Our narrative training builds on themes outlined in the book Re-authoring Teaching: Creating a Collaboratory: to consult with each other, bring multiple voices into our teaching and learning, and learn about life experiences from people seeking our services. We also aspire to enact wider narrative therapy principles like collaboration, transparency, and social justice. Whenever possible, our pedagogy believes in learning through immersion in practice, practice, practice. These commitments helped create the following learning principles, which guide our approach to teaching and learning and provide ethical guidelines for how we use the Internet.
Collaboratory blends the two words collaboration and laboratory to convey an environment without walls where participants use computing and communication technologies to connect with a sense of discovery over a shared project. All of our online features – The Collab Salon, Online courses and Faculty Offerings- build on this principle.
New Zealand Māori and Australian Aboriginal cultures have been highly influential in the development of Narrative therapy, through the experiences of Narrative’s Australian and New Zealander founders Michael White and David Epston. Bringing together the concepts of teaching and learning, the Māori word “te whakaakona” is central to the community’s principles. Dorothea Lewis and Aileen Cheshire offer this description of the word from their article Te Whakaakona; Teaching and Learning as One:
“The New Zealand Maori word ‘te whakaakona’ includes in the one word the concepts of teaching and learning, which traditionally in Western ways of thinking are viewed as different processes involving different positions for the participants. The concept that we can do both alongside each other has much appeal to us as teachers in a postmodern counseling training program. We have been experimenting with teaching practice ideas of working alongside students, making our knowledge and experience available rather than imposed or delivered, and being open to learning from students.”
We create our online resources for people coming from different professional backgrounds, levels of experience and access to resources. We strive to be aware of structural inequalities and to act according to our belief in social justice and human kindness. Some of us have been exposed to narrative ideas and practices for many years. Others have less experience, and perhaps fresher eyes. Some people are seasoned practitioners in independent practice, while others work primarily in community agencies, hospitals or universities. Some of us have personal experience as service seekers dealing with emotional challenges and psychiatric crises in our own lives, and/or with spouses, family members and friends. Some people are talented writers, and others are less confident writers, expressing themselves more freely in song, dance, art, hugs or…. We all come to this endeavor with different skills and knowledge – it is our hope we can become experience consultants to each other.
By flipping our classroom, we deliver content through a variety of forms such as sharing online videos, powerpoint slides and readings (for further description of this principle, see ‘flipping the classroom.’). Whenever possible, we deliver content outside of the real-time meetings, thereby preserving time to engage each other to explore topics in greater depth and to facilitate meaningful exchanges. We encourage our facilitators and faculty to guide and support rather than ‘teach’ and encourage peer-to-peer interaction and learning.
Our narrative training aims to create space where people can meet under the banner of curiosity and collaboration to learn from each other, build bridges, and engage in conversations about how we, as practitioners, can be most effective in the work that we do. As practitioners we all come from different theoretical, geographical and ideological backgrounds. These backgrounds define where we come from as professionals but do not limit where we are going. In the work that we do, we believe it is hugely important that we remain curious and open to learning from others both within and outside our theoretical framework(s).
We would like to acknowledge The Taos Institute for the support they have given to the Re-Authoring Teaching project to build these bridges. This is important architecture and we thank you for helping us with the foundations.
Learning through Immersion
And then, to top that off, you discovered Padlets to use in ways that will revolutionize online courses like this. You couldn’t get more creative and exploit Padlet more than you have. Some of your Padlets took my breath away. I now can conceive of this technical artifact to produce something of the sort of conversation that took place at or beyond the physical sites of the classical form of NT pedagogy- the intensive and the many ways people became immersed in the practice. (David Epston in correspondence, June 2024)
We believe in practice, practice and more practice. Meeting in-person is not possible. Always learning and developing new online options, we aspire to immerse ourselves in continually crafting the practices into art. A good illustration is in our new course, Three Interviews with David Epston.
Using the Internet in Productive and Socially Responsible Ways
Netiquette is a combination of the words network and etiquette, and is defined as a set of rules for acceptable online behavior. Similarly, online ethics focuses on the acceptable use of online resources in an online social environment.
Both phrases are frequently interchanged and are often combined with the concept of a ’netizen’ which itself is a contraction of the words internet and citizen and refers to both a person who uses the internet to participate in society, and an individual who has accepted the responsibility of using the internet in productive and socially responsible ways. (Webroot)
Being online and being able to share practices across geographies is quite a marvelous thing. However the Internet can also readily become a place where a lot of damage is done in a very short period of time. The digital world is a space where perceived distance can lead to words being used that might not otherwise be used or words being used that can engage readers’ imaginations in unproductive ways. We are all pioneers in establishing ethics for online interactions. We’d like to establish some ground rules for how we wish to use this medium. Please contact us with your reflections and proposed additions.
Establishing Ethical guidelines for Our Online Interactions
Many interactions in the Narrative Community are online now and up for consumption by community members familiar, unfamiliar and interested in narrative practices. What are some of the some ethical guidelines for our online interactions? What does it mean to be a good Netizen?
- Recognizing that the internet is not some new world in which anything goes, but rather a new dimension or extension of our existing society.
- Applying the same standards and values online as we are accustomed to applying in the rest of our lives. In simple terms this means that the values society has in place against such things as hate speech and bigotry, copyright violations and other forms of theft, child exploitation and child pornography, remain intact. As do the values around courtesy, kindness, openness, and treating others with the same respect we wish to receive.
- Accepting that the laws which are currently in place to protect the rights and dignity of citizens apply online, and that where needed, laws are updated to reflect these rights in the extended environment. Theft online is still theft, stalking, bullying, harassing, tormenting online is still abusive, and so on.
- Acknowledging that cultural differences remain, even when national boundaries no longer apply. This requires finding a way to accept that the social values and norms of some netizens will not be the social values and norms of all netizens.For companies, being a good netizen, applying online ethics, or using netiquette also includes:
– Respecting the rights to privacy assumed and possessed by citizens in their offline interactions.
– Maintaining transparency in their policies and actions so that consumers can easily and quickly understand how that company is using their information, protecting them from harm, and giving users a clear means of ownership and self-determination as to what is, and isn’t shared about them.( Webroot. For further description, see Netiquette: Rules of behavior on the Internet by and M.D. Roblyer|A. H. Doering — Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall)
Some Narrative Inspired Posting Guidelines for our Learning Community
- As you post, consider the effects of your sharing. These effects could be on yourself, others, or other groups or communities. If any questions or concerns arise as you consider these considerations, we invite you to pause and reflect on your message before posting.
- We are an international learning community. If you see or hear something that seems confusing or you disagree with, try and respond with curiosity rather than reactivity.
- If you share stories of your work with clients, please respect their privacy and confidentiality. Similarly, please respect the privacy and confidentiality of the stories you hear or see from other learners.
- When you see or hear something inspiring that another learner has posted, let us know! We may be able to connect you with them.
Trolling is defined as making a deliberately offensive or provocative online post with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them. We wish to open a forum for very careful, deliberate and earnest responses. Let’s draw from our best skills in facilitating difficult conversations and being relationally respectful. No Trolling Please!