Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Facilitation is Not About Copying Others

It’s About Understanding the Science and Designing the Right Process
One major misgiving I have about facilitation in Singapore is that many of our facilitators are using processes of facilitation without actually gaining an understanding of the science that goes behind it. Without this grounding, many of our facilitators are copying processes instead of designing them. When we adapt processes without the help of the underpinning knowledge, our workshops will regularly need massive intervention by the facilitators to turn it around. This makes the workshops difficult to run and replicate. I have seen the worst of the lot; facilitated sessions that had become a farce that produced no real results and outcomes because the facilitators were too busy adjusting the processes that had failed to work instead of listening to the conversation and facilitating the interaction.
It is my hope that in sharing the following science of learning and motivation, it helps to improve the knowledge and confidence of facilitators in Singapore so that they could move away from copying processes to designing what is right for their target audience.
Gagne's Conditions of Learning and Nine Events of Instruction


In his book ‘Conditions of Learning’, which was first published in 1965, Robert Gagne had identified nine mental conditions for learning.
These conditions were derived from the Information Processing Model, which discusses about how information from the outside world interacts with the sensory registers of the human brain to build the different types of memory. From these mental conditions for learning, Gagne created a corresponding nine-step process called the ‘Events of Instruction’ to instrument the flow of information to encourage effective learning.

Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction provides the Facilitator the science for identifying a series of opportunities to design and develop the most appropriate set of actions and interventions to enable, encourage and sustain learning.

Keller's ARCS Model for Motivation

Motivation is rarely recognized as an important element in adult learning. It is always assumed that participants are excited to learn because of the information that is presented to them is useful to them. This is far from the truth. The responsibility to create the motivation to learn should be bore by the facilitator. Without this desire, retention is unlikely to happen amongst the participants and learning is just about strategizing to ‘survive’ the facilitated event and being seen to be participating.

Facilitators must strive to create a deeper level of motivation in the participants to help them gain insights at the facilitated session and transfer these back to the workplace as new behaviors.

The John Keller’s ARCS model was created as a problem solving methodology that helps facilitators identify, design and introduce motivational tactics at the most appropriate moments of a facilitated session to stimulate and sustain the participant’s motivation to learn. There are two parts in this model. The first is a set of categories representing the components of motivation. ‘ARCS’ is the acronym for four such components of ‘Attention’, ‘Relevance’, ‘Confidence’, and ‘Satisfaction’. These categories are the result of a synthesis of the research on human motivation. The second part of the model is a systematic design process that profiles the motivational characteristics of participants in a given learning environment and then design enhancements for the session that are appropriate in keeping the participants involved.

Maping Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction to Keller's ARCS Model for Motivation

Keller’s ARCS Model for Motivation is not intended to stand apart as a separate system for learning. It has been incorporated into Gagne's Events of Instruction to form a more comprehensive framework for designing facilitated sessions. The table on the left shows this mapping.
It is important to recall at this juncture that Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction discusses about how information gets into the different memories in the brain while Keller’s ARCS Model for Motivation talks about how individuals could be motivated to learn.

Therefore, when participants are motivated to learn, their sensory registers are more active and sensitive to the incoming information, and there is a greater tendency to keep this information stored in the long term memory.

Using these two sciences of learning, the design of a facilitated session could be more educated and scientific rather than intuitive and based on rules of thumb. The table in this link is a presentation of the various opportunities for action and application of Gagne and Keller’s model in facilitation. Feel free to download this for your personal use.

It is my hope that this article will help my fellow facilitators become aware that there is a science behind facilitation. Once you gotten it, sky is the limit.

Good luck.

This article was written by Anthony Mok on 27 Oct 2009

Copyright 2009 Anthony Mok. All Rights Reserved.


Saturday, October 24, 2009

32nd Facilitators Forum

Date: 21 Nov 09, Saturday
Time: 8:30 am – 1:00 pm
Place: Focus Conference Room, #15-08, Sim Lim TOWERS, 10 Jalan Besar, Singapore 208787 (This is NOT Sim Lim Square!)

For the exact location, please checkout the map of the venue. For directions to the venue via public transport, please check this link. And if you are driving, you can plan your route by using this.

Rates
(Normal registration ends 1 week before forum date)
Full-time tertiary students S$5.00
Others : S$10

Rates
(After Registration Deadline)
Full-time tertiary students : S$15
Others : S$15

Fee is payable at the door. Once registered, the forum fee would be payable regardless of actual attendance due to our venue booking & catering commitment. Cancellation or withdrawal is not permitted. We welcome replacement.

Agenda

8:30 am - Arrivals & Registration
9:00 am – Session 1: Propless Games
10:30 am – Tea Time!
11:00 am – Session 2: Wellness through Prevention
12:30 pm - Special Announcements
12:40 pm - Closing Circle
1:00pm - End of Session

About Session 1:

As a follow-up to last year's successful Propless Games Forum, game specialist Allan Lee is following up with a series of Prop-Less Games to share with Facilitators and Practitioners. Based on his new book Prop-Less Games, Allan Lee will presenting a number of ice-breakers, energisers, problem-solving and communication games for you to use in all occasions.

These games utilise minimum and simple props and are easy to find and prepare. If you need activities to frontload the audience about mindset and perception, or need some ideas to fill those minutes while waiting for the last participants to arrive, then come down to the forum for a hands-on and fun-filled session that will spice up and add zest to your training sessions.

Participants will:

• Learn new games that utilise only minimum and simple props.
• Experience the actual games.

Session 1 Facilitator:

Mr Allan Lee is has been involved in the training and development related profession for the past 17 years. His other industry experiences include human resource management, organisational development, finance, marketing and business development. As a trainer, he has conducted and facilitated hundreds of courses and programmes. He is also currently an Associate Academic with the Republic Polytechnic for the Diploma in Outdoor and Adventure Learning. Allan Lee is the author of Propless Games® and Prop-Less GamesTM resource books for Facilitators and Trainers. He has also developed a strategy board game called Gold Rush® for large group participation. His passion lies in designing games to make learning experiential and enjoyable.

About Session 2:

Wellness and Health are important things to have in our daily life. We all know we want to be healthy. However, how many of us know how to get here? Come and find out more about the "Prevention through Wellness" mode and how to apply itl!!!

Participants will:

• Learn about "Prevention through Wellness" Model
• Apply "Prevention through Wellness" Model

Session 2 Facilitator:

Mr Bryan Chew is Certified in Digital Pulsewave Technology and has 11 years of experience in Nutritional Therapy. His training and speaking engagements at government and private organizations include National Stroke Association, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Ministry of Health in Indonesia and Kuala Lumpur , Parklane Medical Centre, Singapore and even at HospiMedica Asia 2006

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Dear Facilitators in Singapore,

Flipside is running a 1-day forum for Enterprise Architects on 12th November.

This is a new form of conferencing that is more interactive and learner-centric. More details on this event could be found at
http://www.flip-side.biz/EAprog.htm.

Flipside is on a lookout for a facilitator who could run some interactive sessions for them.

If you think you are suitable for this assignment, please contact Rowena at rmorais@flip-side.biz for more assistance.

Upcoming Workshops on Facilitation

There are four upcoming facilitation workshops that may help you in your professional and personal development learning journey. These are good opportunities for you to pick up useful and applicable facilitation skills and techniques.

Foundational Facilitation Workshop
Date : 21 Oct 09 (Wed) to 23 Oct 09 (Fri)
Time: 8.30am - 5.30pm
Venue: YWCA Fort Canning Lodge

Appreciative Inquiry – Applications At Work
Date : 29 Oct 09 (Thu) & 30 Oct 09 (Fri)
Time: 8.30am - 5.30pm
Venue: YWCA Fort Canning Lodge

Foundational Facilitation Workshop
Date : 11 Nov 09 (Wed) to 13 Nov 09 (Fri)
Time: 8.30am - 5.30pm
Venue: YWCA Fort Canning Lodge

Don't Just Do Something, Stand There! An Orientation To Facilitating Meetings That Matter
Date: 4 Nov 09 (Wed)
Time: 8.30am - 5.30pm
Venue: Orchid Country Club

Register on line @ http://www.fns.sg/