Gathering

Gathering: that involves bringing together both people and ideas in colocated inquiry.

"When all have gathered, the onsite phase begins with an opening ... plenary. Introductions are made, and expectations and the week’s schedule are reviewed. [....]  Community-building rituals are occasionally inserted, for example, it was important for all to gather and watch the sunset each day at Asilomar."  [Dyer, Jones et al. (2015), p. 44]

Expectations on constructive behaviours set the atmosphere for the dialogue teams.

"Setting the stage at the opening plenary, organizers remind everyone that we define an effective conversation as one in which the interaction between participants throughout maximizes the potential for creative synergy."  [Dyer, Jones et al. (2015), p. 45]

In a systems approach, Banathy Conversations aim to product outputs collaboratively, that individuals could each produce alone.

References

[1] Dyer, G., Jones, J., Rowland, G., & Zweifel, S. (2015). The Banathy Conversation Methodology. Constructivist Foundations, 11(1), 42–50. http://constructivist.info/11/1/042, cached on drive.lab.csrp.institute

Topics in the Classroom

Conversation organizers facilitate the in-person residential activities with guiding materials in the 2024-Banathy-Conversation classroom:

• Classroom Topic:  E. Gathering

As a quick reference, the 2024-Activities-Gathering table is also available.

The Sunday afternoon meeting place will be a Grottino Viganello.  Here's some wayfinding on My Maps.