A repertoire of clear, easy-to-learn, and powerful practices, Liberating Structures helps people—including teachers, mentors, and students—work together to discover purpose, question assumptions, learn from failure, confront biases and inequities, support one another through decision-making and hard conversations, and connect ideas with actions, problem-solving, course correction, and forward motion.
After learning from Liberating Structures leaders Anna Jackson and Fisher Qua in a series of workshops this summer, HPG is launching a new user group to build on our knowledge and experience with Liberating Structures.The UIowa Liberating Structures User Group is a monthly casual convening for people to play around with Liberating Structures methods, discover their own practice for using Liberating Structures in their classrooms and meetings, and to have some serious fun. You can think of this user group as a sort of peer support network that shares a similar interest and goal around the use of a particular technology: Liberating Structures. Knowledge is shared, ideas are sparked, and lighthearted engagement thrives.
Curious? Listen to this short audio clip, where Anna Jackson and Fisher Qua describe the lasting benefits of a Liberating Structures user group with HPG Postdoctoral Fellows Ashley Cheyemi McNeil and Laura Perry (or read a transcript):
HPG Postdoctoral Fellow Ashley Cheyemi McNeil organizes and facilitates the UIowa Liberating Structures User Group. Each meeting explores 2-3 structures (including the logistics of how to facilitate the structure through Zoom!), led by Ashley and other participants. All participants are encouraged to try out leading the group through a structure that they may want to use in class or in a meeting, whenever they feel ready for a test-run. No previous experience required! Just a willingness to dance around with various approaches to making meaning through a group.
UIowa LS User Group meetings for Spring 2021:
- Friday, February 19 @ 3-4pm
- Friday, March 19th @ 3-4 pm
- Friday, April 16th @ 3-4 pm
UIowa LS User Group meetings for Fall 2020 (all on Zoom):
- Thursday, October 22nd @ 7-8pm
- Thursday, November 19 @ 7-8pm
- Thursday, December 10 @ 7-8pm.
We hope the LS User Group will be an opportunity to meet people from across the campus and the community. Students, staff, faculty, administrators, and community members are all warmly welcome to join us for one or all sessions.
Interested? Of course you are! Fill out this quick UIOWA LIBERATING STRUCTURES USER GROUP INTEREST FORM and Ashley will be in touch.
Want to learn more about Liberating Structures? Check out the full conversation with Anna and Fisher, where they discuss how Liberating Structures can help us embrace complexity and design successful collaborations across many different fields and teams, from healthcare to the humanities.
Hope you’ll join us at the next meeting of the user group!
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