CRPF

=Collaborative Reflection & Prospect Formation= 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: Tuesday July 8, 9.15am-5.15pm UMass Boston (W-2-157), with some participants from a distance over google hangout.
 * Venue**

Lizzie Casanave, David Martin, Arthur Millman, David Sable, Carol Sharicz, Jeremy Szteiter, Peter Taylor, Luanne Witkowski
 * Participants**

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. (See revised version.)


 * 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 and solving problems in a field 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 reporting back.
 * Background, from workshop organizer, Peter Taylor**

Sign concerning the audio recording and subsequent transcripts. Read Join this wiki, which will require you to join www.wikispaces.com if you are not already a member. Make a note of your username and password. //If you are comfortable editing wikis,// create your own post-workshop reflection template following instructions at http://cct.wikispaces.com/-/RPF/RPF/YourlastnameInitial Bring laptop if available (for online submission of feedback at various points and for preparation of work-in-progress presentations)
 * Preparation**

9:00 Gather 9:15 Welcome & getting present (guided freewriting and pair-share of hopes) Recap (brief) of workshop goals and ground rules Introduction to your individually customized and evolving template for post-workshop reflection based on http://cct.wikispaces.com/-/RPF/RPF/YourlastnameInitial 9:35 Autobiographical introductions -- "How I was drawn into the area of critical and creative thinking—what experiences paved the way and what transitions have followed since" (5 minutes each), with [|Connections, questions, and extensions] recorded each time. Notes made on possible guidelines for making it harder to continue along previous lines versus staying too long in a chosen path of research and/or engagement. (3 minutes each) > ending with pair share on a) one thing you didn't mention and b) possible guidelines 11:15 Break 11:35 Response (5 minutes each) to shared reading (priming paper on reflective practice in area of critical & creative thinking-- of http://www.faculty.umb.edu/pjt/journey.html and http://www.faculty.umb.edu/pjt/TakingYourselfSeriouslyTLRP.html). Response = "How does the paper intersect with or stimulate my own thinking about on transitions and developments for me in the area of critical and creative thinking." > Author joins in only after all the responses 12:55 Lunch (supplied by organizer) & Preparation time for Work-in-progress presentation on a line of inquiry (perhaps reflective inquiry) that you would like to pursue 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) > Further notes on possible guidelines, transferred, with help if asked for, into your post-workshop reflection template. 2:25 5-minute [|Work-in-progress presentations], with [|Plus-Delta] feedback [|LC], JS, [|PT]
 * Program (8 hours)**

3:55 Break 4:15 [|Dialogue hour]: Review the workshop as a whole -- What might we take from the experience and develop? ending with [|Critical Incident Questionnaire] & [|Plus-Delta] closing circle 5:15 End


 * Follow-up**
 * Posting of [|Critical Incident Questionnaire] & [|Plus-Delta] closing circle on this wiki
 * See revised version of the workshop based on experience and evaluations of this pilot version.
 * 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
 * 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**