MOVE - Moderation and Visualization for Group ... - INSPIRATION

For example, it is one thing to dig into lengthy
explanations about complex and complicated
concepts such as Geographical Information
System (GIS), and it is another to visualize
crucial aspects of such a concept by means of
photos and other graphical support such as the
illustration to the right.
All of the sudden, people and their creative and
intellectual potentials were at the center of
attention, not predetermined institutional
positions or bits of ‘eternal’ scientific knowledge,
or technical know-how. Plenary sessions were
often broken down into small working group
interaction, and the monologue by lecturers and
dominant trainers was replaced by dialogue
between participants, trainers and moderators.
Most of them left a course with a sense of having
learned something new and valuable for themselves
and their work. As a result, the moderation
method sufficiently convinced DSE, and the
organization made its adult education philosophy
the backbone of its overall didactical concept
in the mid 1990s. Courses for moderators and
trainers on what then was called ‘Participatory
Approaches for Cooperative Group Events’ (see
Ullrich et al 1991) were offered in English,
French and Spanish since the mid 1980s.
The success story of the ‘Moderation Method’
resembles the situation described in the
Prologue’s right-hand column. Those who
Why a MOVE Manual?
Over the last 20 years, InWEnt, respectively, DSE
and CDG, have garnered positive experiences
with improving group interaction in international
training through moderation and visualization
methods. Many trainees who participated
in related courses later became moderators and
trainers themselves or applied the newly-gained
methods in their own working environments. To
their assistance, some internal manuals on the
methods were published by DSE (e.g., Participatory
Approaches 1986) and by moderators and
institutions that adopted them (e.g., VIPP 1993).
In the 1990s, when international training
became even more integrated with human
11
attended an InWEnt training event will know the
difference. What strikes the attention first is the
‘hardware’ – the boards and cards etc. – which
differ from the conventional classroom setup.
But what is really different, is the ‘software’, the
philosophy and ethics of the method, especially
its belief in the creative and intellectual potential
of every person concerned. The approach
involves all participants in the working process of
arriving at a consensus, not just a few ‘loud
mouths’ who often dominate a meeting. Full
participation leads to higher individual creativity
and activates the assembled pool of knowledge
and experiences. The result of such a working
process is best summarized in a motto that is
often heard in moderated events: “Nobody knows
everything – everybody knows something”.
resource development and institutional capacity
building, e.g., in the context of long-term
environmental management programs of DSE-
ZÖV (Public Administration Promotion Center)
in Viet Nam and Indonesia, the need for a more
defined body of know-how became evident.
Therefore, the idea emerged to share and
synthesize its lessons learned under a new name
– MOVE, Moderation and Visualization for
Group Events – and to make these lessons
available in a manual.
The publication provides a brief introduction to
the essential elements of the approach, and it