HORIZONTAL LEARNING – online workshop

Date: 27 April 2023
Time: 2-5pm CEST
Location: Zoom
Language: English

For a learning space to have the potential to be transformative, there must be an awareness of the power dynamics that are at play and how they might be enabling certain forms of participation and blocking others. Very often a group’s potential is limited by individual and collective assumptions of what knowledge is and who is the holder of this “legitimate” knowledge. In this workshop we will reflect on the power relations we have experienced in different environments and explore how we might shift them in order to enable more inclusive participation. Working with the experience and the intelligence of the group, we will identify concrete ways to contribute to more horizontal learning.

Together we will search for answers to the question: How might we design and host learning environments that invite participants to contribute different forms of knowledge to expand our collective intelligence?

The workshop covers:

• Potential factors that block or enable participation
• Reflecting on power relations within learning environments
• Collective intelligence and working with different forms of knowledge
• Identifying tools and strategies that promote horizontal learning
• Deepening our understanding of horizontal learning through theory and practice

You will experience:

• An interactive online session delivered by experienced facilitators
• A good balance between input and peer exchange
• A learning environment which values and builds on the experience of each participant

This workshop is for you if:

• You’re interested to reflect critically on the themes of power, participation and collective intelligence
• You are looking for concrete ways to design and host more horizontal learning environments
• You wish to both draw own your own experiences as well as gain ideas and inspiration from others
• You want to experience and contribute to a more horizontal exchange

This workshop is part of a series called Designing Transformative Learning Spaces which aims to rethink different ways of learning in a world that is constantly changing. Regularly reviewing our learning approaches is necessary to ensure personal and societal growth, especially in light of issues such as personal and societal trauma and systemic crises. Transformative learning involves profound changes in a person’s perspective, beliefs, values, and behavior through self-reflection and inquiry. This workshop series invites educators, facilitators, change-makers, and community builders to explore four topics essential to creating transformative learning experiences.  

The workshop is conducted in collaboration with the Civic Europe program, supported by Mercator Foundation. 

Facilitators

Naomi Martin enjoys the challenge of designing simple formats to address complex questions. Whether working in person, online or somewhere in between, she cares for the conditions that invite purposeful exchange, leading to fresh ways of thinking and acting collectively. Over ten years, she has gathered international experiences in the areas of sustainable urban development, integration and community development, having worked as a facilitator and project coordinator in various contexts across South America and Europe. With an MA in International Cultural Relations, Naomi also has professional training in coaching, participatory facilitation and systemic change.  

Stelios Voulgaris believes in the unexplored and usually implicit knowledge each person holds through their own unique experiences. He has been working as a facilitator of collective learning journeys for varied collectives – among which formal and informal civil society initiatives, local administration and local enterprises – throughout Europe.
The uppermost goal of his work is to support bringing to the surface this hidden individual knowledge and through participative and inclusive processes to support the enrichment of the collective intelligence of socially aware collectives.