One of the most amazing discoveries to come out of Books@Work is the power of participant life experience. Unlike a traditional classroom-based seminar, in which the professor and text have something to teach the students, the power of our model is that it fosters the unique collision of three important elements: professor expertise, text and participant experience.
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PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR THIS POSITION.
Are you passionate about books and sharing that passion with others? Are you eager to write and to help tell our stories in multiple media outlets to a wide array of audiences? Do you want to join a high-functioning team? We are hiring a Communications & Research Associate. Could that be you or someone you know?
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Often lost in the conversation about what tools, systems and approaches to adopt in order to achieve particular outcomes is the experience of the individual being served. The voice of the beneficiary is a very valuable gauge of a program’s impact. By interviewing participants in Books@Work programs, we learn so much about the impact of the seminar experience, both for individuals and for groups.
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Capria Jaussen, our Operations Coordinator, reflects on her history with books and the power of reading a variety of interesting texts. She writes, “What I hear from people participating in Books@Work seminars continues to solidify my belief in the power of a book’s great characters, meaningful concepts and challenging writing to transform readers.”
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In response to an article about how CEOs can deepen their perspectives by reading philosophy, we argue that a class of “Philosopher Kings” is not enough. Executives who are serious about thinking deeply and learning from philosophical texts can broaden their outlook — and potentially their results — by including the sentries at the table.
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From time-to-time we share the link to a short story with some guiding questions or reflections on how the text was used in a Books@Work seminar. Former Books@Work Curriculum Director and professor Paul Jaussen invites you to take a closer look at a short story by Mark Twain in this post.
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This week we begin two new Books@Work programs for Chautauqua’s employees, partnering with a wonderful group of faculty from Fredonia (SUNY). We are excited about the beginning of this partnership — one that we hope to strengthen through collaboration on Chautauqua’s exploration of 21st century literacies this summer, and in many other ways in the years to come.
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As we consider our highest priorities – program growth and reaching more community settings – our most important measure remains the experience of the individual. Learning from the stories of our participants, we aspire to focus much of our work next year on assessment and evaluation – to improve the program and begin to gauge its results along the three dimensions we care most about: personal growth, company outcomes and community impact.
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Books@Work has undergone tremendous change and growth over the past year. In 2014 we offered 27 programs (up from 12 in 2013 and 5 in 2012) serving nearly 500 participants across four states, various sectors and in a number of community settings. We feel so grateful to our partner companies, community institutions, funders, colleges and universities and, of course, the professors and participants who make the Books@Work experience what it is.
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Rather than detracting from higher education’s efforts to define and measure critical thinking skills, the humanities can and should be front and center. Our own experience at Books@Work tells us that this is not only possible but powerful.
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