ONLINE COURSE: Participatory Methods for Workshops and Meetings

Peo­ple often come tog­e­ther to dis­cuss, plan, eva­luate, solve pro­blems, take decis­i­ons or share expe­ri­en­ces in a work­shop. Inves­t­ing time and thought in the design and pre­pa­ra­tion of work­shops or mee­tings increa­ses their effec­ti­ve­ness and is essen­tial to reach tan­gi­ble out­co­mes. This course is very hands-on in cha­rac­ter and will empha­size on how to plan and design par­ti­ci­pa­tory work­shops and mee­tings with simple but effec­tive tools and techniques.

We will intro­duce par­ti­ci­pa­tory methods and tools for face-to-face as well as remote work­shops and mee­tings and ther­eby create our “tool­box”, reflec­ting on how to use and adapt these methods accor­ding to dif­fe­rent objec­ti­ves, con­texts and pha­ses. Even though the focus lies on the plan­ning and metho­do­lo­gi­cal design of work­shops, we will also cover faci­li­ta­tion aspects – espe­ci­ally in the con­text of vir­tual meetings.

 
Course Objec­ti­ves

By the end of the course participants

• have a bet­ter under­stan­ding of how to plan and design inter­ac­tive work­shops of dif­fe­rent lengths, set­tings and purposes;
• are pro­vi­ded with a variety of methods for the begin­ning, cen­tral and final phase of workshops;
• have reflec­ted on dif­fe­rent work­shop approa­ches, as well as on faci­li­ta­tors’ roles, atti­tu­des and skills to sup­port par­ti­ci­pa­tory working processes.

 
Course Con­tent

• Respon­si­bi­li­ties, skills and atti­tu­des of work­shop facilitators
• Plan­ning and pre­pa­ring work­shops and meetings
• Work­shop design for all pha­ses from begin­ning to closure
• Tool­box: methods, tools and tech­ni­ques for dif­fe­rent pha­ses, inclu­ding ice­brea­k­ers and energizers
• Hand­ling dif­fi­cult situations
• Addi­tio­nal or adapted tools and tips for vir­tual mee­tings and workshops

Course Pro­gramme

The preli­mi­nary time frame of the ses­si­ons is as follows:

9.30 a.m. — 3.00 p.m. CEST (Cen­tral Euro­pean Sum­mer Time).

What does live online trai­ning mean?

Our online trai­nings are not pre-recor­ded trai­ning videos, web­i­nars for large audi­en­ces or self-paced e‑learning cour­ses. They are vir­tual live trai­nings deli­vered by our trai­ners in real-time, focu­sing on the inter­ac­tion of a small group of remote par­ti­ci­pants. Just like our face-to-face trai­nings, these vir­tual class­rooms aim at tail­oring the dis­cus­sions and lear­ning expe­ri­en­ces to the trai­ning needs of the participants.

Requi­re­ments: to attend our live online trai­nings, a relia­ble high-speed inter­net con­nec­tion and a com­pu­ter or lap­top run­ning Win­dows or iOS are requi­red (inclu­ding audio and video). The Hum­boldt-Uni­ver­si­tät of Ber­lin uses the video­con­fe­ren­cing plat­form Zoom for vir­tual class­rooms as well as digi­tal tools such as Moodle. We stron­gly recom­mend an exter­nal head­set for bet­ter sound quality.

Course Methods

The course focu­ses on what hap­pens before, during and after work­shops. It is a prac­tice-based trai­ning course where lear­ning by doing is com­bi­ned with essen­tial theo­re­ti­cal back­ground and oppor­tu­nity to exch­ange indi­vi­dual expe­ri­en­ces and know­ledge with other peers. Par­ti­ci­pants are encou­ra­ged to bring their own (impen­ding) work­shop cases to work on during the course.

The vir­tual class­room ses­si­ons with the trai­ners and the fel­low par­ti­ci­pants via Zoom will be com­ple­men­ted by group exer­ci­ses, assign­ments as well as time for self-study and reflection.

Tar­get Group

This intro­duc­tory course is desi­gned for those with little or no expe­ri­ence in the design and faci­li­ta­tion of work­shops. Howe­ver, more expe­ri­en­ced faci­li­ta­tors might refresh ideas and get new inspi­ra­tion for their face-to-face as well as vir­tual work­shops and meetings.

Gene­ral information

The tui­tion fee is 750,- euros per participant.
This includes:

• 4‑day online trai­ning course
• Course docu­men­ta­tion and lear­ning materials
• Cer­ti­fi­cate of par­ti­ci­pa­tion issued by Hum­boldt-Uni­ver­si­tät zu Berlin