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Design to Engage: How to Create and Facilitate a Great Learning Experience for Any Group
Facilitators exist wherever learning happens. Anyone who works in a community organization, a corporation, a government, or a healthcare environment can end up leading a workshop, running a course, or otherwise facilitating others' learning. Facilitators can also be consultants or post-secondary instructors who have been hired to lead one course or more. However, many people haven't been trained in how to facilitate learning effectively.
Design to Engage is a "how to" book that will help you become an effective designer and facilitator of learning events. You will:
- learn about facilitation roles and responsibilities;
- discover what good learning experiences look like;
- plan for and design effective learning events using practical, straightforward design strategies;
- raise your awareness about how to create inclusive, comfortable environments.
Along with specific recommendations on developing the skills and strategies necessary to be an effective facilitator, you'll find priceless advice on creating participatory activities to keep learners involved, assessing participants' learning, gathering feedback about learning experiences, and how to grow your facilitation practice. The more engaging and interactive you make your learning events, the more people will actually learn from them.
Practical, accessible, and jam-packed with tools to support facilitators to create impactful learning experiences, Design to Engage is a revelation and an inspiration....
Design to Engage is a "how to" book that will help you become an effective designer and facilitator of learning events. You will:
- learn about facilitation roles and responsibilities;
- discover what good learning experiences look like;
- plan for and design effective learning events using practical, straightforward design strategies;
- raise your awareness about how to create inclusive, comfortable environments.
Along with specific recommendations on developing the skills and strategies necessary to be an effective facilitator, you'll find priceless advice on creating participatory activities to keep learners involved, assessing participants' learning, gathering feedback about learning experiences, and how to grow your facilitation practice. The more engaging and interactive you make your learning events, the more people will actually learn from them.
Practical, accessible, and jam-packed with tools to support facilitators to create impactful learning experiences, Design to Engage is a revelation and an inspiration....
- GenresAudiobook
252 pages, Paperback
Published January 4, 2021
7 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 4, 2021
“I’ve written you the book I wanted for myself earlier in my career.” Beth Cougler Blom
This sentence in the opening paragraphs of Design to Engage tells the reader right away that this is a how-to book for people designing learning experiences. Not only is it a how-to book, the book has been written with knowledge and the desire to share that knowledge with the larger world in such a way that learning happens meaningfully and joyfully for those lucky enough to have either a spot in one of Beth’s sessions or a copy of Design to Engage on their bookshelf.
Writing in first person, Beth puts her whole self into telling her facilitator story, both the good and the not so good parts. All of it helps the reader see the possible progression from beginner to sought after facilitator who is constantly looking to improve herself and her sessions. Beth suggests that mistakes are simply learning opportunities.
Notice the use of colour for the interior.
The very setup of the book lends itself to quick dips into the subject matter. The chapters progress logically through steps from Facilitators of Learning (1) all the way to Grow Your Facilitation Practice (8) and the author encourages readers to read whatever topics they need at a given moment. Not often does an author say this, but Beth does. Her passion for learning and helping to learn leaps off the pages.
Notice the chapter colours.
The overall look also encourages readers to pick the book off the shelf, virtual or actual, and peruse the pages. The colour scheme of the cover is emphasized in the book itself with various sections found throughout in coloured frames or titles. My favourite use of the pastel colours is that each chapter has its own coloured page borders about ¾” thick making reading or searching for a particular chapter very easy. This also helps the reader know how many more pages remain in a given chapter, and the artistic effect is absolutely stunning.
Now you may have noticed that Beth and I share a name. Yes, she is my daughter and that has made me think long and hard about even writing this review. Still, as a former educator, I am familiar with the subject matter that is so close to Beth’s heart. I also think that this book would be useful for any writers who are called upon to do readings or workshops for their public. For those reasons, I decided to go ahead and give you my thoughts.
This sentence in the opening paragraphs of Design to Engage tells the reader right away that this is a how-to book for people designing learning experiences. Not only is it a how-to book, the book has been written with knowledge and the desire to share that knowledge with the larger world in such a way that learning happens meaningfully and joyfully for those lucky enough to have either a spot in one of Beth’s sessions or a copy of Design to Engage on their bookshelf.
Writing in first person, Beth puts her whole self into telling her facilitator story, both the good and the not so good parts. All of it helps the reader see the possible progression from beginner to sought after facilitator who is constantly looking to improve herself and her sessions. Beth suggests that mistakes are simply learning opportunities.
Notice the use of colour for the interior.
The very setup of the book lends itself to quick dips into the subject matter. The chapters progress logically through steps from Facilitators of Learning (1) all the way to Grow Your Facilitation Practice (8) and the author encourages readers to read whatever topics they need at a given moment. Not often does an author say this, but Beth does. Her passion for learning and helping to learn leaps off the pages.
Notice the chapter colours.
The overall look also encourages readers to pick the book off the shelf, virtual or actual, and peruse the pages. The colour scheme of the cover is emphasized in the book itself with various sections found throughout in coloured frames or titles. My favourite use of the pastel colours is that each chapter has its own coloured page borders about ¾” thick making reading or searching for a particular chapter very easy. This also helps the reader know how many more pages remain in a given chapter, and the artistic effect is absolutely stunning.
Now you may have noticed that Beth and I share a name. Yes, she is my daughter and that has made me think long and hard about even writing this review. Still, as a former educator, I am familiar with the subject matter that is so close to Beth’s heart. I also think that this book would be useful for any writers who are called upon to do readings or workshops for their public. For those reasons, I decided to go ahead and give you my thoughts.
May 2, 2021
This is a fantastic starter guide for anyone working in facilitation, but also has gems for even the most experienced.
I love how Beth’s writing feels like she is speaking directly to you. Her authenticity and honesty shines through as she shares personal examples - the good and the bad - from her years of experience facilitating learning.
My favourite part is the design of the book - it is simply beautiful! The colour coding makes it easy to differentiate chapters, the diagrams help explain concepts like room set-up, and the bullet point take-aways at the end of each chapter reinforce the learning. This is the gold standard that all textbooks and “business” books should strive to meet.
An enthusiastic ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I love how Beth’s writing feels like she is speaking directly to you. Her authenticity and honesty shines through as she shares personal examples - the good and the bad - from her years of experience facilitating learning.
My favourite part is the design of the book - it is simply beautiful! The colour coding makes it easy to differentiate chapters, the diagrams help explain concepts like room set-up, and the bullet point take-aways at the end of each chapter reinforce the learning. This is the gold standard that all textbooks and “business” books should strive to meet.
An enthusiastic ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
March 5, 2021
Highly practical and accessible. I enthusiastically recommend this book, especially for anyone who is new (or new-ish) to facilitation. The author addresses many facilitation-related issues and offers numerous strategies that you can implement right away.
As an experienced facilitator, I also got some good ideas from this book!
Side note: I read this on a Kindle and the formatting worked well (I mention this because some books are not easy to read on a Kindle).
As an experienced facilitator, I also got some good ideas from this book!
Side note: I read this on a Kindle and the formatting worked well (I mention this because some books are not easy to read on a Kindle).
April 30, 2021
While not specifically targeted toward library science, so much of Blom's advice, experience, and perspective as a delivery facilitator are applicable to instructional librarianship, information sharing, and community engagement which are relevant trends of the library profession. This made for an entertaining and educational read!
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May 28, 2023This is a book that I keep going back to (hence why I never booked it from the current reading section), and each time I read it I learn something new about me and about learning experiences. It's a great resource book!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews