| dc.description.abstract | This paper examines the potentials of participatory workshops in higher education and
training. It originates in earlier experiences in South Asia, Africa and Europe with
training and familiarisation workshops for PRA, and in more recent workshops to teach
and learn about other topics. Participatory workshops need a minimum of perhaps 12
people and have been found feasible, and often better, with larger numbers in the range
of 30-200 people. They can combine the economies of scale of lectures and the
interactive learning of small seminars. Approaches, techniques and behaviours for large
participatory workshops have evolved. Explanations of their apparent rarity in higher
education and training include constraints which are physical - lack of suitable large
rooms, organisational - problems of dovetailing curricula and timetables, and professional
and personal - the traditional and embedded methods, mindsets, behaviours and habits of
faculty. An agenda for action includes constructing more suitable room space,
encouraging faculty to try participatory workshops, and learning more about what works
best. Participatory workshops can be both serious and fun.
Participatory workshops in this paper refers to occasions involving substantial numbers
of participants who learn not only from being taught, but also from combinations of their
own analyses, interactions, experiences, reflections and sharing. Much of the argument is
presented in more detail in Participatory Workshops: a sourcebook of 21 sets of ideas and
activities (2002) (referred to below as PW). | en_GB |
