Similar to PAR for everyone, this intereactive presentation is geared to doctoral students in Education at the Colorado Technical University

1. This presentation was made for the Colorado Technical University by Dr. E. Alana James and is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License James, E.A. (2008). Complex Adaptive Problems and the Use of Participatory Action Research to SOLVE Them. Presented 17 April, 2008 at Colorado Technical University, Colorado Springs, CO.

2. Complex Adaptive Problems: And the use of Participatory Action Research to SOLVE them E. Alana James, Ed.D . Doctoral Residency for the Institute for Advanced Studies, Colorado Technical University April 12, 2008 Colorado Springs, Colorado

3. Shameless Self Promotion PAR is an important tool for leadership, for accomplishing BIG goals For large scale change you need a group The nature of a participatory group is that it equalizes normal power differential

6. What Complex Adaptive Problems Do You Face? Discuss in pairs and then we will list a few

7. Group assignments

8. PAR Cycles © Alan Bucknam - Notchcode.com

9. Diagnose: Employ all the learning tools at your disposal Books Web searching Looking to see what is happening around you Becoming part of online networks Discussing ideas among your participatory group

10. Group discussion of probable diagnosis

11. What probable diagnosis did you come up with?

13. Act: Individually and as a group . Even small steps make a big difference Take support from your group to succeed Focus on what you are doing right now Not the future Every step by every person counts

14. Decide on one action

15. Good Work – Take 10 minutes

16. Measure: Your progress Your enjoyment of the process Your outcomes Always take the pulse of the people you affect (over coffee, in focus groups and/or interviews) As you are affecting BIG changes, Consistently look for SMALL effects Once in a while survey the larger group to identify overall effect Check in with each other frequently

19. Design measurement

20. Reflect: Personal and group reflection not only helps us orient our next steps towards success but reminds us to celebrate the journey as we progress + / - What worked and what was challenging? Personally: Does this work bring you joy? What do you still need to learn? What are your obvious next steps:

21. Results You Can EXPECT PAR has proven itself to be TRANSFORMATIONAL work As participants have said: I will never teach in the same way again I could never have this life, these results and this wonderment if I had not learned the PAR process.

24. Q & A

25. Collaged photos from flickr.com If you are doing this work, or interested in doing this work and you need help, please contact me at: [email_address]