Problem loading session

[Dedekind561]

The problem

Several times now, I've gained a lot of context/insights from a particular problem I'm working on. However, I often struggle to offload this problem and communicate the challenges. I'm going to try devising a format for sessions so that we can achieve the following:

• establish context in a particular environment/domain
• identify achievement/progress in a given area
• identify emergent problems
• identify how and why these problems emerge
• explain why these problems are complex to solve (if this is true)

The purpose of this session is not:

• to generate actions
• devise a concrete strategy to tackle the problem
• agree on next steps

Requirements

Goal

• Communicate the objective/purpose and format of this discussion in advance. Heavily related to the target section.

Expertise

• At least one expert. E.g. I might be an "expert" around flipped classrooms insofar as I've helped to implement it at CYF. An expert could be anyone with lots of context around a given problem/domain.

Facilitator

• Someone skilled at moving a conversation along and preventing conversational drift. Capable and confident steering a conversation with a group of people.

Target audience

I'd like for there to be a specific target audience in mind when one of these sessions is proposed. When we advertise the key members of the target audience - folks we really think should be there and for whom it is critical they get this context.
❗ In addition, we should also make it clear why we think they (the target audience) should even come in the first place.
What do they stand to gain by attending this meeting? Why should they even care about these insights?
For example, I might choose to target key folks in MigraCode. But the onus is on the organiser to convey what they stand to gain out of this session.

Format

Potential formats

• Single expert + open audience. Loose format: Context (10 mins) -> Facilitated discussion .e.g interview (30/40 mins) -> AMA (20 mins).
• Panel of experts + open audience. Loose format: Context (10 mins) -> Facilitated discussion (30/40 mins) -> AMA (20 mins). Target audience expectations: listen and learn, ask questions.
• Single/group of experts + narrow target audience. Context (10 mins) -> Activity and active participation (30/40 mins) -> AMA. Audience should expect to engage actively with the subject matter.

The format should be established in advance. Ask yourself the following questions about the session:

• Do you expect the audience to engage interactively (most optimal strategy for engagement but very difficult with a large audience). If so, probably best to cap the audience size and keep it as a small focused group.
• Do you expect the audience to listen and learn (a valid format for a larger audience but there will be less transferral of knowledge). Arrange a discussion and then AMA for 20 mins at the end.
• Do you have one expert? Then, consider a small group with interactive participation.
• Do you have a group of experts? Consider organising a panel discussion and then moving towards
• Do you have a facilitator? If not, ask someone to support with facilitation/moderation.

If you want participants to gain fine grained knjoe

Preparation

Create some preparation resources as needed. Keep it concise.
Ensure the target audience:

• define any key terms
• have read a report or case study about the relevant problem/scenario
• care about the content of this session
• get them to share questions prior to this session

Describe alternatives you've considered
I think we already have conversations like this informally but I think it is important to format a session like this where we come together.

Additional context
Add any other context or screenshots about the feature request here.

[Dedekind561]

@illicitonion @40thieves I'm tagging you here as I'd like your thoughts on this and I'd also like you to participate in these sessions as part of a panel of experts at some point. I think we should run a session like this with MigraCode with a panel of experts just to load the relevant context to the core MigraCode team.

[Dedekind561]

We could even use the Global Syllabus team meeting to test some of these things out, as that's when we often gather folks with a lot of context.