© Stephen Thorpe AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY TE WANANGA ARONUI O TAMAKI MAKAU RAU Enhance Your Online Facilitation with Storytelling Stephen Thorpe

© Stephen Thorpe Other sessions The Science and Art of Story-Sharing: Why Story Engages and How to Use It - Denise Withers Session F12 – 1:30-5:00pm today Virtual Facilitation – Birds-of-a-Feather & Share-a-Method - Thursday 12:00 noon - 1:15 pm Books and articles

© Stephen Thorpe Roadmap Introductions Presentation of the research project –lessons learned –best practices shared Q&A + participant interactive –In groups address the burning issues & key questions –Explore technology benefits and drawbacks of different technologies Participant feedback and discussion Close

© Stephen Thorpe The Research Problem? Groups with low inter-personal relationships are less effective online How to go about building these relationships online? Perhaps storytelling could be a catalyst to building relationship online development?

© Stephen Thorpe AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY TE WANANGA ARONUI O TAMAKI MAKAU RAU And now a few words from the grandmother…

© Stephen Thorpe Co-researchers – 7 countries – 12 time zones

© Stephen Thorpe Co-operative Inquiry Method Adapted the Co-operative Inquiry method developed by John Heron and Peter Reason in Group-based method where participants are the researchers also – involved in everything. Research with people rather than about people. Aligned well with facilitator values of equal opportunity, collaboration, power sharing, self responsibility and political participation in decisions.

© Stephen Thorpe Scoping the research project

© Stephen Thorpe Software tools we looked at and web profiles Skype™ conferencing Telephone conferencing Internet Relay Chat Web conferencing Student Net Chat Video conferencing Blogging Second Life™

© Stephen Thorpe introductions introductions had a positive impact on bringing people within the group closer, web profiles had little influence.

© Stephen Thorpe introductions 62% more aspects were identified in story introductions than in reading web profiles. 84% more connections were made through story introductions than web profiles. 43% more trust aspects were identified through story introductions than in web profiles.

© Stephen Thorpe Audio conferencing Skype, Arkadin, and FreeConference. Value found in different cultures and exploring different cultural approaches facilitators could choose when facilitating difficult situations. Using a story to open a session tied to the theme and encouraged others to share stories with the group. Post story reflections and feedback assisted in deepening the experience for both the audience and tellers. Led to revelations, learning and archetypes. “I was simply surprised that we all had the same challenge or similar experience stories.”

© Stephen Thorpe Audio conferencing Teleconferencing - highly effective, very natural and a mode we were used to Downside was its lack of inclusiveness. Led to in-group, out-group phenomenon –less ownership of the decisions –were less inclined to put them into action –or to participate in any following discussions about those decisions afterwards Feedback could flow quickly between members and the tone of voice, pitch, pause and volume all impacted on the power of stories told

© Stephen Thorpe Chat tools Using a story to open a chat session setup and created a culture of storytelling within the mood of the group. Again post story reflections and feedback assisted in deepening the experience for both the audience and tellers. Participants could pose questions, emoticons and comments by text during the telling of a story and these could be woven into the story by the storyteller. Very effective when combined with Audio channel – dual band!

© Stephen Thorpe Video conferencing Video conferencing - key benefits - having visual feedback of the team’s emotions and that there was deepened honesty and deeper listening. Interestingly the audio channel was considered the important linkage Helped with perceptions of who people actually were rather than perceived to be – dispelled projections. Things in video background drawn into discussion.

© Stephen Thorpe Blogging Themes emerged Considered fun and less formal Constraining participant choices through process also constrained member’s participation. –Tell a funny story about x Storytelling on the blog challenging for some. Difficult for some to produce a story. Keep the story choice options open

© Stephen Thorpe Second Life – 3-D interactive world Very strong emotional connections are created The virtual camp fire setup.

© Stephen Thorpe Second Life – 3-D interactive world Direct experience with an environment or place. Layers of connections with place, people and story. The virtual campfire added to the metaphor of storytelling and engaged participants Simulated visual cues Environment stimulates imagination and exploration Overhead in learning curve Helps to arrive with your avatar’s clothes on!

© Stephen Thorpe Processes questions we used What’s a hot issue, or a burning issue, for you right now in your work and life? Share a round and then debrief. What stories drawn from your childhood sum up a recent situation or challenge? How might the rest of the story be different? Share a personal best and a personal worst story from your practice. Following with a round to discuss collectively the key learnings that can be gained from each story. How did you become a facilitator? What from a previous career do you bring to your facilitation practice?

© Stephen Thorpe Story reflection cycle 1.In small groups one person lead with a story 2.Feedback (thoughts, feelings, connections) are then shared from the audience members. 3.Storyteller then interviews audience members about aspects of the story that they would like audience perspective or reflection on. This process often resulted in sparking audience members to share their stories of similar experiences and thus restarted the three-step process.

© Stephen Thorpe Appreciative storytelling Group of three with turns sharing a positive story from practice. After each story is told, audience members take on a Critical Friend role (see Costa & Kallick, 1993). Asked probing questions to gain fresh insights. The goal of using the critical friend approach is to provide an outsider's view of the story, some independent questioning to ensure that the focus was maintained, and to provide an alternative source of information or expertise for the storyteller.

© Stephen Thorpe More reading Summary Chapter:

© Stephen Thorpe Next Steps Burning issues & key questions Design an online storytelling session Story vs different technologies Draw the lessons from your own stories of online facilitation

© Stephen Thorpe Other sessions The Science and Art of Story-Sharing: Why Story Engages and How to Use It - Denise Withers Session F12 – 1:30-5:00pm today Virtual Facilitation – Birds-of-a-Feather & Share-a-Method - Thursday 12:00 noon - 1:15 pm Books and articles Online Facilitation Programme Flyer