Here it is, one day after the closing of the Association for Challenge Course Technology's 11th Annual Challenge Course Conference. I am feeling very energized by an exciting and fulfilling conference. The highlight for me was the opportunity to share the room for an hour and a half with 48 focused, creative, and enthusiastic conference participants who attended the workshop I offered on innovative processing techniques.
A turnout of almost fifty people early on a Sunday morning, the last day of the conference, was a pleasant surprise. Facilitators came to learn and share ideas for making their practice more beneficial to participants. It became a brainstorming session and a forum for facilitators to share ideas. This kind of response reaffirmed my belief that facilitators want more opportunities to have dialogue about facilitation, and it became the inspiration to start a new column in Parallel Lines devoted to providing a forum for challenge course facilitators to share tools and tricks of the trade. I will start this first installation by sharing the processing tools and facilitation ideas that were shared in our workshop.
Why Should We Process?
The group spent some time discussing the value of processing the experience to increase the quality of participants' experiences and relevancy to real life. We discussed the philosophy of John Dewey, specifically the relationship of action and reflection and the belief that in order to truly learn something from an experience, participants must take part in some kind of reflection on their learning. Though processing is one of the most important skills in facilitation, it is often the most challenging one for facilitators to initiate. To learn more about this subject, read the book, Processing the Experience, Second Edition, by John Luckner and Reldan Nadler, published by Kendall Hunt Publishers, Dubuque, Iowa.
Participant-Directed Processing
Most of the activities we discussed in our workshop are Participant-Directed Methods and alternative techniques of processing. Participant Directed Processing is a term coined by the Institute for Experiential Education, creators of the Chiji Cards© and other processing tools. Participants decide what meaning to attach to the activity. There can be some guidance from the facilitator, but these activities allow spontaneity of individual interpretation of the experience. Many participant-directed methods involve the use of props or other symbolic representations of the experience that provide a tangible object upon which participants can attach their thoughts. The strength of these types of activities is that they are not threatening to participants and facilitators, and these activities leave the opportunities for creative and meaningful interpretation of an experience wide open.
Developing Our Style
We talked about the importance of regularly evaluating our own facilitation style, staying open to new ideas, and being reflective in thinking about why we are choosing the facilitation and processing methods we use. I gave participants a copy of a quiz, developed by The Institute for Experiential Education, which is used to help facilitators analyze their processing style and think about the theory behind their methods.
Activities
I brought activities to share, and members of the group expanded on them and shared more innovative ideas they have used successfully. Here are a few:
Twists on the Traditional
First we shared twists on the traditional sharing circle. Try using an activity that is traditionally used as an icebreaker as a debriefing activity. A great example of this is Concentric Circles. Typically, a group forms both an outer circle and an inner circle, and in order to introduce each other, partners switch and answer various get-to-know-you questions. A twist on this ice-breaking activity is to use it after an activity to discuss what happened and how it is relevant to real life, or to review a specific lesson.
We also discussed the benefits of the group actually processing in partners or triads apart from the facilitators. Both the Concentric Circles activity and a discussion on using dyads and triads can be found in the Luckner and Nadler book previously mentioned.
Processing Props and Products
Our group participated in using props, such as the Chiji Processing Cards© developed by Buzz Bocher, Steve Simpson, and Dan Miller at the Institute for Experiential Education in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Chiji is a Chinese word that means "turning point" or "significant moment." The Chiji Cards© use metaphors or symbols to represent participants' reactions to an experience. These cards are useful as introductory activities, for debriefing a specific experience, for closure, or even as tools to help participants resolve conflict. These cards are available through the Institute for Experiential Education at 608-784-0789 or at www.chiji.com.
Regular playing cards, postcards, and bandanas can also be used in a similar way. To learn more about these activities, read the new book, Reflective Learning: Theory and Practice by Deborah Sugerman et al. and published by Kendall Hunt Publishers.
Michelle Cummings of Training Wheels shared her Body Part Debrief© activity, another great processing tool that uses miniature body parts, such as a hand, eye, ear, brain, heart, and stomach as symbolic representations of what they experienced. To contact Michelle about this processing tool, call 303-926-4154 or by e-mail at
The Solo Experience and Journalling
Group members shared their success in using the solo experience in long-term and short-term group programs as time for reflecting on the experience. The solo experience is a traditional part of multi-day Outward Bound programming. The participant goes off alone with limited food and supplies and no reading material, other than the journal, to reflect upon the experience. Our group brainstormed and shared ways this idea could be brought into shorter programs. One facilitator integrated the solo experience into shorter, overnight programs by setting up solo fire-watching rotation. Another facilitator shared that she spreads the group around a lake to sit alone to reflect during the time between dusk and dark. Facilitators suggested that on a one-day challenge course program, an effective solo is to allow the participants to take a 15 or 20-minute break away from the group.
The other ideas we discussed involved using artwork, group skits, and sculptures as processing tools. We discussed the idea of using plant seeds as a metaphor for change, and the possibilities of using audio and video taping as a processing tool.
We had many more ideas to share, but our time ran short. Hopefully this column can be a place to continue the dialogue on innovative facilitation tools.
Anyone interested in contributing ideas, articles or suggestions please e-mail
jenniferstanchfield@hotmail.com
