Last year I left for the Pacific North West to support a community as an Agile Learning Facilitator. This was my first solo facilitation experience and also my first ever involvement in anything related to educating youth. Running off to the other side of the nation to do something I’d never done was scary and I was going to be completely alone. Except I wasn’t, I had the support of the entire Agile Learning Centers Network behind me.

Each week I could jump on a video call with other ALFs from around the network to discuss challenges, questions, and achievements. It made the whole experience way less scary. This connection to a network of people on the same journey is incredibly valuable (plug for ALC membership). The near constant connection with other ALFs allows good ideas to pass through the network very quickly. Challenges are addressed by group intelligence and successes are shared.

I was on the Facilitation Practices call today (It’s every Monday) when @ryanshollenberger mentioned an upgrade he and @timotree had made to their gameshifting board (a tool that helps make the implicit structure of group time into something more explicit). They had changed the body energy setting from “raucous” to “energetic”. When I created the Gameshifting board for ALC Oahu I had referenced this same language.

The change had come from a conversations based on a great deal of thought and consideration around the word “raucous” and a search for a better word which ended up being “energetic”.

upon hearing this I immediately picked up our board and upgraded it.

It took me just a few moments because all the thinking and conversation had already been done. It’s a small example of how upgrades in one ALC are able to quickly spread to others.

What upgrades have you gathered from other ALCs?