David, Have you considered talking to a few of the people involved and asking them how they would describe the issue? That would give you a clue as to the wording that lies close to their hearts.
It sounds like a great opportunity and I am sure that OS can be a great contribution in this process. A few extra questions to consider, maybe unnecessary but I ask them anyway... Have you considered inviting other stake holders like students, alumni, school management (I mean of the schools that will hire your teachers-to-be after their graduation), state officials (the ones who demand the new curriculum)? What is your own position, are you passionate about this yourself? That does not have to be a problem, it just might make it a little more difficult to sit on your hands and stick to just holding the space. Success and warm greetings, Koos At 13:49 10-03-1999 -0600, you wrote: >I'd like some help coming up with the appropriate wording for an OS >theme. What I have coming up is a high stakes event. The >precise theme wording is critical (at least I think it is). > >First I need to give some background. I am a member of a College >of Education at a university. We are undergoing massive teacher >education redesign. We are under a state mandate to get a new >program in place by Fall 99. We have a month and a half left in >this academic year. Failure to come up with a new curriculum is >simply not an option. A key group of ten faculty (10 PhD ego's) are >working on a new "Core Curriculum." Deliberations have broken >down over philosophical issues, content issues, generalist vs >specialist teacher issues, number of hours, etc., etc. In short >conversations have become very contentious and heated. The >group is going in circles and a couple of people have resigned. >Emotions are high and acrimony is rampant. The group is getting >frustrated, exhausted, and burned out on every-other-day meetings. >To me the situation meets perfectly the criteria for an OS event: >high levels of complexity, high levels of diversity, high levels of >conflict, and a decision is needed yesterday. > >I volunteered to hold an OS event with this group. The group may >be expanded in size somewhat. I'm going to guess that 15 to 20 >people would voluntarily come together if they believed real >progress could be made. > >I would GREATLY APPRECIATE any suggestions anyone on this >list might have for the wording of a theme to focus this group. >Something like "issues and opportunities facing the College of >Education" just seems too generic for this particular situation, >which I might go so far as to describe as a crisis. > >Thanks VERY MUCH for your help!!! > ------------ koos de heer auryn management advies utrecht, netherlands mailto:koos...@auryn.nl http://www.auryn.nl/
