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Training

We love learning! As learners, we believe that education and capacity-building initiatives come in all shapes and sizes. As your partner, we can develop training resources with you or facilitate our own material on a number of topics.

We have developed and delivered content for:

Médias Ténois, Yellowknife NWT
The School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia
The Vancouver Summer Program, University of British Columbia
The Centre for Applied Ethics, University of British Columbia
School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia
School of the Environment, University of Toronto
The Canadian Evaluation Society, BC Chapter
The Canadian Evaluation Society, National
People's Open Access Education Initiative
HPME, University of Toronto
Femingdon Health Centre
St. Michael's Hospital
Starfish Productions
Diabetes Canada
and more!

Keep scrolling for examples of educational training initiatives we have created and facilitated:

Using Art in Data Collecton (Portfoilio Page)

Using Art in Data Collection & Analysis

Overview

Art is an engaging, accessible, and meaningful way to include diverse voices and experiences in your research and evaluation projects.

In this workshop, we use hands-on educational activities, real-world research and evaluation examples from our practice, and instructions for continued individual and group learning beyond the session. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to: 1) understand the advantages of different arts-based data collection strategies to answer different questions, 2) identify opportunities to add art into their own projects and contexts, 3) pitch arts-based methods to funders or stakeholders, 4) get started on their own arts-based journeys.

All of our techniques are evidence-based and grounded in ethical, responsible, and respectful practices. In light of COVID-19, we have adapted our workshops to accommodate social distancing and provide instructions for participants to adapt practices as well.

DRAWING

Tap into hidden assumptions and underlying values

PHOTO ELICITATION

Learn from nuanced associations, metaphors, and subtle interpretations

an abstract line drawing of a person's body

BODYMAPPING

Engage in a multi-sensory practice of mapping experience and feelings

COLLAGE

Dive deeper with a tactile constructive and de-constructive experience

DIGITAL STORYELLING

Find out what matters about the stories we tell and how we tell them

NARRATIVE

Share your journey instead of your results to engage audiences

a line drawing of a person holding a camera

PHOTOVOICE

Transform meanings into actions, social change, and sustainability initiatives

THEATRE

Explore concepts through whole bodies, movements, and interactions

POETRY

Play with words to discover how they can be transformed and transformative

Options

What do you want to learn? We customize workshops for each audience, professional working group, and community of practice. Based on your interests, questions, time commitment, and budget, you can choose from the following arts-based data collection strategies:

Watch our 1-hour poetry edition workshop recording here or skim through our slides and activities below. If you want to use any of this material on your own, please contact us for permission. If you want to reference this material, please cite us:

Lefkowich, M. & Nichols, J. (2021, April 23). New Possibilities: Using Art to analyze data, draft recommendations, and promote reflexivity [Online Presentation]. CES BC Chapter Webinar Series, Vancouver. https://www.andimplementation.ca/training.

Check it out

By crafting a story instead of just sharing results, we can do a better job of getting our target audiences to understand, care, and get excited about what we have to say. In this workshop, we explore creative communication strategies, tools to tailor messaging, and examples of different kinds of stories and story formats that participants can adapt to their contexts.

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to: 1) identify different kinds of audiences and tailor their communication style accordingly, 2) prioritize key messages, 3) centre themselves as effective protagonists, and 4) get started in their independent storytelling journeys. This workshop is awesome for researchers, evaluators, educators, program coordinators, graduate students, and more.

Crafting your KT Story (Training Page)

Content 2 hours 3 hours 4 hours+

Identifying
Audiences

Prioritizing

Elements

Character
Development

Independent
Strategies

Story

Feedback

Overview

Options

Crafting your KT Story

This workshop series was created for graduate students by graduate students. It centred on three principles: reciprocity, action, and anti-oppression. Our goal was to foster bravery and integrity among student researchers. With a peer training approach, we offered the space for students to speak openly and honestly about their experiences. Hands-on capacity-building activities, real-world case studies, active problem-solving, and independent assignments promoted tangible skill-building and change initiatives.

Learn more about the Skills for Respectful Research series.

Dandelions thrive in diverse spaces while supporting other plants around them. As graduate students, we saw ourselves as a unique group in the university who could do the same.

In 2019, we got together to discuss our concerns with the lack of educational training available to students to foster anti-oppressive practices and bring about sustainable change during their tenure in graduate school. We decided to take this issue on and develop our own change initiative by designing a peer-run workshop series for students to bravely and safely address issues of power inequities, ethical research practice, and sustainability in their own programs. We called ourselves the "Dandelion Collective," and successfully applied for funding to get started.

We were overwhelmed by the support we received for our pilot series. Spaces filled up for our workshops in the first day of making it available for registration. Student attendees created their own support networks and developed action plans to bring about meaningful change in their research projects, departments, and professional practices. Staff from across the university reached out to learn more about adapting our work into campus-wide initiatives. And, we heard from students at other schools looking to do the same.

Our team is now in the process of creating a handbook and reflection paper on the "behind the scenes" of our collective and workshop series to support other grassroots initiatives. We are also open to running the series again or coaching students and faculty to do the same. All updates on the Dandelion Collective will be included on this page as we have news to share!