How did the first ‘Transition Launch Online’ training go?
By rob hopkins 9th December 2013
The first online version of the Transition Launch training just took place. How did it go? Can something as experiential as Transition Training ever work successfully online? Naresh Giangrande reflects on how the course enables people from anywhere in the world to take part in Transition Training at a pace that suits them, and without the need and expense of travelling long distances. In this guest post, he asks “what if a Transition training happens across the whole world?”
What happens when you learn in your own home instead of having to go somewhere? What happens when you can learn in your own time at your own pace? And what if you can put into practice what you learned and got feedback from your fellow learners as you went along? We put these questions to the test in our first, now completed, Launch online.
The next Launch online begins on January 15th, 2014.
We do have to charge, but we have low cost and no cost places available. See you there?
Launch online enabled a diverse group to assemble that could never have learned together otherwise, and made the Transition Launch available to many who could never have attended a face to face training.
We had participants from Iran, New Zealand, Ireland, Denmark, France, the UK, USA, Canada, Senegal, Spain, and Malaysia. There was care not to ‘step on each other’s cultural toes’, and constant wondering about our identities and needs, even more so than on a face to face training. English as a second language participants were valued and appreciated for their unique experience. Transition is going on in Iran – really? I think we collectively realised how different – and the same – we all were, as we faced very diverse cultures and situations.
The technology enabled us to connect and deepen in how we worked together in a way that I never thought possible in an online environment. There were times when for some strong feeling emerged and were able to be expressed and acknowledged. We had facilitated discussions together and presentations where we screen shared the presenter’s desk top which enabled us to share visuals and voice. We were able to get into small groups together for a while to make discussion and sharing easier, and then come back together in the virtual main ‘room’.
We had forum spaces which were always open in between webinars that allowed discussion to take place at any time and about any topic. The technology, while stretched at times to the limit, enabled a wide range of different ways to learn and interact. We got to know each other, and were able to share some of our deepest feelings and hopes and dreams while still being physically separate.
We are able to get different presenters onto the training about their passion, and their work. This diversity of approach I think made the training richer than one delivered by just one or two people.
We certainly learned lots about online facilitation and how to enable a group to work in an environment where sharing and learning isn’t always easy. We needed to be very clear about all of our communication, both in what we sent to participants and in the webinars themselves. Every question, every exercise, and every discussion had to be very carefully constructed to enable everyone to get the most out of this course. That was certainly one of the big challenges for the facilitation team.
We also thought hard about ensuring good participation in between the webinars. Some discussion like the one about fracking emerged on its own and was an important topic for many around the world all facing emerging fracking industries and wondering what to do about it. Questions arose about groups and how to make them work better, how to revived a dormant Transition Initiative, and how to resource a Transition Initiative. I see the ability to explore together with a group of people over a period of time one of the ‘something specials’ of online training.
We reached many people who never would have had access to training. We learned and expressed more than I dared thought possible online. We had a vibrant, if erratic, forum discussion community. And we were able, though the help of Gaia University, to learn more and faster about how to work online. We opted to ‘share ware’ with Gaia U rather than buy and develop our own platform. This flowed from our own re thinking of our relationship with ‘virtual stuff’.
Many thanks to all who helped make this happen, not least of which are the first participants. One participant, Silvia in Canada, wrote a series of blogs about her experiences. You can read those blog posts here. We covered much of the same material that world have been covered in an online training. We had fun and some profound moments, and judging from the feedback this course was enjoyed and appreciated immensely.
The next Launch online begins on January 15th, 2014.
We do have to charge, but we have low cost and no cost places available. See you there?
Naresh Giangrande