by
Jane Vella
founder of Global Learning Partners
It is hot here on the back porch in North Carolina! The heat is not only from
the weather, but also from the dramatic experience of the first Dialogue Education
Institute Conference which took place at the Aqueduct Conference Center in
Chapel Hill May 28 - 30, 2005
Wow! What an experience for the founder of Global Learning Partners (me!) who
sat there with 40 pairs of loving eyes on her, waiting for words of wisdom. A
young Dialogue Educator asked me: "When did you know this was something special,
something more than a new model of adult learning?" I responded - in all
truth - "Six minutes ago." As I looked around the room, heard the energetic,
laughing songs produced by the warm up task, met the ten foot tall educators from
Canada, Idaho, Vermont, Haiti, Ghana, Illinois, Wyoming, New York and California,
I realized this was indeed something special. Imagine my excitement at meeting
twenty lovers of Dialogue Education for the first time, and twenty others who
are dear old friends.
My personal experience was deeply humbling and wonderfully enjoyable. I rejoiced
in every word of every session, like a fond Grandma looking at her over-achieving
grandchildren! When I attended Valerie Uccellani's brilliant workshop on Evaluation
I was so caught up in the learning tasks that I blurted out at one point: "We
need to name transfer objectives among the achievement-based objectives!"
I had failed to look on the next page of the program, where Valerie had a learning
task inviting us to name transfer objectives! Duh!
Because of a health condition, I spent two afternoons snoozing, listening to the
laughter emerging from each of the workshop sessions. That laughter was the signature
element of the entire conference. Dwayne Hodgson, facilitator extraordinaire,
led us from laugh to laugh, learning to learning. My "words of wisdom"
were punctuated by heartfelt laughter, and each session, including the final synthesis,
began and ended in laughter that underlined the seriousness of the issues in dialogue.
I am so proud of Global Learning Partners,
and of the many stars in this firmament who are now resources to one another.
I am happy to see Jane's star declining gracefully - behind her flowery cane -
and a new day emerging. Stay tuned!
janevella@globalearning.com.
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