Developing Across Differences: A-ha! Activities
As team leaders, educators, and facilitators, it can be hard to break through the many demands on our audiences’ attention to engage them meaningfully around sensitive topics. This is especially true when working with groups with a wide array of interests and backgrounds.
Jolts are small yet powerful, unexpected, and often delightful learning experiences that, when used strategically, can help you do this.
Attend to help your audiences challenge assumptions, prompt deep reflection and discussion about difficult topics, provoke new insights, and, ultimately, better work together across diversity.
Emphasis is on activities that can be facilitated with diverse groups, i.e. varying contexts, experience-levels, topics, dynamics, and sizes.
Why Attend?
By engaging audiences in highly engaging ways, these highly flexible, resource-friendly activities are a gateway to deeper learning and development. They can spark new insights and motivate stakeholders to want to learn more.
In the context of appreciating differences, use them to broach topics around diversity, intercultural and cross-cultural communication, perspective-taking, recognizing and managing bias, influencing team / group dynamics, adapting behaviors, and more.
Practical information
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Dates & location
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9 July 2025 Academy Building (Broerstraat 5) or Harmonie Building (Oude Kijk in Het Jatstraat 26) |
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Level
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PhD/Postdoc/Practitioners May be appropriate for some MA students; contact the organisers for consultation about eligibility |
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Fee |
€ 615 |
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Academic coordinators
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Prof. Annette Gisevius |
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Contact
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ic rug.nl or info iddifferences.org
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Requirements
Level requirements
The DAD is for multipliers who help individuals, organizations and societies better recognize, appreciate and use differences as a way of better communicating, working and thriving together.
These are (in-house and external) trainers, educators, consultants, coaches, researchers, scholars, facilitators, HR staff, advanced-level (MA+) students, and professional development specialists with 5+ years of experience/study in the greater Differences field. Contact the organisers at ic rug.nl or info iddifferences.org for consultation about appropriateness and eligibility.
It is expected that the participants have a sufficient command of the English language to actively participate in the discussions and to present their own work in English.
Participant profile
This course is for you if are a consultant/trainer/multiplier/educator who:
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Seeking innovative ways of learning / experiencing to promote perspective shifting — especially around sensitive topics,
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Leading diverse teams and want to incorporate creative, highly engaging activities that support team growth and cohesion,
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Providing coaching, training, or on-the-job professional development to help groups better collaborate and communicate.
You should already have at least a preliminary understanding of and experience with —either through your own work or participation in ‘training for trainers’ type programs— team-building, training and (adult) learning best practices.\
Contact the organisers at ic rug.nl or info iddifferences.org if you have questions about the suitability of this course for your circumstances.
Learning outcomes
In this course, you will learn how to help yourself—and those you work with—so that you/they can better:
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Better understand how short, engaging learning activities (jolts) work both pedagogically and in everyday practice,
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Appropriately select and facilitate jolts to create powerful a-ha! moments to inspire reflection and discussion and motivate additional learning,
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Adapt these activities to suit different contexts, topics, group dynamics, group sizes, etc.,
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Facilitate effective debriefings that maximize learning and help achieve desired outcomes.
Workload
6 hours of in-class learning and active participation using experiential methods.
Upon successful completion of the programme, the Summer School offers a Certificate of Attendance that mentions the workload of 6 hours (28 hours corresponds to 1 ECTS). Students can apply for recognition of these credits to the relevant authorities in their home institutions, therefore the final decision on awarding credits is at the discretion of their home institutions. We will be happy to provide any necessary information that might be requested in addition to the certificate of attendance.
Course schedule
Sunday, 6 July
15.00-18.00 Optional networking event
Wednesday, 9 July
09.00-17.30
Course approach
This course uses a combined interactive and reflective approach in which you'll both participate in sample activities of the methods shared, and then have meta-level discussions about the processes and pedagogies behind them in order to be able to adjust and apply them in your own work.
Introduction to lecturers
Prof. Annette Gisevius
Annette Gisevius (Professor, Karlshochschule International University and Head of Training for InterCultur, gGmbH) is a master trainer, content designer, certified coach and professor who brings serious fun plus interactive learning methods and creative arts to intercultural competence development for adults and youth. She specializes in lively trainings that use everyday cultural artifacts in innovative ways to make abstract concepts tangible and engage learners in useful daily and lifelong practices.
Having pioneered programs in Germany, Brazil and Malaysia, plus designed and run 12 intercultural trainer certificate courses and collaborated with intercultural gamer Sivasailam Thiagarajan (Thiagi), Annette’s focus is on cultural awareness, cultural conflict styles and experiential learning in non-classroom settings, as well as civic engagement and service learning.
Application procedure
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Deadline for application
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Regular registration closes on 3 May 2025. Late registration closes on 1 July 2025. |
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Date of selection
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Within 72 hours following registration, you will be contacted directly by the organisers about your application. |
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Application
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Participants submit payment and details about their interest at the link below (click the "Apply now!" button). They will be contacted directly by the organisers about their experience and the suitability of the course.
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Please note that as all courses are subject to meeting minimum enrolments, the DAD team will confirm on or before 19 May 2025 that your course is taking place. We strongly advise you not to book non-refundable travel until you have received this confirmation. In all cases, refunds for courses are not available except in the case of course cancellation by the DAD organisers. In the case that your preferred course is cancelled, you are welcomed to enroll in an alternative course or request a refund. You will be notified on or before 19 May 2025 if the DAD course is cancelled. This policy is different from that of other University of Groningen Summer School and Language Centre courses. Full details are available on the Developing Across Differences (DAD) Learning Lab & Community Week Terms and Conditions page.
| Last modified: | 03 March 2025 2.03 p.m. |