Jane, a healthcare professional and story-teller
“I learned is to 'hold my ideas loosely', which means accepting my own idea as a valid one but always leaving the space open to take in the counterarguments.”
“I learned to give myself permission to be circular and come back to previous steps or thoughts, and I actually became more comfortable doing so.”
“I was able to get engaged in a project that I was able to actually use in work, which was extremely satisfying. The whole process encouraged me, and I felt very empowered as a change agent, which could be an exhilarating feeling.”
Michelle, a biologist-turned-web designer
“I really had not been used to thinking about my own thinking, so learning to do that also helped me to slow down and start to look away from the career path that I had been taking for granted.”
“Many of my colleagues... went to school to become web developers but [these courses] allowed me to believe that traditional classes are not always necessary to learn. [The] teachings, which included networking, self-study, research, meta-cognition, and enjoying the process (in an organized way), kept me believing that I could learn what was necessary to succeed on my own.”
Laura, a teacher
“Doing good research involves not just letting the information of others supersede your own, but thinking about your own understanding as lying at the top of past research, standing beyond it but also being supported by it.”
“I found that my experience in the courses helped me to accept feedback from other professionals. I am more comfortable with listening to why my own ideas might not work or need further evaluation. This even happens to the point where I find reasons now to seek out this kind of feedback.”
“I have become much more patient with people, recognizing more fully that people have their own timelines and that students need to have some freedom to say when they have had enough during a learning experience.”
“I now consider reflection and sharing an important part of evolution of a person in their learning. Reflection means not only thinking about our own experiences and retrieving memories or feelings, but also then sharing reflections with others as a way of allowing the self to receive feedback. Doing this shows a sophistication as a learner.”
Matthew, an adult educator
“I took away the idea of putting one’s action into a ritual, where the ritual is a way of helping oneself create some consistency in organizing the process of work and even developing habits of work that have a sacred quality.”
“I had viewed research as a process of collecting information into a sort of database and reviewing it effectively. I have now revised my notions to include a more broad understanding of interconnectedness between people and ideas. An important part of research is to keep relationships going.”
“I liked the way that the courses helped me to learn to play with confusion, and to consider this in my own teaching. I have come to see confusion mostly as an indication that people are uncomfortable with freedom and want to get comfortable by knowing what is expected.”
“[The courses have] had a profound effect on my professional development as an educator. The “system”... for getting graduate students to “take themselves seriously” cultivates graduate students’ ability to work through big projects of diverse forms. The methods I learned from [this] approach have been a tremendous benefit to me as a writer, educator, presenter, and in organizing my personal projects as well.”
Cole, a teacher, currently working in publishing
“One of the most useful ideas from the courses was the use of dialogue, which helps to slow down the procedures used by the company. There's a tension between management's need to make quick decisions and desire to have real dialogue around proposed changes—changes to the internal company operational procedures as well as to evaluating the quality of what the company is doing with its publications.”
“[The courses have] instilled in me a sense of responsibility and empowerment to be an agent of change for the betterment of my professional and personal communities.”
Paul, a college librarian
“[The teaching] asked me to pay attention to what I actually could do instead of what I could not. [This] enabled me to (1) step back and let go of a huge technical problem (that I really had no ability or interest to solve), and (2) identify where my actual interest rested and actual skills intersected with what needed to be done. I realized that I could unite my passion to advance visual thinking with my skills in communication and group facilitation.”
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