And the Winner is....

The Results of the
Dialogue Education
Principles Review Game…

The wait is over, the results are in and now, all will be revealed. The winner of the inaugural, 2010  Back-to-School, Dialogue Education Principles Review Game is….

<Drum roll please…..>

Hmmm...wait a second, here it gets a bit complicated, as we had two contestants who successfully matched all 12 pictures with the related principles. But as per the Official Rules of the Contest, Chapter 2, Subsection 4, Paragraph 3:

"In the event of a situation with multiple correct answers, the winner will be chosen by drawing the names of those who matched all 12 pictures correctly from a hat, in an impartial manner, reflecting from the great cosmic mystery of the universe known as "chance", or if you don't believe in "chance", perhaps Providential Serendipity".

So without further ado....the moment we've all been waiting for...the Fickle Finger of Fate fumbles in the fedora and draws the name of...

<Drum roll please…..>

Well, then again, was there really a single RIGHT answer to this quiz? It wouldn't really be an Open Question then, would it? And thus, not a question befitting a contest on Dialogue Education....For shame!

Truth be told, one of the beautiful things about this learning task is that everyone interprets the photos a little bit differently.  In a recent workshop on facilitation skills, I posted these pictures on the wall and sent the participants around in pairs to match the descriptions in their handouts. Lots of laughter and discussion ensued as they argued which one was which. No pair got it "right" or rather the way I interpreted them, but it didn't matter: the exercise served its purpose of getting the new staff up to speed, but it also helped participants who were familiar with the principles to go deeper in their understanding. 

But I digress. 

Without further ado, delay, obfuscation, distraction, explanation or redundant and unnecessary repetition, the winner is...

Mr. Paul Nitz! Congratulations! Paul! Come'on down! 

<Applause>

Tell him what's he's won, Dan....

Paul, you have won a brand new copy of Dr. Jane Vella’s upcoming book, Designing for Effective Learning (Jossey Bass/ John Wiley & Sons) once it is published next year.* Send me your coordinates and we'll get that book to you by Postal Bus, matole or ferry on Lake Malawi. 

Thanks also to Mr. David Baine who also answered the questions correctly, but alas! his name was not drawn.

And thanks to all the contestants who played. Better luck next time! 

In the Meantime....

If you’re curious, click here to learn the answers to the game. 

Or if you still want to play the game, click here!

Happy learning! 

*By the way….the advanced reviews of Jane’s new book are glowing:

“Goosebumps! It gave me goosebumps!”
--- Eleanor Ray, Research Assistant, The New York Times Review of Books

“If you buy one book on Designing for Effective Learning this year, make sure it’s this one!” 
--- Dan D. Mann, Learning Guru Quarterly

“Thank you, Jane!....This is great contribution to the field. But If I may....”
-– Anonymous Dialogue Educator with funky shoes.

The Dialogue Education Principles Game!

No matter how long I've been out of school (don't ask!), September always feels like the real start of the New Year for me. You can keep your Julian, Gregorian, lunar, Chinese, liturgical, fiscal and astronomical calendars; the academic schedule is really what defines the seasons and rhythms of life for me. But after a summer of kite-flying, canoe-paddling, hammock-swinging and beer-nursing, September also means that we need to review what we've learned before. And even experience adult educators can benefit from a refresher! So to celebrate the real New Year, here's a Back-to-School Dialogue Education Review Game to refresh, reinvigorate and reactivate your knowledge of 12 selected principles of Dialogue Education, as synthesized by the work of Jane Vella, founder of Global Learning Partners.

Click to read more ...