WHY OUR CONFERENCE? SCHEDULE GUEST SPEAKERS OPEN SPACE TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOPS PECHA KUCHA ABOUT US CONTACT

Presented at and with assistance from the English Language Institute at

Open-Space Technology In keeping with our objective of encouraging peer-to-peer interaction, English Central’s Anti-Conference Conference will feature an Open Space Technology session. The name does not immediately illuminate what it is, but the extract below from www.openspaceworld.net certainly does. This session will allow participants to come together, share their knowledge, and explore the pressing issues faced in today’s Canadian EAP classrooms. Participants will explore the issues that matter to them, as decided on the day of the conference, rather than follow a pre-set agenda. Adrian Underhill, who has explored the use of Open Space Technology in the area of teacher training, will facilitate this session. NEW: Please read our OST Information Handouts so that you will be prepared for this exciting new session before it starts! Education and Open Space Technology By Harrison Owen, Founder of Open Space Alumni Circles It seems to be almost an article of faith among many educators that experience based, student centered education is to be preferred. It is not that students know everything, although some seem to think so, nor that experience is the only teacher, but it certainly gets people’s attention. If one is able to focus on a student’s passion, what they really care about, and do so in a way that intimately involves their own experience, the educational moment may be close at hand. Add to this a resource rich environment in which collaboration with peers and colleagues is almost inescapable and that special moment may well arrive. Doubtless there are many ways to effect the powerful alignment of personal passion, resources, experience and colleagues, but one of the simplest and most powerful is Open Space Technology. First developed in 1985 and subsequently used in excess of 100,000 times in 124 countries, OST enables groups of people gathered together about an issue of common concern to move from passive confusion to active problem solving in what may seem an impossibly short period of time. In a typical situation, only 15 minutes is required to prepare the group, and after that issues are identified, issue groups established, and active work begins. There is no prior preparation in terms of agenda setting or special training, and only a single facilitator/teacher is required who does essentially nothing in terms of intervention and instruction. The people/students do it all by themselves. The actual procedure itself is a model of simplicity. The group is invited to sit in a circle and then each individual is invited to identify any issue they feel to be worthy of discussion, which is then posted on a bulletin board. Matters of time and place of meeting are negotiated in a market place environment, and it is off to work. It is completely self-organizing and seems to work every time. While it is true that the vast majority of Open Space gatherings have taken place around issues of community, corporate and national concern with groups ranging in size from 5 to 2100, OST has also been used to great effect in educational environments at all levels. From elementary school to the graduate level, students have found Open Space to be an effective way to initiate and pursue group projects, deal with community issues, and even pursue life and career objectives. Please go to www.openspaceworld.net and www.openspaceworld.org to learn more.