4: Planning your First Action Learning Set Meeting

Aim: To confirm the practical details of the first Action Learning Set meeting
Duration: 3 hours
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Having established an eight-week plan for your research project, you will have a good idea of your expected timeline. We indicated previously, the importance of accounting for the Action Learning Set meetings within your timeframe and this activity will help you adjust your schedule based on the collaborative element of this course.
The three Action Learning Set meetings comprise a significant element of this course, and are designed to give you a level of freedom within your set to use the approach to best suit your needs. In your set, we would like you to determine what you want to focus on for the first Action Learning Set meeting and arrange how you wish to approach the process.
The Forum and Studio provide in-site collaborative areas for you to work with your Action Learning Set. However, should your set wish to work externally, we have provided a number of suggestions in the previous materials (which are given again below for convenience) allowing you to select the most appropriate approach for your set.
You may wish to work solely in the Studio and Forum areas of the study site, or you may prefer to engage with external collaborative platforms that allow for both asynchronous and face-to-face interactions such as:
    Yammer
    Slack
    Miro
    GlassCubes
    Skype
    GoToMeeting
    Google Hangouts
Please note that your tutor will not have access to any work done through external platforms. This means that there is a greater responsibility within the set to ensure the full participation of all members.
We appreciate that this process will be challenging and will often involve a level of disagreement and compromise. However, in the modern business world, these obstacles are often an everyday reality and the ability to negotiate them to reach an agreement is an important skill to develop.
Having established the format of your first meeting, we would also like you to determine the focus to enable you to prepare for the discussion in advance. We have provided a suggested division between the meetings to help guide you, but as the emphasis of this course is on you as independent learners you should approach this breakdown with an open and critical mind and feel free to tailor this structure to meet the needs of your set:
    Meeting One: Research Methodology and Data Collection Focus on any methodological or practical challenges of conducting your research.
    Meeting Two: Data Analysis Focus on the data analysis process considering any related challenges like flawed data, or inconclusive results.
    Meeting Three: Writing the Business Solutions Report Focus on the writing process, considering the technical aspects of the research project like structuring and referencing.
There will equally need to be an agreement on how questions are presented and possibly even the format, which might be written or given as a short podcast delivery. If sections are to be shared, you will also need to decide how far in advance these are to be submitted.
We would like you to discuss your options in the Forum and establish a means of working and a central focus that is agreeable to all members of the set. We would like you to outline the expectations of the first Action Learning Set meeting to enable you all to effectively plan your time and prepare for the session. Furthermore, setting expectations or goals can also help keep the Action Learning Set meetings on track and enable you to assess the success of the meeting.