CRPFrev

=Collaborative Reflection & Prospect Formation= //revised in response to the experience and evaluations// A workshop on where have we come from in the area of critical & creative thinking and where could we be going—Making sense together of our personal histories and forming our future prospects in relation to changing contexts

Date: xx xx, with some participants from a distance over google hangout.
 * Venue**

[8 was a good number]
 * Participants**

0. Note that this page can be accessed by the shortlink http://bit.ly/CRPF8Jul and printed out via http://cct.wikispaces.com/CRPFrev?f=print 1. Read the scene-setting material below (Definitions, Goals, Ground Rules, Background) 2. Sign concerning the audio recording and subsequent transcripts. Bring it to the workshop or scan and email it. 3. Read for Phase A of workshop. 4. Bring laptop (if available) for online inquiry and preparation of work-in-progress presentation (Phases B and C)
 * Preparation**

Reflection or reflective practice is often discussed in close relation to problem-solving, but here it is viewed in relation to "the creation of meaning from past or current events that serves as a guide for future behavior." In that frame, "[r]eflection is the process of stepping back from an experience to ponder, carefully and persistently, its meaning to the self..." (The quotes are from the much-cited article of Daudelin 1996, who goes on to emphasize problem-solving, not simply meaning-making.) Although "refractive practice" highlights the desired sense of reflection distinct from problem-solving (Taylor 2012), the neologism is not used here.
 * Definitions**

//(in decreasing priority)//
 * Goals**
 * 1) Participants reflect on where have each of us has come from in the area of critical and creative thinking and on where we would like to be going (i.e., our "prospect" for new directions to open up).
 * 2) Reflections connect, in constructive ways, different aspects of the issue at hand (=where have we come from and where could we be going in the area of critical & creative thinking) and relate them to changes in the contexts for our work and lives. "Aspects" could be theoretical, pedagogical, practical, political, and personal.
 * 3) Organizers collect, edit, and make available these reflections as a print-on-demand text for others to reflect on as a stimulus in opening up new directions in the area of critical & creative thinking—The readers can be mentored indirectly by the reflections shared by the participants.
 * 4) Participants' experience of the learning, interacting, sharing, and connecting that happens during the workshop is very positive, moving them to build further on the tools and processes of the workshop, on connections made with other participants, and on their contributions to the issue at hand. In particular, participants are invited to undertake after the workshop a regular "plus-delta" reflection process, at a frequency set by each participant, using an individually customized and evolving template.
 * 5) Organizers and participants practice a workshop model that can be repeated, evolve in response to evaluations and the record of post-workshop reflection, and be adopted or adapted by participants.


 * Ground rules**
 * be supportive of, and sensitive to, all group members (including ourselves) in our exploration
 * preserve the reputation of our colleagues (both present and absent)
 * any changes proposed in the current workshop or for future workshops are made by a) building on understanding of what has been built before; and b) taking stock of outcomes so that this building can continue.

Starting in the late 1980s I have convened workshops in which researchers reflect on their own situation with a view to making changes in the direction of their research. At the end of the very first such workshop an advanced graduate student said: "Now it is impossible to simply continue along previous lines." Towards the end of a 1/2 day workshop with epidemiologists in 2011, a senior researcher remarked: “I made the wrong turn 30 years ago.” (In brief, he had designed studies to use the newest technologies rather than to understand the larger context in which health issues rise and decline.) Together these remarks—and what they say about the workshop experience—encourages me to find ways to help researchers (and myself) find ways to reduce our vulnerability to staying too long with our chosen path of research and/or engagement. In particular, I hope to learn from running this workshop in the area of critical & creative thinking (goal #5) so I can make a strong funding proposal centered on equivalent workshops for Collaborative Reflection & Prospect Formation among epidemiologists. Why emphasize less-focussed reflection instead of identifying problems in a field and forming responses that might warrant practitioners moving in a new direction? My premises are that a) no one-day workshop of practitioners can come together around an agreed-on definition of the problem, at least not under my direction, b) less-focussed reflection, once it becomes a habit, can prepare the ground for insights about how to proceed (as the habit of meditation does), and, c) indeed, the problem focus often squelches the positive, opening-up experience of reflection that leads a person to make a habit of reflective practice. However, in light of goal #5, these premises may be revised. A final story, from 2000, at a workshop on defining a new NSF research agenda on interdisciplinary environmental science. Each session involved break-out groups each with the same instructions for some task, followed by a report-back plenary. During a plenary on the second day, someone turned around and caught my eye and ear: "I know why this group is reporting this way--You were in it!" He had been in a previous breakout group(s) with me and seen me divert it from the immediate task and instead take time, for example, to first listen to each other describe our backgrounds in interdisciplinary environmental science. Obviously it made a detectable difference for, yes, I had been in the breakout group that was then reporting back.
 * Background, from workshop organizer, Peter Taylor**

9:00 Gather 9:15, PHASE A Welcome & reminder of workshop goals 1 & 2 Guided freewriting on "where I have come from in the area of critical and creative thinking and on where I would like to be going" Introduction to worksheet for possible personal guidelines for making it harder to continue along previous lines versus staying too long in a chosen path of research and/or engagement. Pair-share of initial thoughts about guidelines Ground rules
 * Program (8 hours)**

9:35 Autobiographical introductions (15 minutes each [or less if more than 8 participants]) -- "How I was drawn into the area of critical and creative thinking—what experiences paved the way and what transitions have followed since" weaving in, where appropriate, comments on "How the pre-circulated paper stimulates my own thinking about on transitions and developments for me in the area of critical and creative thinking." After each introduction, make notes on guidelines worksheet (3 minutes each). > 10-minute break half way through > ending with pair share on a) one thing you didn't mention and b) possible guidelines, then go-around sharing one possible guideline

12:15, PHASE B Reminder of goal 3 Lunch (supplied by organizer) Preparation for Work-in-progress presentation on a line of inquiry (perhaps reflective inquiry) that you would like to pursue for yourself re: how people in area of critical & creative thinking take stock of past and how they use this in opening up new directions > Visual aid for W-I-P presentation might be a single page of bullet points saved as a pdf (example: http://ptaylor.wikispaces.umb.edu/CEApr14) or handwritten and scanned. > Further note-making on possible guidelines > 2:00, PHASE C 5-minute [|Work-in-progress presentations], with [|Plus-Delta] feedback on handwritten sheets (online participants, use http://bit.ly/PlusDelta) [visual aids, audio recording, and plus-deltas posted here afterwards]

3:30, PHASE D Reminder of goal 4, in addition to 1-3. Preparation of six guidelines in legible form that will form each person's initial template for post-workshop reflection [Sheets to be scanned and posted to wikipages prepared for each of you, http://cct.wikispaces.com/-/RPF/RPF/YourlastnameInitial These can be accessed and edited using username and password supplied to participants]

3:50 Break (during which plus-deltas and guideline worksheets are scanned and returned to participants)

4:10, PHASE E Reminder of goal 5, in addition to 1-4 [|Dialogue hour]: Review the workshop as a whole -- What might we take from the experience and develop? ending with handwritten [|Critical Incident Questionnaire] (for online participants, use http://bit.ly/1swx7sl) & spoken Plus-Delta closing circle 5:10 [CIQ sheets scanned and returned to participants] 5:15 End


 * Follow-up**
 * Posting of scanned materials as links to this wikipage
 * Editing of transcript so it can be made publicly available in evolving editions of a Print-on-demand book
 * Post-workshop reflection using individually customized and evolving template at http://cct.wikispaces.com/-/RPF/RPF/YourlastnameInitial [email organizer if you forget the username and password]
 * Possible scheduling of Collaborative Explorations related to themes that emerge

Daudelin, M. W. (1996). "Learning from experience through reflection." Organizational Dynamics 24(3): 36-49. Taylor, P. J. (2012). "From reflective to redirective to refractive practice." Retrieved 9 June 2104, from http://wp.me/p1gwfa-sr
 * References**