Armidale and Beyond: A Path of Events and Thought

Abstract

This chapter moves forward in time and context from the original workshops this book has largely focused on. I moved away overseas, but the momentum was such that directly related workshops continued in Armidale for at least ten more years. The first part of the chapter outlines how the workshops were announced, organised and led—nearly all by original participants—during that interesting sequel. The whole Armidale history and later reflection lead to a summary view, next in the chapter, of both what to preserve and do somewhat differently now in an extended residential workshop. Work in conducting groups with trainee students is also a carefully sketched region of subsequent experience and thought. These contexts, vital though they are, are not the only ones in which to offer discovery learning opportunities in experiential groups: independent practice is another to speak of, and the chapter outlines specific thought and practical experience of my own in this context. Issues relating to low-structure experiential learning and discovery groups in wider contexts in the culture are briefly considered in the chapter conclusion.