Facilitation Skills for Service Development (5 cr)

Learning outcomes

The student is able to
- explain the principles of facilitation and what is facilitation in different contexts
- identify the role of a facilitator
- classify facilitation competences and tools, and to master their business applications
- develop workshops to be more interactive and productive
- develop a basic facilitated workshop process with relevant tools and guidelines

Location and time

The course consists of three contact days and a learning assignment. The preliminary
contents of the lectures are:
1. Practicalities of the course, lecture about facilitation (facilitation in different fields, central concepts); discussing students' experiences and expectations; group exercise based on pre-reading articles about facilitation, instructions for the learning assignment
2. Practical facilitation exercises and tools & methods, further instructions and tutoring for the learning assignment
3. Presentations of the learning assignments, reflection, feedback

Between the three contact days the students are expected to work on the learning assignment in small groups of 3-5 students. The learning assignment consists of planning, implementing and reporting a facilitated service design workshop. The students may choose the topic of the workshop.

Materials

The literature will be announced in the first lecture - there will be a selection of books and articles to choose from according to student's own learning goals.

Recommended literature includes:
- Kaner, S., Lind, L., Toldi, C., Fisk, S. & Berger, D. (2014) Facilitator's guide to participatory decision-making. 3rd ed. San Francisco, CA : Jossey-Bass.
- Schwarz, R. (2017) The Skilled Facilitator. A Comprehensive Resouces for Consultants, Facilitators, Coaches, and Trainers. 3rd edition.
- Unger, R., Nunnally, B. & Willis, D. (2013) Designing the conversation: techniques for successful facilitation. Berkeley, Calif.: New Riders.

Teaching methods

Having completed this study unit the student will be able to:
- explain the principles of facilitation and what is facilitation in different contexts
- identify the role of a facilitator
- classify facilitation competences and tools, and to master their business applications
- develop workshops to be more interactive and productive, and
- develop a basic facilitated workshop process with relevant tools and guidelines.

Employer connections

The study unit includes a learning assignment to be carried out in collaboration with a worklife partner, either some organization or Laurea's RDI project. The students may choose independently the worklife partner, but the course staff will also offer opportunities for collaboration with Laurea's RDI projects.
The learning assignment includes planning, organizing, and reporting a facilitated workshop. Detailed instructions will be given in the first lecture.

Exam schedules

There will be three contact days (9:00-16:30):
2.10.2020
6.11.2020
5.12.2020

Evaluation scale

Approved/Failed

Further information

The students must have basic knowledge of service design when enrolling to this study unit.