Summary of Participant Evaluations from 2008 NewSSC

Organized in relation to the Four Goals of NewSSC

(http://www.stv.umb.edu/newssc.html)

#1 Promote Social Contextualization of Science

Evaluations of this year’s workshop rarely mentioned this goal. In some cases, participants were able to identify that discussion of social contextualization of science had occurred, but that it was highly integrated with other aspects of the workshop. At the same time, most returning participants suggested that the theme was not emphasized as strongly as it had been in previous years, which meant that more attention and energy was directed toward individual interests and the general process (rather than addressing a previously conscribed theme).

· This goal was met through the “highly interdisciplinary nature of the group, with open people.” [3]

· “This was more an implicit component of workshop participants, as opposed to being so explicitly designed within the workshop.” [4]

· “I would strongly recommend it for dedicated educators seeking to make their teaching practice stronger and more emancipatory, especially those dealing with social aspects of science and technologies.” [6]

#2 Innovative Workshop Process that Connects Multiple Perspectives to the Issue at Hand

Comments from participants overwhelming reveal that this goal was met. Moreover, if this were the only goal of the workshop, it would have made the entire experience worthwhile. The experience of gathering, even without a clear agenda or overriding procedural goal of completing a piece of work or producing a specific product, proved valuable to the participants. Their comments suggest that their professional lives are otherwise filled with activities that are directed toward such products, but are rarely loosened to allow for engagement of this kind. They reflected on the ability to connect meaningfully with other participants from different professions and academic fields. Educators found value in the interactions with non-educators, and vice versa.

· I leaned a HUGE amount about running workshops here. A) Activities are good and necessary! You can’t just expect to have everyone sit around and talk. I found activities such as the dialogue to be AMAZING. B) It was clear at the workshop, in general, how much time and effort and thought went into it, it wasn’t just something thrown together. It was crafted like a VERY well-planned course. [1]

· “I have never really been involved with a small, intense, workshop like this before, and I must say it works MUCH better for me than a typical professional conference. I love this format, and I think this is a self-selecting, self-organizing group of amazing individuals.” [1]

· “This workshop will be invaluable for my academic work and teaching. It made me realize I have an academic community I never knew existed…. For those of us working in the spaces between disciplines, especially the spaces between science and other disciplines, this kind of intellectual community is invaluable.” [1]

· “I hoped for (though cannot say ‘expected’) the workshop to be a ‘retreat.’ It was this—and so much more for me! I was utterly lost, did not know what we were here ‘to achieve’ or ‘produce’… and it took me 3 days to become comfortable with this lack of direction… and then learn to love it!” [2]

· “I learned that one could become intimately connected with strangers in a short number of hours, rather than months or years, if we actively seek out that connection through certain strategies of engagement. I also learned that excellent communication techniques are best modeled through dialogue rather than through a list of rules.” [2]

· The benefits of NewSSC are “to be discovered not in something one can express in a paragraph of evaluation or chapter of a future book, but the benefit is to be lived into reality, a PROCESS through which one must personally pass, to understand its method, function, benefits, brilliance…. The various activities do not simply build connections with others, but they necessitate the discovery of the identity of others through their own self-articulations. But since those articulations follow their own path, one sees them not as simple reports of some static truth but as new explorations of self, in each case. Then one discovers this has happened to oneself as much as to others-one discovers oneself anew in the surprising revelations that emerge in the process of self-revelation.” [2]

· “I have learned especially the high value of having time and leading non-confrontational introductory communication (dialogue process).” [3]

· “I appreciate very much the possibility to have a common space for thinking social interaction – the continuation of both, together with a not too short duration is the real productive thing, beyond having more detailed cognitive, scientific input.” [3]

· “I think these workshops really begin more from the personal, and extend into the theoretical, practical, and political, and result in pedagogical innovations. In this regard, I think it does a very good job of bringing the personal into conjunction with these other aspects.” [4]

· “It helps when leadership roles are clear, even if the leadership is quite open and encourages participation. It helps to have clarity in activity objectives for them to be scaled appropriately to available time, and to be addressed in successive stages when there are several layers of complexity or reflection.” [5]

· “The format of the workshop is itself a model to replicate: as Marshall McLuhan has famously noted, "the medium is the message." Accordingly, its impact seems very difficult to evaluate fully and effectively, as it involves examining methodological shifts and perhaps subtle rearrangements in infrastructure or organizational relationships at multiple locations following the workshop itself.” [5]

· “This workshop introduced me to a wonderful range of new techniques for facilitating deeply satisfying group processes, creating cohesion, mutual understanding, lasting bonds and transformative learning.” [6]

· “I was particularly appreciative of the way the workshop provides a challenging and nurturing environment for the free experimentation of innovative work of enjoying and collaborating for new forms of generating knowledge.” [9]

· “We usually think about boundaries as social/cultural, whether nationalities, race, gender, or discipline etc. But boundaries also include issue of ego and personal head space that can hold us back from open engagement with other workshoppers. Listening carefully in the card circle really helps.” [12]

· “The goal of this workshop was diffuse to begin with, but participants did generally self organize around some common purposes. This both negative (lacking a coherent initial focus) and positive (demanding of participants-they need to self organize and create the goal/purpose.” [12]

#3 Training and Capacity-Building

Relatively few participants commented specifically on this goal, but those who did seemed to value this component of the workshop very highly. That is, they came in with self-described limitations or boundaries that were transcended by the activities of the workshop. They perceived these activities to be transportable to other contexts where they would prove valuable in breaking boundaries in settings where commitments to frameworks currently limit the ability to move a process forward.

· Offered an example of how to build social networks for this kind of interaction. [3]

· “This has certainly been the case for me. I really had very little opportunity to learn participation skills, even though I was widely read across participatory design and PPGIS.” [4]

#4 Repeatable, Evolving Workshops

Participants were able to describe and evaluate this goal more fully in 2008, likely due to the expanding numbers of “veterans” in the mix. That is, people return to NewSSC and demonstrate their facility for engaging in this unique workshop style. These comments come from the veterans themselves, who appreciated the ease with which they were able to resume the process learned at previous workshops. These comments also came from the first-time attendees who observed this ease in the veterans and aspired to become more comfortable with the process. More globally, a number of comments suggest that the process is worth emulating in other contexts.

· I don’t know if I will try to make my own workshop, but I would definitely volunteer to help run this if Peter ever tires of it. I doubt I could ever do as good a job, but if needed I will participate in any way I can (including seeking more funding) to make sure this keeps happening every year.” [1]

· “Can be repeated in parts by others. Should and can be repeated by Peter.” [3]

· This workshop model is something I would like to continue to engage in at various points throughout my academic career. It’s something that is difficult to fully comprehend at the first go, and having come a second time, I am learning more and more how I can better integrate these techniques into my own work and pedagogy.” [4]

· “I would certainly like NewSSC to continue, or at least some similar form of self organizing workshop allowing people to find this type of environment for some days every year to be continued, under this or other forms.” [9]

· “As online education takes over many of our duties as faculty members, intense workshops of the kind that Peter Taylor has designed should be utilized to replenish our enthusiasm for teaching and remind us of what our fellow educators can provide us in terms of support.” [11]