Before closing this educational module, it is worth dedicating a few lines to the importance of evaluation and specifically, self-reflection and self-evaluation. This concerns the facilitators and the participants.
Facilitators, either in a formal or a non-formal setting, should be in the position to evaluate their practices and their performance as a whole when offering seminars and educational workshops to others. This is an opportunity for them to reflect and re examine their perspectives for their educational activities and planning, as well as the world around them. Knowledge is not something directed from the educator to students in our pre-described context. Knowledge is transmitted to and from the facilitator and the participants. The role of the facilitator in this setting is to empower the learner and enable her to think more critically and in depth about the world. The extent of which the facilitator manages to do this should be evaluated by the participants and the facilitator herself.
Similarly, participants are supposed to have defined their learning needs and expectations in the beginning. After the end of their learning course, they will need to go back to their initial expectations and learning needs, in order to evaluate if there was any progress and if they feel satisfied with what they learnt and discussed. However, it should not be forgotten that transformative education is about transforming our perspectives and assumptions being open to reconstruct our imaginaries we have for this world. For this reason, participants will need to reflect upon their everyday life experiences and lifestyles based on the educational process they participated in. Without “stopping for a minute” and think about “what have I learned?”, “what have I unlearned?” and “how should I move forward?” the circle of learning will be incomplete.
Finally, the final step for the facilitators and the participants is to answer to the questions: “What am I going to do next?”, “How am I going to use the things that I learned”, and “How can I involve more people into this learning experience?”, i.e. “How can I be come a multiplier?”. This is the point where participants become the facilitators and advocate as active citizens through education and sustainable initiatives.
Facilitators, either in a formal or a non-formal setting, should be in the position to evaluate their practices and their performance as a whole when offering seminars and educational workshops to others. This is an opportunity for them to reflect and re examine their perspectives for their educational activities and planning, as well as the world around them. Knowledge is not something directed from the educator to students in our pre-described context. Knowledge is transmitted to and from the facilitator and the participants. The role of the facilitator in this setting is to empower the learner and enable her to think more critically and in depth about the world. The extent of which the facilitator manages to do this should be evaluated by the participants and the facilitator herself.
Similarly, participants are supposed to have defined their learning needs and expectations in the beginning. After the end of their learning course, they will need to go back to their initial expectations and learning needs, in order to evaluate if there was any progress and if they feel satisfied with what they learnt and discussed. However, it should not be forgotten that transformative education is about transforming our perspectives and assumptions being open to reconstruct our imaginaries we have for this world. For this reason, participants will need to reflect upon their everyday life experiences and lifestyles based on the educational process they participated in. Without “stopping for a minute” and think about “what have I learned?”, “what have I unlearned?” and “how should I move forward?” the circle of learning will be incomplete.
Finally, the final step for the facilitators and the participants is to answer to the questions: “What am I going to do next?”, “How am I going to use the things that I learned”, and “How can I involve more people into this learning experience?”, i.e. “How can I be come a multiplier?”. This is the point where participants become the facilitators and advocate as active citizens through education and sustainable initiatives.
Thank you for taking part in this journey! Read the complete module here.
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only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.