With so many people working or unemployed at home we have taken off with a ‘jump out of the blocks’ at the Centre for Leadership and Learning in Risk (CLLR) with a number of courses and programs that are free and online. This week we had some very successful ZOOM (https://zoom.us/) sessions with our Reading Group (covenanting to read the same book) and Writing Group (learning how to write) as well as the free online Module and Introduction to SPoR (https://safetyrisk.net/introduction-to-the-social-psychology-of-risk-free-online-module/ ). Over 50 have already registered for the Introduction to SPoR from all over the globe with registrations closing on 1 April concluding with a closed webinar on 29 May.
Our Writing Group has started with a ‘bing’ with participants from Sweden, Canada, New Zealand and people from all over Australia. A bit of a headache coordinating times but we found 10am (Canberra) EST Aust was the perfect time to catch everyone. Whilst Sweden was at midnight, Calgary was 5pm, Auckland 12pm and Perth 7am. So there’s a tip. Both Groups have been formed from the CLLR (closed) facebook group. This group has been formed from the many people who have studied SPoR over the past 10 years. Unfortunately, the facebook CLLR group is only open by application for people who have already studied SPoR . There is simply too much cumulative learning required to tackle many of the concepts discussed. You can see some of the writing group in the Zoom screen capture below. (Thanks to Jeff Lyth for putting me onto Zoom).
The Writing Group is about learning how to write over 10 sessions exploring everything from: the mechanics of writing, structure, styles, semiotics of writing, semantics, semiosis, thesis, questioning skills, anchoring, priming, metaphor, transitioning, illustration, and even poetics. In a previous life I taught High School and Primary School English, Philosophy of Learning and English at University and so brought to bear many learnings from the past. Each participant will be certified by CLLR and their concluding piece may be published on this blog site.
Learning how to write and read are things that we expect to come naturally but they can be taught, through facilitation, discovery, experimentation, feedback and practice. It is a strange thing that sometimes the best writers and journalists are poor at teaching how to write and read. Even some books that attempt to teach writing don’t tackle the fundamentals. Being able to do something effectively or expertly doesn’t necessarily make one a good teacher.
The Reading Group has just finished Claxton’s Intelligence in the Flesh and is now on The Body Keeps the Score by Van der Kolk. The discipline of covenanting to read a book in common makes for wonderful learning when we all get together to reflect on our reflections and questions.
Finally, keep an eye out in this space for when a second free Module from CLLR will be announced as free and online.
If you have studied SPoR in the past and want to join any of these groups please contact: admin@cllr.com.au
Dr Rob Long
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