The "What's Happening?" Blog is a weekly round up of the all the ADR news, jobs, events and more.  Check it out each week and view past news [HERE]

Do Feelings Matter In Mediation?

Mark Baer- The Mediation Descriptions by the Maryland Program for Mediator Excellence specifically provides as follows: "'Evaluative Mediation' is not defined here because we believe it is a misnomer. Evaluation is a technique, not a mediation framework. If a process consists solely of an evaluation and attempts to get participants in line with the evaluation, then that process is not mediation, it is more likely a settlement conference. In a survey asking Maryland mediators how they define their practice, no mediator responded that they define their practice with the term 'Evaluative.'"

Teach Negotiation? Grade students?

If you assess students in courses on negotiation, mediation or other conflict-related topics, you might find this helpful….

Evaluating our Evaluation, written with Yael Efron and Kim Kovach, is an effort to pick apart the practices of negotiation teachers in evaluating students. What are we looking for, in student performance? Deep understanding? Insight? Analytical capacity? Improvement? The ability to implement a certain skill-set?

It would appear that sometimes the answer to these questions is a bit vague. This is merely the outcome, we suggest, of a larger area of ambiguity: negotiation course objectives tend to be a bit vague, with teachers reaching to encompass practice and theory, knowledge and skillbuilding in a single brief course.

The first step, we suggest, is to figure out what, precisely, we want students to gain.  The second is finding a way to evaluate whether that has been achieved in a fair and precise manner.

Christian Conflict Resolution with Gene Roberts

Dave Hilton- In this 18th Episode of the Conflict Specialists Show, Dave Hilton interviews Gene Roberts (North Texas Negotiations).

Some of the topics in today’s episode:

• Combining Faith with Dispute Resolution Techniques
  
• Conflict Coaching
  
• Texas House Bill 274
  
• and more

Creative Reflection on our Practice to Deepen our Work: ACR Family ...

Tune in Wednesday, August 28 at 4:30 pm Eastern time for our upcoming show featuring an  preview of the ACR Annual Conference Post-Conference Retreat hosted by the ACR Family and Elder Sections: "Creative Reflection on our Practice to Deepen our Work: ACR Family and Elder Section Retreat 2013."

The show will feature Rebecca Magruder and Louise Phipps Senft with a preview of the upcoming fall 2013 Family and Elder Sections Retreat and the workshops and presentations there. We are planning a retreat atmosphere, and hope this program gives listeners a good feel for what it will be like. 

The 3 C's of Listening

Listening is a skill. It is an art. It is a discipline. It is hard. It takes attention and practice. It takes awareness. It is particularly hard when you don't want to hear the person who is talking to you. It is particularly hard in disagreements, arguments and conflicts. How do we listen without being caught by the judgments, opinions, desires, justifications and stories rumbling around in our heads?

In this session we will be talking with Susan Shearouse, Frameworks for Agreement. We will explore the 3 C's of listening: how to prepare yourself and enter a difficult conversation able to hear what is being said, to be able to listen more effectively.

More News, Jobs & Articles

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Dismantle Hate With Counter-Narratives

A Prayer for Clients Tapping Into Energy Source

Ombuds at Texas Department of Public Safety

Ombuds at Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Ombuds at Oklahoma State University

Ombuds at Howard University