Thank you for the opportunity to share with you some stories about Open Space Technology regarding the use of Open Space Technology in Education. What follows is a sharing of the story and by no means an attempt at a chapter—that will come later, when the time is right and if your interest is piqued enough to include Open Space in your Fieldbook.

In this story, you will find Open Space Technology used by Organizational Learning practitioners around the world in a variety of educational settings ranging from public elementary schools, a private high school, colleges, and universities. Open Space Technology is used with the students, or with combinations of students, parents, staff/faculty and is used for faculty gatherings for the purpose of their own look at their issues and opportunities. The educational sector is said by many organizational learning consultants to be one of the hardest sectors to work with in terms of their learning, a paradox to be sure. I have been involved in more than one educational setting where I have been told that whatever we did would not work because nothing had ever worked before. And it is usually about the lack of cooperation, of communication, and of organizational connectedness of the staff/faculty amongst themselves for the benefit of the students, or between the staff/faculty and the students.

For some reason, far too much of the education system is not woven together, the strands that could make up the weaving are far too isolated. In each and every such challenge where we are invited to do Open Space, the results far surpass expectations. Surprise and hope become the order of the day. As one faculty member said to me, he and his counterpart in another department hadn’t talked much less cooperated for seventeen years. The Open Space resulted in them dialoguing and intending to work together for the betterment of the entire faculty. Everyone cheered when this was announced in the closing circle.

Most people have to experience an Open Space Meeting to believe that the approach works. The fact that groups as large as 1000 and as small as 8 can, with some chaos, self-organize a meaningful agenda in less than an hour is surprising enough. As the whole group proceeds to self-manage to meeting for the next few days, people understand what is possible.

Open Space Technology is a navigational tool. In some ways, Open Space Technology is similar to facilitated discussion group processes you may have been a part of before. What is different about Open Space Technology is that you are not told what you should talk about, when you should meet, or where you should get together. Open Space Technology does not provide you with the comfort of some powerful "other" telling you what to do. What it does do is create the conditions for people to self-organize and take risks. It is the place between where you let go of what doesn’t work anymore and where you can embrace new solutions. It allows for breakthroughs and insights to emerge in ways you would never have thought possible.

The conference will open with an introductory plenary at which all participants are seated in a circle. Why a circle? Because the circle is the most basic form of communication and symbolizes that leadership comes from each and every one of us.

Participants will then be asked about the passions and energies concerning the future. They will then be asked to raise the ideas and opportunities that they feel are important and for which they are willing to take responsibility. The process has no hierarchy; everyone will have the same opportunity to participate and contribute. There will be some prioritizing of these issues and opportunities by the group as a whole. These issues and opportunities will then be stuck to a great big wall where all the participants can sign up for the sessions they want to be a part of. No idea goes up on this wall unless someone is willing to take responsibility for it. The process ensures that those issues and opportunities which people feel passionate about do surface.

Blocks of time and room locations are also posted on this wall. People whose topic of discussion are on the wall pick a time and place for their discussion to occur while at the same time everybody else is selecting which sessions they are planning to attend. From what appears to be organized confusion will come a clear set of objectives. Participation in a discussion is not mandatory. If another session comes up or the participant finds the one he/she is in is not of interest to him/her, the participant is free to move to any other discussion (this is called the Law of Mobility).

Each person who is responsible for a discussion group will be responsible for ensuring that a short report is written and entered on the computer system. At the end of the conference, all these reports will be collated and copied in the form of a book of priorities. This summary of the insights, energy, and commitments will be available for all participants to take home at the end of the conference.

So, the best way to see what this is all about, I think, is to share some stories with you. Please note that these were written as notes to me by the "tellers" and are not yet in the form of publishable stories, but I think you just might like the stories they tell. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Before we get started, let me paint a bigger picture for you about the power of Open Space the results we have during the process to say nothing of the results after the process.

I used OS in a huge multi-campus in-service from Catholic High

School Staffs at four related/interconnected colleges. It was the one day Open Space program.

Much discussion and some very hairy/thorny matters raised and gotten onto

the agenda for consideration by Board and other appropriate authorities.

Many teachers very delighted with the day - some used their feet and went

home, which was better still for those remaining. Two (of four)

Principals fairly uncomfortable with the "out-of-control" eventuality,

but grudgingly admitted it "was a most interesting and surprising" event.

Much follow-on has occurred, though no great attribution to the day -

it's osmosis, I think.

I did a small school staff in-service exercise, spread over three one-hour

periods across as many weeks. Did the intro of OS at the first session

and then simply took up the next sessions as though there had been a

"lunch break". They revelled in it and considered matters that mattered

to them - and were surprised how easy that had been, and how useful and

evocative of ideas. Similar pattern the following year (1998) and I

expect it will happen again in 1999. It was amazingly easy for them to

pick up the thread again after a week of delay.

A "Parent Consultation" tonight with some 60+ parents and some

staff from a Catholic High School, looking at "WHAT MATTERS MOST FOR THE

COMING YEAR", from which the school authorities will then build the next

year's plan and feed it back to the group in a couple of months. The

Open Space will last about two and a half hours. And there will be nice

surprises, as there always are.

Used Open Space for the opening staff day at a private college

beginning day for all staff (about 100) on "BEING YOUR BEST AT THIS

COLLEGE". Great development of spirit under new leadership and many

ideas generated which have now been implemented.

I conducted an Open Space at a high school in North York (now part of the

Toronto District School Board) on the topic of Safety.

The participants were volunteers - students - as well as a few teachers.

They were almost unanimous in liking the process: "Miss, I actually felt

listened to!" A couple of boys didn't like it. They said that it was too

open and allowed some (unidentified) others too much say. A couple of kids

came to persuade others that drugs were okay(!!) and to justify their own

lifestyle choices. The kids did not reward that but they were so vocal that

a teacher had to step in and make sure that others got heard. A whole bunch

of kids came because it meant that they could skip French class but got

really engaged in the process.

Overall, the kids said that they would like more Open Space process. The

teachers felt relieved that they didn't have to be solely responsible for

fixing all the school safety issues, they could share that with the kids.

And they liked that the kids were willing to try to get things happening.

I also learned some things I would do differently another time.

1. I need to discuss with the teachers their role ahead of time - how to be

part of the discussion but not overpower - not to debate with the kids but

at the same time express their own views. A couple of teachers did not

manage that balance as well as they could.

2. I need to give more time to the actual signing up for sessions with

teens as they spent time discussing who else was going to which sessions

before they would make their own decisions. Especially the girls tended to

hold back on signing up for sessions until they could see which of their

friends, male or female, were going where. In other words, for them there

was a highly social aspect of choice as well as what aspect of the topics

would be meaningful for them. It took almost three times the amount of time

for the kids to sign up as it would adults.

3. It also took more time to open the space. They needed more examples of

how things would work.

Just imagine the first three days of the school year at a private high school. Chaos reigns. And as if the usual isn’t bad enough, students, parents, teachers, the principal (that’s Monica), and the Director all gathered in the meeting room in one large circle. A facilitator, (that’s Birgitt) explained that the next three days would be spent in a process called Open Space Technology, to identify and discuss the issues and opportunities for the academic year. There were a few "givens" (non-negotiables) noted but much was open for the appearance of creativity and innovation. Topics ranged from curriculum (highly creative and harder than the teachers would have posed) to the wearing of uniforms (and the students actually agreed to uniforms). The students, parents, principal and director loved the Open Space and what resulted. A core group of teachers hated it. They felt they were not in control. One of the parents, in the closing circle, expressing her excitement and appreciation also spoke passionately to the teachers "the director gets it, the principal gets it, the students get it and we as parents get it---teachers please get with this program. We will have the most outstanding school through Open Space, with academic excellence, and high creativity and innovation and leadership from the students. They will be well prepared for college and life. Please don’t get in the way of this."

The Dean of Business wanted her faculty to work as a team, rather than in their silos and to offer a program that could compete from a position of excellence in the world. We conducted a three day Open Space meeting that began with the awkwardness of little communication and faculty not even willing to look at each other. Their working relationships were in great difficulty. There were also union/management conflicts. As I was opening the space, the only thing I could think of doing to get them engaged and to look at each other was to use my body and keep walking around the inside of the circle. They focused on me, in panic of not wanting to see each other, and through my movement, I was able to move them to look in each other’s direction at least. At the end of the three days, there was laughter, non stop chatter, and sheepishness about how they have been as a faculty. Most of the topics focused on building their own foundation as a faculty including relationships. They were not ready to discuss academic excellence. Four months later we held another three day Open Space. The foundation had continued to be worked on over these months, people reported back on their progress, and the issues and opportunities that were put forward at this meeting focused on world class academic excellence. This was done with passion and excitement.

Numerous schools, colleges and teacher's organizations have used Open Space

for meetings.

Teachers have used Open Space in the classroom. Teachers at one Guelph

elementary school met in Open Space during a P.A. day to focus on improving

the image of their school and their working relationships. The session led

to teachers discovering common interests in classroom approaches and in

dealing with students they considered "difficult". The same group also

recognized the poor state of repair of their entryways and landscaping.

They decided how to work with maintenance staff to improve the first

impressions of students and teachers.

Such groups at the Ontario Teachers Federation and the National Education

Association (USA) have met in Open Space for a variety of purposes. The

board of OTF used Open Space to develop responses to a major government

report.

The Ontario Curriculum Task Force used Open Space for both stakeholder and

governing board meetings. The new Toronto District School Board is

including an Open Space in its upcoming 8th Annual Staff Development

Conference.

Many community colleges have used Open Space for key meetings including

George Brown and Sheridan Colleges. George Brown teaching and

administrative staff have met in Open Space for planning. York University

Faculty of Environmental Studies has held Open Space meetings with staff

and students. Antioch College in Seattle uses it regularly in its doctoral

program on Organizational Development.

Very small world, Birgitt! I am writing with two co-authors (Frank Duffy

and Lynda Rogerson) a book tentatively titled Redesigning America's Schools:

a systems approach to improvement, which is scheduled to be published in

mid-1999. We are using a combination of OST, the Emery Search Conference

and Participative Design Workshops as three of our primary methods for

school-community planning and the actual school district redesign process.

As part of my work on the book, I am including examples of using OST in the

initial phases of a district redesign.

In a related project, I am working through National Training Associates and

several state agencies in facilitating a series of eight, three-day youth

and community centered OS events throughout the state of Idaho. Most have

combined school-youth-community involvement while others are aimed primarily

at determining future youth service needs in cities, counties and/or regions

of the state. Of course, each event is designed around local needs, but we

have had great participation from school officials, as well as a real

cross-section of civic leaders and just interested citizens. Youth from 5th

grade up as well as administrators, staff and board members have been

involved in all aspects of the process. Because they are all three-day OST

events, each site is producing printed proceedings at the end of each

session, as well as action plans and responsibility charting, which are

printed up and distributed later. I am doing some follow-up from a February

session and have received great reports on the results. Arrangements have

been made to produce several short descriptive videos in the next few

months. So, we will have a pretty interesting and useful collection of

data, photos and stories by Christmas.

I, too, have used Open Space only with teens at college.

Interestingly, mine nick named me "crazy woman" as they did not know what to do with themselves or what I expected of them - the CHAOS reigned supreme as you have also discovered during the topic posting and the sign up.

I also found that the students were in their full mode of "tribe" behaviour

with looking to the dominant members in the group, not sure if they wanted

to speak up...this is where the safe space creation is critical. My kids

now respect and listen to all of their peers more carefully as they have

progressively been exposed to ongoing open space through out this semester.

Birgitt in her process facilitation course has taught me how right brain

exercises 'transfer in' the students full spirit - they now treat this like

a feeding frenzy at the start of each class (laughter, diving to the centre

of the circle like scramble!!). The rewards of teaching third year design

as a part of my landscape architecture practice are great! Open Space Technology and right brain process facilitation go hand in hand. If you have the courage to try them, the results in learning surpass all expectations. This is the way education should be done.

A simple story to add to conversations regarding elementary

school children and their participation (or not) in Open Space...may also

relate (tangentially) to participation of the very young, i.e. students at

6th and 7th grade level in an Open Space which included adults as well...in

my case, this was a community event and speaks to OS and the break down of

"traditional" assumed age barriers....

I spend some of my time volunteering as an organizational consultant to the

Board of a small, local multi-service agency in rural, small town in

Ontario...Serving a rural community with few big city amenities (mind you,

I prefer it this way!!!) , there are always complaints about young people

"hanging around" and "causing trouble". As a result, the agency decided to

do something about this and has, after one abortive attempt several years

ago, been investigating the "needs of youth"(a very small group of young

people (2-3) have been involved with this from the outset). After a survey

of high school students last year strongly supported the notion, the

decision was made (by adults and the few participating young people) to try

to get a youth run, adult-mentored, youth organization off the ground...so

they decided on an "organizing meeting"...

In determining how to move, the Board of the agency struggled with a

meeting agenda which would involve and engage young people...I suggested

Open Space and the power/ importance of that which has "heart and meaning"

and after a brief explanation, they (with some caution) agreed to give it a

try...

To launch it, invitations were sent to young people in the schools and

adults who had over time expressed an interest...free barbecue to start

off...with a meeting with "no agenda" (a.k.a. Open Space) to follow (only 3

hours in OS) focused on the opportunities and challenges for "building a

community-wide youth organization run by youth supported by adults".. We

had about 35 people show up...about 20 of these were 16 or under, and a

good 10 of them were about 12 years old. The appearance of many pre-teens

led, as one might expect, to some concerns (from adults) about whether

people "so young" could contribute...even some pre-opening talk among

adults about them deliberately interspersing themselves across small groups

posted in the marketplace to "help" the kids along...I suggested they

instead go where they really wanted to go and to further counteract the

tendency towards "should go to this group" rather than "want to go to this

group", I spent a good deal of time talking about engaging in "what is

really important to you" in the opening ...adults ended up taking the risk

of following their hearts...as a result, at least three of the posted

discussion groups were composed entirely of the very young...

Two observations...First, the energy in the space was wonderful...so high

and so palpable...despite wonderful experiences both being in and opening

space, I have never felt the space vibrate in this way before...the young

people who were present were so "at home" in the space...posted sessions

more quickly than the adults, exercised the "law of mobility" more

comfortably and bumble-beed and butterflied all over the place. It paid off

big time, with commitments to the young people from local politicians who

were present to do follow up on some particular issues...Second, but

related, adults learned from the young people...they very quickly stopped

being "experts" and listened actively and creatively...some even started to

bumble-bee themselves...This was all later transformed into support for

young leadership, a "planning group" composed of young people and adults

alike with the young people already having determined first steps and

adults falling into a facilitator/support role...the real test of this

small sample of "empowerment" will come later as things roll out...

In closing, high marks for Open Space and the need to do "most" meetings in

this format...for the young people, not-surprising observations peppered

with comments such as "I really had a chance to say what I wanted to say"

and "for the first time, people really listened to me"...

An observation (not particularly original) from this: the initial contrast

between young people and adults as the space was opened suggests that at

some point in our "growth" we bury our (or others’) capacity for high play

and creativity (not kill, just bury, for we do seem able to find it

momentarily again when the conditions are right). Then, some questions:

what are the reasonable (?) limits from an age perspective for "meaningful"

participation in Open Space (and who defines "meaningful" in any event)?

what can we learn from children about the flow of energy and sense of time

and space which can enrich our capacity to open and hold space? what are

the implications for the way I nurture my own children?

In sum...it was a wonderful experience...other than the clear need for all

to be involved with an issue which has heart and meaning for them, I would

enjoy hearing about the questions which have arisen or the learning others

have experienced from children/young people who are participants in Open

Space events...

Imagine a community college serving urban Boston. Its new president has been on the job for two months. She is the 6^th president in 8 years. The faculty and staff she inherits are survivors: they describe life in recent years at the college as dreary. Still, the air is filled with questions like: what kind of college are we? What could we become?

Will this president stay and take us to a new place? The future of the college rests in the answers to these questions. The president knows she does not have much time to show she can make a difference. She must move fast.

Who would have the answers to the transformation into a new identity? Not the president of two months! The faculty, staff, and students? Yes! The answers lie in the groups collective wisdom. And she wants a simpler way to get the whole organization moving in the same direction. Enter Open Space Technology…

I facilitated an OS event the middle of Sept (day and a half) for Academic

Affairs vice presidents/deans/directors at Arkansas State Univ. The theme

was on future issues and opportunities facing the Academic Affairs division. To

me this was using OS to do strategic planning.

Group size was 25. People left the retreat with proceedings and top five

priorities. The event was a success.

Sara Halprin and Herb Long are certified process work therapists who live

and work in Portland, Oregon. Sara is also the author of Look at My Ugly

Face! Myths and Musings on Beauty and Other Perilous Obsessions with

Women's Appearance (Penguin, 1996) sarahalprin@igc.apc.org.

Sara Halprin, Herb Long

A master's level course on human learning and development at Marylhurst

College takes place in Open Space.

In Spring 1996 we co-taught a course called "Human Learning and

Development" for a Master's program at Marylhurst College, located near

Portland, Oregon. Given the vast subject matter and limited time (three

weekends) for the course, we decided to hold it in Open Space.

Fourteen students registered for the course. Upon registering, each

student received the class syllabus along with a pre-class reading list

of four books. Our intent was to prepare students for the approach to

learning and development we have adopted. We handed out a more extensive

reading list on the first morning. This list offers a map of the vast

territory of theories of human learning and development as seen from our

multicultural and gender-specific perspective.

Excerpts from Sara Halprin's Journal

First Day

Setting the Atmosphere. We had fresh bagels and cream cheese, coffee,

and tea on a checkered tablecloth, a rug in the center of a circle of

chairs, potted flowers, crayons and paper, signs on the walls, and charts

indicating rooms and times. We welcomed each person individually. Several

helped to set things up.

Herb welcomed the group, asking everyone to say their names and who they

are when they're not at Marylhurst. He spoke about his own ways of

learning and developing and asked for others'. A fewpeople spoke about

learning out of mistakes, by letting go of expectations, etc. Then I

introduced the Open Space format of the course.

Stampede. I expected a long silence when I created the marketplace. Just

before I did so, one woman said she was feeling anxious; so was I. But

there was a general rush for paper, markers, and the bulletin board. I

had to stop people putting their topics on the board before they

announced the topic, and soon every space was covered and people were

starting to negotiate.

We went on to the marketplace. There were no problems. A couple of

people asked permission to do this or that, and I just beamed at them.

They all got the idea.

The First Session. I was still feeling skeptical. There was only one

scheduled session, and Herb and I both went to it. It started slowly but

built magnificently into genuine open dialogue, very stimulating. At one

point, I realized I was wide awake and really interested. From that point

on, the day just built on itself.

By the end of the day a group on art learning had constructed several

colorful collages out of the brilliantly colored stick-its we'd brought,

and these embellished the walls. One was called "Life's a Rough Draft."

Evening News. Everyone was excited and also much less tired than usual

for the end of a Marylhurst weekend day. People expressed real pleasure

with the format and mentioned that they wished all their classes could be

like this one.

Late Night Thoughts. Of course, I'm nervous as hell-what if it goes

downhill from here? I did mention the need to express any possible

grumpiness or whatever, which was well-received, but I believe this group

will just go from good to better. Some conflict may and should emerge,

and I hope, as one man suggested, that we can disagree without being

disagreeable.

Second Day

Morning News. Everyone came in full of excitement and bearing

gifts-food, candles, hand cream(!), extra computers, angel cards and

hearthstones. But when we rang the bell, there was a big silence, which

Herb broke by saying, "Here we are at morning news." There was a tendency

to ask us for permission, turn to us as teachers.

Disagreement. Against the good advice of Harrison Owen and Anne Stadler,

I convened a session offering an overview of theories of development. I

had some passion for the discoveries of setting up the reading list and

wanted to share this. But the role of teacher came up right away, and the

issue of evaluation seemed to be a ghost hovering over the group. I

adressed that ghost, and right away things got heavy. The discussion went

on and on.

Eventually, I tried to sum things up and ended up with a woman feeling

steamrollered because I would not take sole responsibility for

evaluation. We worked on that issue and the group seemed relieved, but

the discussion continued. In response to a student's request, I announced

that it was time to talk about my topic and did so, whereupon a hot

discussion on development, gender, and culture followed.

I got us to adjourn for lunch by mentioning that I needed to pee and

that I was hungry.

Evening News. People were tired. One woman left early, saying she was

getting a migraine and needed to get home to deal with it. I suspect the

group is poised on the edge of really taking responsibility for their own

learning. They need to be helped along by Herb and me keeping space open

for that.

Musings. Am I sorry I didn't drop my presentation? Yes and no, but

ultimately no. If it was a mistake, I certainly learned a lot from it.

And several people mentioned that the group had come to community in that

session. Next time I will offer such sessions as my own focus of

interest, not as a course overview.

Third Day

Most people were ecstatic about the weekend, and today was a time of

deepening realization. The students were really taking responsibility,

even handling the big silence at the start of each large circle. Once

someone spoke, everyone spoke, of course. We decided to use the flowers a

woman brought as a talking piece- you could speak only if you held the

flowerpot. People spoke of being thrilled with this format, happy to take

a break and really looking forward to the next gathering, feeling they'd

made real friends and learned a lot.

Academic Standards. Herb said his professorial side feels nervous about

how much actual learning is going on. A woman echoed this and asked that

Herb and I share more of our passion with the group next session. I

responded by saying the professor in me absolutely believes that the only

real learning that can happen is happening in this format, which, like

chaos theory, seeks the deep structure underlying chaos. While all is

patterned, each pattern is unique and unpredictable. Therefore I look

forward to seeing how much learning and development will take place as we

all continue in Open Space for the next couple of weeks. (See Herb's

journal note below concerning this discussion.)

There is, clearly, still a strong tendency to look to us for learning as

well as direction, understandable in such an academic context. There is

also interest in working on that tendency, on becoming more self-aware.

End of the Second Weekend

Herb and I are both exhausted, and so were several of the students.

There was a repeated request for Herb and me to convene more sessions. I

declined, and Herb pointed out that he had just convened one. We moved

from debate over learning in this course to a discussion of learning and

teaching, based on bell hooks' book on radical pedagogy.

The group is showing a tendency to want to be together as a whole group

and not split into separate pieces.

Third Weekend

Saturday started with a strained atmosphere and ended quite joyous and

lively, with lots of energy for tomorrow. How did we get there?

At morning news, a reference to the atmosphere of the group led us into

a discussion of what we have been doing so far. One woman helped by

framing the whole discussion in terms of reflections on group work.

Another woman brought in her concerns about encounter groups (she doesn't

want this class to become one). This led us to discuss the relationships

between thinking and feeling in group work and in learning and

development.

Good sessions followed: one on adult development, then one on safety in

groups. A woman brought in two paintings she had done in the aftermath of

an anti-gay initiative in Oregon. She spoke of her feelings as a lesbian,

then a Latina woman spoke of her anger at feeling repressed by others'

requirements that we have a "safe" group. A great discussion of safety,

abuse, respect, and other group issues in relation to learning and

development.

Final Day. At morning news on Sunday, the last day of class, one woman

needed to express herself after having felt attacked the day before. She

spoke at some length and then seemed to feel better. This was an example

of providing safety in groups through increasing awareness. The

atmosphere stayed good all day. The group clearly had no intention of

splitting up. At the end of the day several people said that it had taken

time and trouble to form a sense of group, and they didn't want to split

up.

Later, Herb and I commented to ourselves about how, from initially

looking to us for approval and guidance for just about everything, the

group got to the place where they could cheerfully ignore, reject, and

discard our suggestions and do what was right for them.

The end of the day seemed strained as we tried to figure out how to do

evaluation. Then it got silly and ftin as the evaluation evolved into

writing comments on our colorful stick-its and attaching them to each

other. The campus cop took a class photo of all of us festooned with

stick-its.

Some people expressed interest in having an ongoing group. Several said

they were sad to leave. Most expressed great appreciation for the whole

experience. Harrison Owen's idea of turning outward and thinking of going

out into the world worked well, and we all joined hands and sang "row row

row your boat..." very anarchically. On the whole, an excellent

experience for all.

Questions. Why were Herb and I so exhausted at the end? How can we do

this without being quite so drained? I suspect that the more vigorously

we keep the space open, for ourselves as well as for everyone else, the

more invigorated we will feel.

Herb Long's Notes on Using Open Space in an Academic Context

It was a stretch for us to use the Open Space format for a course on

human learning and development. This was especially the case for me.

After all, with so much to cover and so little time, how could I possibly

expect that students would learn anything if I didn't hold forth,

summarizing, critiquing, offering gems of wisdom, and insisting that the

students respond with formal research papers?

My own ambivalence appeared when I shared my "professorial" concern with

the students- that maybe serious learning wasn't happening. Coming from

me as a facilitator, such a comment might have sunk the whole effort. But

it didn't because a deeper learning was taking place than any I had

experienced before in academe.

This deeper learning was the result of offering an opportunity for

students to reach into their own personal history and make connections

between that history and the learning process. They could connect their

own development with what they were reading, discussing, and thinking.

The context of Open Space provided an atmosphere in which feeling and

intellect could combine rather than split off. In a remarkably short

period of time, we became a learning community.

At the same time, my own passion for teaching was reawakened. That is,

Open Space provided me with the same supportive environment as it did the

students. I too could begin making connections between my own experience

and what I was learning as a result of my passionate involvement in the

learning enterprise that engaged all of us. The boundary separating

student and teacher became more and more permeable. The same passionate

interest in learning transferred naturally into a heightened desire to

share what was learned. It's as if we were all being enriched in our very

beings, and when that richness reached a stage of overflowing, teaching

followed naturally as we shared with one another out of our own being.

To me, such sharing is the essence of true teaching. It is then that

being speaks to being or, as the Psalmist puts it, "deep calls unto

deep."

The context of Open Space provided an atmosphere in which feeling and

intellect could combine rather than split off.

What's Next

The changes we are making in our presentation to the next class are

based on feedback from the past year's students, which has been

overwhelmingly positive. We are adding Harrison Owen's book on Open Space

Technology to our pre-reading fist and changing one of the other titles.

We are updating the general reading list, and we have rewritten the

syllabus to be more explicit about the nature of Open Space. We are

offering the class on a pass-fail basis only.

We are also increasing the spacing between weekends by adding a

consultation day between the first and second weekend. We hope that

students will take advantage of the longer interval to pursue in-depth

research on the areas that most interest them.

In terms of the most controversial issue that came up for us, the roles

of "teacher" and "learner," we are both aiming to feel free-free to be

passionate as well as fluid, free to be a teacher when that feels right

in the moment, free to be a learner when that feels right. We want to

model what we expect. It is our hope that this will leave us with more

energy by the end of the course.

This takes us to the end of the journey into the look at Open Space Technology and its use in Education that I can take you on at this time. For sure, there are many, many more stories that we can uncover. There is much learning that we are doing as a community of practitioners of Open Space Technology in the many applications of Open Space Technology. We too, are a learning organization.

And a reminder that Harrison Owen makes in his article in the Organizational Development Practitioner, vol 30, number 2, 1998:

Open Space Technology "is not about having better meetings, although that certainly takes place. It is about experiencing the mystery and power of self-organization, to the end that we might learn to be at home in this rather strange, possibly new universe. And we have a lot to learn. But our learnings will not be of the sort we have experienced in the past. No longer will it be necessary to learn the fundamentals of self-managed work groups, empowered and distributed leadership, community building, and appreciation of diversity as a resource and not as a problem to be managed. All of these things happen as natural acts in an Open Space environment."

My own dream (and I have been witnessing the birth of this in other sectors with much success) is that with the assistance of Open Space Technology, organizations operate as Ongoing Open Space Organizations so that the high learning, high play, innovation, creativity, and self organization we experience in an Open Space Technology meeting are the way the organization lives and breathes daily. We won’t have to teach about the learning organization. It is already there. We just have to get the barriers out of the way.

Thank you for the opportunity to share this with you,

Birgitt