Graphic Facilitation, what is it all about?

Tomorrow 35 colleagues will participate in the Centre’s first graphic facilitation workshop. To know what it all is about and to give you a visual taste we interviewed the facilitator, Nancy White.

1. What is visual facilitation all about?

 Graphic or visual facilitation is the intentional use of visual practices, including drawing, using pre-made visual artifacts and other forms, by an individual or by members of the group to support the group’s process. Some of the intentions behind visual facilitation include:

•using visuals as sense-making tools
•using the negotiability of images to think together when words (written/spoken) may block us
•the value of people creating a shared artifact of their work/learning/experience • the power of “making my mark” as an individual in a group
•using as many of our senses as is useful in a particular context

Mobile Learning for young entrepreneurs

The mobile learning story is continuously evolving at ITC-ILO and we are now ready to share the Mobile Learning Toolkit which will be used in the framework of the “Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB)” training package, currently activated in the Youth Entrepreneurship Facility in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

The toolkit mainly considers low-end mobiles rather than smartphones and relies on text based communication such as SMS to support learning, as it has been more popular in previous African mobile projects. Inspired by the MyCoop Mobile Learning Toolkit launched in 2011, the SIYB toolkit includes custom-made scenarios of use, instructional videos, downloadable step-by-step guides and a list of additional resources.

With adding a mobile component, SIYB trainers will be able to choose out of 14 different mobile methodologies and among a list of free tools to be used in order to apply the methods..

Compass, a navigational instrument for innovating learning and knowledge sharing

Last week we launched our new and enhanced COMPASS Toolkit. The Compass toolkit uses the metaphor of a navigational instrument to guide you through a repository of 60 participatory learning, training and knowledge sharing methodologies. The Compass toolkit orients you in the way you design learning, training and knowledge sharing activities. It does so by identifying 7 learning and training objectives:

– Focus on learning
– Participate and network
– Access and build knowledge
– Assess, reflect evaluate
– Inspire and generate ideas
– Problem solve and plan
– Map ideas and relationships

By clicking on one of the learning and training objectives, you will be directed to more detailed sub-objectives. If you click on the sub-objective that matches your learning, training and knowledge sharing needs the best, you will find an overview of possible relevant methodologies. The Compass toolkit provides you with detailed instructional fiches of all the methodologies. You have the possibility to print or download the instructional fiches of the 60 methodologies so you can use and distribute them in your learning and training activities.

We aim the instructional fiches to be as practical as possible. Therefore we illustrated each methodology by a case study of the application of the methodology in the context of the Turin Centre. The instructional fiches further provide you with some additional tips and suggestions of how to adapt the methodology to your specific learning and training needs.
The Compass is brought to you with the support of the Innovation Fund project on “Enhancing the Knowledge Sharing Capacity of the Centre”. With this toolkit, we aim to support all units of the Centre to embed knowledge sharing in their training and capacity development approaches, as well as in their internal working processes.

More mobile learning updates

Two weeks ago we launched our first institutional mobile learning toolkit http://mobile.itcilo.org/ . It’s the result of a collaborative work with colleagues who shared how mobile learning can add value to their existing learning and knowledge sharing projects. Mobile goes in this way beyond the usual ‘mobile’ phone, and explores fundamentally how we can make learning accessible ‘anytime‘ and ‘anywhere‘ beyond the physical boarders of a training room. The  toolkit will be updated on an annual base with new stories as the mobile learning story is an evolving one which internally started just some years ago. We hope it will inspire you in your own mobile learning projects.

A new massive and online open course on Mobile Learning is about to start, jointly organized by the Common Wealth of Learning and the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. You can register on the following website http://m4d.colfinder.org/

Finally from November on the Centre will start a new project on ‘mobile workplace learning’, together with the Open University of the Netherlands and the University of Turin, funded by the CRT Foundation. Stay connected, more mobile updates are coming.

Appreciative Inquiry

In the facilitation of strategic retreats or meetings we use often the “appreciative inquiry” technique to facilitate positive change within an organisation/team. With this blogpost we would like to provide you with some background materials that can help you in designing and implementing your own ‘appreciative inquiries’.

Appreciative inquiry is an excellent method of organizational development that has the potential to engage every stakeholder, every colleague, every member of the organization when it has to deal with a period of change, renewal or improved performance. It is very suitable for strategic planning, project planning, problem solving, stimulating innovation, enforcing positive forces in an organisation, team building, monitoring and evaluation. Everything is based on the assumption that every organization has something that works well, and therefore can be amplified or strengthened. What do we want more? What is good here?

The following steps of the 4D model can be used to create positive change:

Setting up a coaching programme

Almost two years ago our Center started to design and develop a coaching programme which aims to contribute to the transformation towards a knowledge based learning organization. After the initial pilot phase we thought it was useful to reflect back on our experience and interviewed Nat Clegg on the importance of coaching and the creation of a learning culture. 

Why is coaching important for a training institute as the ITC-ILO?

The ITC-ILO must be an organisation that has to be fluid and robust in today’s forming, reforming and demanding world arena to conclude good results within their teams and for others. With efficacy in mind, the only competitive advantage you have is your people, so investing in them and helping them be the best they can be gives your organisation an advantage.

With this in mind it is important that people who work and deliver for the Center have a point of contact with someone who can not only listen to their aspirations and tribulations but can help them contact their authentic self and in turn can discover how to further their external skills and approach with others.

The important factor here is that I believe people operate well when they function as a whole person, with clear intention and integrity.

What will you share at the Learning Link?

The upcoming third edition of the Learning Link will engage training development institutions in exploring the role they can play in the current development landscape. Based on the outcomes of Rio+20 and the debates around the post-2015 development agenda, the link will apply the concept of Sustainable Learning. In 2009, the Link explored ways to foment partnerships and enhance the use of technologies as mean to increase the impact and effectiveness of learning programmes. Participants identified common areas of activity and debated about real ways to harmonize and align their practices, based on the Berlin Statement on International Development Training. In 2011, the Link focused its attention to the completion of the MDGs, and thus representatives of learning institutions utilized the event to foster a community of practice among development training and learning initiatives. In 2013…

How can Learning and Training institutions play a better role in the current development landscape?

Interview: “Hosting Todd Harple, INTEL Experience Engineer at ITC-ILO”.

Todd Harple is an Experience Engineer and Strategist at Intel Corporation, and is currently on sabbatical at the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin. The Delta Unit commissioned Todd to support the implementation of three projects focusing on mobile learning, knowledge management and crowd-sourced funding, motivated by a desire to benefit from external expertise in user-centred design and to broaden our perspectives on learning and communications. In this interview, Todd discusses his three-month experience at the Centre.

20 hours to learn something new?

Liberating Structures

From 12-13 March 2013,  colleagues from all units of the International Training Centre of the ILO came together to strategize on how to best “deliver as one” in responding to the latest challenges and opportunities in the world of decent work and sustainable development. Using the knowledge sharing methodologies we regularly apply in designing training activities for partners and constituents, we engaged in substantive discussions about future directions of the Centre and proposed bold new topics for training activities to stay ahead of the curve. Working with consultants from “Liberating Structures,” we also enjoyed the opportunity to update and refresh our repertoire of knowledge sharing methodologies. Watch the video to learn more.

Haley Horan