{"id":1852,"date":"2024-02-05T12:47:41","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T12:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/?p=1852"},"modified":"2024-02-05T12:47:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T12:47:41","slug":"the-introverted-facilitators-club-how-to-be-a-quiet-ld-in-the-sometimes-noisy-world-of-module-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/?p=1852","title":{"rendered":"The Introverted Facilitators’ Club: How to be a quiet LD in the sometimes noisy world of module design?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hayley Johns ~ Learning Designer<\/em><\/p>\n

Back in September, I attended my first ever \u2018real life\u2019 or in-person conference (the ALT conference, at the University of Warwick \u2013 you can read about my and my colleague\u2019s experiences here<\/a>). It was a brilliant experience, and we learnt a huge amount.<\/p>\n

As well as all of the fascinating sessions we attended, being in that kind of big, mingly conference space for the first time really got me thinking about the social side of our role in Learning Design (LD). When I got back to my WFH set-up (feat. tea, dressing gown and small brown cockapoo), I decided to reach out to Learning Design colleagues who consider themselves to be introverts and to hear about their experiences in the LD role in either physical or virtual spaces.<\/p>\n

Thinking about introversion is not a new thing for me. Back when I was a classroom teacher, I felt able to ‘act’ the part – but it really did feel like an act, and I used to joke that spending every day standing in front of a class of 30 teenagers wasn\u2019t quite my natural habitat. In my current role, I’ve become a lot more conscious of the fact that that kind of performance doesn’t ring true for me, so I’m trying to find another way to go about facilitation and that \u2018front of the classroom\u2019 role that’s more authentic.<\/p>\n

What does it mean to be an introvert?<\/h5>\n

Firstly, my fellow LDs sought to define what being an introvert means to them. They identified aspects such as needing quiet time to recharge after being sociable; thinking and feeling deeply; actively enjoying \u2018me\u2019 time; being reflective and liking to mull things over.<\/p>\n

Then we thought about what strategies we use (or could adopt) as introverted LDs to make the parts of our role where we have to be front-and-centre a bit more comfortable.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what the team came up with:<\/p>\n

Speaking up<\/h5>\n