Operation of NWEI Study Groups
A discussion group normally consists of seven to twelve people who meet for four to seven sessions of one to two hours each. The course uses a study guide of readings and discussion questions published by the Northwest Earth Institute.
Each group has an organizer, such as a church group, adult education program, or business, and a coordinator, who is a group member. The organizer should order study guides online from http://nwei.org/order-form. Organizers can find useful flyers and forms at http://nwei.org/course_resources/course-resources. We highly recommend that first-time organizers download and read the Course Organizers Guide.
Each participant should obtain a study guide for the course from the organizer prior to the first meeting.
Each meeting has a facilitator; this position rotates among the membership of the group. The facilitator keeps the group from getting bogged down and monitors group dynamics.
There is no "instructor" and there are no "right" or "wrong" ideas, concepts, or statements. Participants respect each other and do not try to convert or convince others.
Prior to each meeting, each participant reads the materials for that meeting in the study guide. This provides a common ground for discussion. The facilitator chooses from a number of discussion questions to get the meeting started, but discussion may move in any direction.
Course groups normally meet weekly, preferably in a public space, but at one or more members homes if necessary. The time and place of meeting may have been decided by the course organizers or may be arranged by the coordinator to meet the needs of the members.
Ideally all members will attend all sessions. This helps build group cohesion.
Members are strongly discouraged from missing more than one or two sessions.
