative inquiry is an essential protocol for organizing collective inquiry. Learn how to anticipate sticking points when facilitating data-based inquiry as groups: activate prior knowledge by surfacing predictions and underlying assumptions before examining data sets; explore and discover patterns, trends, and surprises in data displays; and organize and integrate learning by developing theories of causation and theories of action as foundations for productive school improvement planning.
Refining a repertoire of facilitation tools
Extend and enhance your personal toolkit for facilitating productive group learning, planning, and problem solving. Skillful facilitation requires a rich repertoire of nonverbal and verbal tools. These tools need to be over-learned and automatized to free mental energy for monitoring and responding to group member needs and maintaining the flow of the session. We will isolate skills and structure practice opportunities in the context of data-based explorations.