Workshops
WHAT
Learning Conversations provide a way of developing a shared understanding of key concepts and knowledge in learning and in life. When used purposefully as an educational tool, learning conversations enable you to construct and reconstruct meaning and to explore deeper levels and layers of those aspects of teaching and learning which are important to you and to like-minded others.
WHY
We are experienced teacher trainers who have created this forum not to teach others but because we are willing to share our thoughts and especially, willing to create a community of teachers and other educational practitioners who have the same philosophy as we do, ”always eager to learn more, always ready to listen what others have in their minds”. Even though we might have strong principles of our own, we believe the forum should be an open space for everybody to share, reflect, create, debate and explore as learning practitioners.
OUR GOAL
Our aim is to encourage a culture where we don’t expect everyone to necessarily agree but to find mutual understanding and to learn from those who see things differently. Our goal therefore is to create a forum in which visitors to the website become participants in the community, bringing new questions and suggestions that provide fresh insights into what is important in teaching and learning.
We feel that there are endless podcasts and videos telling you what to do as a teacher, but there is a lack of open space for teachers to gather, share and reflect, not just their thoughts but also by taking part in key activities within learning conversations such as sharing their own ideas and materials such as articles, short podcasts, topics for discussion, suggestions for who to interview etc.
WHO FOR
All teachers, educational leaders, student teachers, decision makers and politicians from various levels of education all over the world.
HOW
In the short term, we have gathered some materials such as slides, videos, videolinks that we have found valuable. At the moment they do not represent a full range or scale of teaching and learning materials…. but we feel it would be a pity not to share those ones we already have got.
So, you will find some recorded ’learning conversations’ which we hope model the intention of not just sharing ’surface knowledge’ but which explore ’what lies beneath’ some of the key ideas and concepts that inform teaching and learning today and which help us to reflect on professional learning that we have gained previously, in the past.
In October 2022 the first interview was published, on Finnish pages, and in March 2023 the first one on these pages in English. You also find some "HALE talks" videos were we share some thoughts of our own. At the moment you can participate by subscribing or by writing an email in "Participate".
We also dream of conducting interesting workshops online 1-3 times a year. The first one will be available only for those whom we send an invitation. But if there seems to be wider interest for workshops on special areas of deeper discussions, anyone can join. Surely, that is only a long term plan, as there has to be a whole community existing to start that phase.
