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PNI Practicum

Project-based courses in
Participatory Narrative Inquiry

Learn by doing — with expert guidance — in a group of your peers.

  • Overview

    I offer two practical, project-based courses designed to help you learn how to do Participatory Narrative Inquiry (PNI).

    What's PNI? It's a form of Action Research in which groups of people share stories about their experiences to make sense of situations together. Researchers, teachers, facilitators, organizers, managers, designers, and other helpers use PNI to help people discover insights, catch emerging trends, make decisions, generate ideas, resolve conflicts, and build connections.

    PNI Practicum I: Smaller-scale PNI

    • 16 weeks
    • US$1600
    • Gather 24+ stories from 6+ people
    • Help people work with the stories to make sense of the topic
    • Experience PNI from both sides: as a participant and a facilitator

    PNI Practicum II: Larger-scale PNI

    • 20 weeks
    • US$2000
    • Gather 100+ stories from 20+ people
    • Use mixed-methods analysis to find patterns
    • Help people make sense of the topic using both stories and patterns

    Your projects

    In either of the two PNI Practicum courses, you will carry out a small and exploratory — but very real — PNI project of your choosing. You will:

    • Practice facilitating story sharing and sensemaking in individual and group settings
    • Help your project participants explore a topic they care about
    • Build your own PNI practice
    • Share your learning journey with a group of your peers
    • Receive guidance and feedback

    Each course contains a series of project activities arranged in cycles of planning, action, and reflection. My goal is to help you build your skills and confidence in facilitating PNI projects — so that on your next PNI project, you can hit the ground running.

    Our meetings

    Each course requires a minimum time investment of 6-8 hours per week, including class time. Our weekly 2-hour Zoom calls will alternate between project progress meetings (you will share what happened in your project, talk about your plans, and get feedback and advice) and sandbox meetings (I will facilitate activities, you will experience PNI as a participant, and we will discuss facilitation techniques). We will also maintain a running discussion throughout each course on a dedicated Zulip chat server.

    Your materials

    All course materials are included in the total course fee, and you can keep them once you have finished the course. Materials include:

    • Instructions for each course/project activity
    • A course log with questions to help you reflect on your project
    • A story form library with dozens of question sets you can use in this and future projects
    • Skimmable slide-set summaries of important concepts and techniques
    • Reading lists for deeper exploration, drawn from Working with Stories and other relevant articles and books
    • Read the Introductory Presentation (PDF)

    Here I am talking about the PNI Practicum.

    This introductory presentation (PDF) has all the details.

    PNI Practicum Introduction
  • PNI Practicum I

    PNI Practicum I: Smaller-scale PNI

    In this course you will:

    • Choose a topic of common interest to your group, family, community, or organization
    • Select and adapt a set of questions that elicit stories about experiences related to the topic
    • Conduct a series of individual and group interviews and story-sharing sessions
    • Gather 24+ stories from 6+ participants
    • Prepare the stories for use in sensemaking
    • Facilitate sensemaking sessions in which people work with the stories to make sense of the topic together
    • Complete your project by staging a narrative intervention, returning the stories to the community, and/or writing a project report

    Why take this course?

    This course is for you if you want to:

    • Deal with a pressing problem. If you would like to address a specific problem in your community or organization, this course can help you make sense of what is happening and discover new solutions.
    • See what PNI can do for you. If you think PNI might be useful to your community or organization, but you aren't sure whether it's worth the investment of time and resources, this course can help you evaluate PNI's potential to meet your needs.
    • Walk the path of stories. If you love stories and everything to do with them, this course can help you turn your passion into a valuable skill you can use to help people and grow your career.
    • Add PNI to your bag of tricks. If you are an educator or facilitator, this course can help you broaden and diversify your groupworks skillset, complementing other methods you use in your classrooms and workshops.
    • Ground your research in stories. If you are working on a master's or PhD project, you can use this course to carry out a pilot study on your topic. Your pilot study can help you explore and test your ideas and plans for your overall thesis project, whether or not you intend to use PNI for that phase of your work as well.
    • Build your own PNI practice. If you are a consultant and would like to consider running PNI projects for your clients, this course can help you to develop your unique flavor of PNI.

    You can start the PNI Practicum I course even if you don't have a specific project in mind. During the course, however, you will need to find at least 6 project participants who are willing and able to spend a few hours participating in interviews and/or group sessions on a topic of common interest. You can also choose to collaborate with other students on a shared project.

    • Save Your Seat with $100 Deposit

    Details

    • Start of next course: 11 July 2023
    • Duration: 16 weeks
    • Location: Online (Zoom, Zulip)
    • Places: 12
    • Places remaining: 12

    Cost

    • Course fee: $1600 (US dollars)
    • Non-refundable deposit: $100 (US dollars)
    • Full payment due by: 27 June 2023
    • Discounts: 2 seats (-5%), 3 (-10%), 4 (-15%)
    • Save Your Seat with $100 Deposit

    Questions? Problems? Need an invoice? Email me at cfkurtz@cfkurtz.com.

  • PNI Practicum II

    PNI Practicum II: Larger-scale PNI

    In this course you will:

    • Choose a topic of common interest to your group, family, community, or organization
    • Select and adapt a story form with story-eliciting and story-interpreting questions
    • Conduct a series of individual and group interviews and story-sharing sessions
    • Build an online survey using NarraFirma (or another surveying package)
    • Promote your online survey through a series of invitations to participate
    • Gather 100+ stories from 20+ participants
    • Annotate your data using qualitative analysis techniques
    • Explore quantitative patterns (graphs and statistical results) using NarraFirma (or another data visualization package)
    • Prepare a set of observations, interpretations, and ideas based on the patterns you found
    • Prepare your stories for use in sensemaking
    • Facilitate a series of sensemaking sessions in which people make sense of the topic by working with the stories, patterns, observations, interpretations, and ideas you prepared
    • Complete your project by staging a narrative intervention, returning the stories to the community, and/or writing a project report

    Why take this course?

    This course is for you if you want to:

    • Deepen your explorations. If you're frustrated with surface-level survey research, this course can help you dive deep into group dynamics in story sharing and sensemaking.
    • Broaden your explorations. If you're frustrated with narrow-range ethnographic research, this course can help you draw upon a greater diversity of experiences and perspectives.
    • Open the door to stories. If you're tired of asking people for their opinions, and you're intrigued by the idea of inviting people to explore their experiences, this course can help you master the subtle art of story listening.
    • Open the door to participation. If you're frustrated with extractive research, this course can help you learn how to work with motivated co-researchers at every level of participation, from sharing a two-minute story to co-creating a vision for the future.
    • Take your PNI practice to the next level. If you are already familiar with the smaller-scale style of PNI, this course can help you level up to bigger and more ambitious projects.

    You can start the PNI Practicum II course without a specific project in mind. During the course, however, you will need to find at least 20 project participants who are willing and able to participate in the project at any of three levels: taking a ten-minute survey, participating in an hour-long interview or story-sharing session, or working with stories and patterns in a 2-3 hour sensemaking workshop. You can also choose to collaborate with other students on a shared project.

    • Save Your Seat with $100 Deposit

    Details

    • Start of next course: 13 July 2023
    • Duration: 20 weeks
    • Location: Online (Zoom, Zulip)
    • Places: 12
    • Places remaining: 9

    Cost

    • Course fee: $2000 (US dollars)
    • Non-refundable deposit: $100 (US dollars)
    • Full payment due by: 29 June 2023
    • Discounts: 2 seats (-5%), 3 (-10%), 4 (-15%)
    • Save Your Seat with $100 Deposit

    Questions? Problems? Need an invoice? Email me at cfkurtz@cfkurtz.com.

  • Your PNI Coach

    Hi. I'm Cynthia F. Kurtz, a researcher, software developer, consultant, and writer. I have been helping communities and organizations work with their stories since 1999. Originally an ethologist, I discovered the field of organizational narrative at IBM Research, where I conducted research projects to help IBM develop internal and client services centered around organizational stories. I built on that work at IBM's Institute for Knowledge Management and at the consulting firm Cognitive Edge before launching my independent consultancy in 2009.

    I have consulted on over 100 narrative projects for a variety of clients in government, for-profit, and non-profit sectors. In 2008 I self-published the first edition of my textbook, Working with Stories in Your Community or Organization: Participatory Narrative Inquiry. Now in its third edition, the book is widely considered a vital resource for participatory story work.

    • Explore some of my 100+ PNI projects
    • Browse through my textbook Working with Stories (PDF)
    • Take a look at my PNI software NarraFirma
    • Read my professional biography
    • Review my peer-reviewed papers and other publications

    Acknowledgements

    In developing, improving, and promoting the PNI Practicum courses, I am grateful for the support and feedback I received from: Rachel Colla, Augusto Cuginotti, Lucy Duncan, Paul and Elliot Fernhout, Susannah Laramee Kidd, Adelle Kurtz, Jen Mason, Rob Peagler, and Miriam Richardson. This web site's banner was drawn by franzidraws and licensed through 123rf.com.

    Here I am talking about PNI in an interview with Lex Hoogduin of the Global Complexity Network. Click to watch interview on Vimeo

  • Testimonials

    Here's what some students of the PNI Practicum had to say.

    As an experienced facilitator and qualitative researcher, I was surprised at how much I learned in this course! I got so much more out of learning how to actually do PNI — to identify the kinds of stories that are good for working with, ask "story-ended questions," prepare stories for sensemaking, facilitate participatory sensemaking exercises — than just reading about it. — Susannah Laramee Kidd, PhD
    This course is a powerful container for understanding the depth of participatory narrative inquiry as a practice. This course demonstrated and exposed me to the multiple layers of what can be understood and investigated using stories. Doing this as a practicum, experimenting with PNI in the world with a real time project while learning in community with Cynthia's expert guidance gave me a much deeper understanding of the technique. Alternating real time planning and coaching with demonstrations of the practice in the sandbox sessions made it possible to answer questions that arose while implementing PNI in real time. — Lucy Duncan, reparationWorks
    The opportunity to do a practicum with Cynthia, in a cohort of deeply experienced and committed story-workers, was truly an invaluable experience. The practicum allowed me to coalesce two decades of experience in the story trenches. With the feedback and support of Cynthia and my practicum cohort I was able to move through the full arc of PNI story work — from project design, through crafting story prompts, gathering stories, leading sense making workshops, and working with our target community to leverage insights to shape and motivate action. I didn't just gain technical knowledge; I explored the moral and ethical responsibilities of PNI project leaders to clients, communities, and anyone who shares or reads a story in the course of a project. — Rob Peagler, reparationWorks
  • FAQ

    About the courses in general

    Does the course fee have a sliding scale?

    No. I would very much like to have a sliding scale. But having donated seven person-years of work to the world already, I'm a little tapped out, gift-economy-wise. The good news is that you don't need to take a PNI Practicum course to learn how to do PNI. You can read my PNI textbook Working with Stories for free; you can use my PNI software NarraFirma for free; and you can join the Participatory Narrative Practitioner Network, a friendly group of people who meet monthly to talk about participatory story work. Also, obviously, I'm not the only person who does or supports participatory story work. There's a whole world of ideas and techniques waiting to be explored.

    Do you offer a volume discount?

    Yes. If you buy a "bundle" of two tickets, the price is 5% off. If you buy 3, it's 10% off. If you buy 4, it's 15% off. The people in your bundle can collaborate on one project or do their own projects. To buy a bundle of tickets, click "Save Your Seat," then "Buy tickets," and look for the available discount bundles.

    Can you send me an invoice?

    Yes. Send me an email at cfkurtz@cfkurtz.com and I'll send you an invoice for the course fee. You can pay via international wire transfer, PayPal, or TicketTailor/Stripe (the method linked to from this site).

    Are there breaks within the course schedule?

    No. There is a course activity scheduled for each two-week part of the course. (The 20-week course has two more parts in it than the 16-week course.) However, each of these activities should only take a few hours to carry out, and each of them can happen at any time within the two weeks. Also, if you need to step away from the course in one part, you can push that part's activity into the next part and do two activities then. That's one reason the courses are as long as they are: to accommodate the reality of doing story projects, which rarely go as planned.

    I've done some story work before, but not PNI. Which course do you suggest I take?

    I created two PNI Practicum courses because I've noticed over the years that people who use PNI always seem to prefer to use it in one of two ways.

    • The ancient, artisanal style of PNI is simple and clear. You gather some stories, then help a group of people make sense of them together. It's the sort of thing that could have happened (and probably did happen) thousands of years ago.
    • The modern, scalable style of PNI is complicated and ambitious. You gather some stories, and you also gather a lot of answers to questions about the stories and their tellers. Then you look for patterns in the answers to find "food for thought" people can use to explore the topic more fully than they can with the stories alone. To do this style of PNI, you need to collect more stories, interpret graphs and statistical test results, prepare the patterns for use in sensemaking, and facilitate a more intense and demanding form of sensemaking in which people look at both patterns and stories.

    I know some people who do only the ancient style of PNI, some who do only the modern style, and some who do both. The ideal is to be able to do either style as the situation calls for it. But there is also an element of personal preference involved. Some people gravitate more naturally to one style or the other.

    One thing that might help you decide is to look at the example catalysis report (of patterns prepared for sensemaking) that I have on my web site (it is actually some excerpts from a longer report I built for a project). This is the sort of thing you would be creating to support sensemaking in a modern-style PNI project (the kind you would be doing in the PNI Practicum II course). If you can see yourself enjoying the work of creating a report like that — if that is the sort of thing you want to learn how to do — then the PNI Practicum II course would suit you best. If that sort of thing seems boring or stupid or overwhelming to you, then you would probably like the PNI Practicum I course better.

    How do the PNI Practicum course materials differ from Working with Stories?

    The course materials for the PNI Practicum are drawn from WWS and from other readily available resources. You can find most of the same materials — or at least the same ideas — in lots of other places. But reading a book and doing a project are not the same thing. What the PNI Practicum offers is a smoother path, a way to develop your PNI practice in an atmosphere of facilitated exploration, peer-to-peer discussion, and expert guidance. You do not need to take this course to use PNI successfully. Still, it might be useful to you.

    About your course project

    I have a project in mind, but I'm not sure it will work in the course.

    Projects done in either PNI Practicum course should be synchronized (on the same schedule), not secret (something you can talk about), and exploratory (small enough to fit into our time frame). If you aren't sure if the project you have in mind fits those criteria, you can ask. Send me a note at cfkurtz@cfkurtz.com. And don't worry, I'm not going to say yes no matter what project you have in mind, because I want you to succeed. I want us all to succeed, together.

    I would like to take a PNI Practicum course, but I can't think of any project to do. Is that a problem?

    Not necessarily. Participants are more important than projects. If you can find 6 (for the PNI Practicum I) or 20 (for the PNI Practicum II) friends, colleagues, family members, or members of your community or organization who you are pretty sure will be willing and able to spend some time participating in your project, you can decide on the project's topic (maybe in discussion with your participants) as the course begins.

    Do my project participants need to have a lot in common? For example, do they need to live or work at the same place?

    No. You can do a project with people who have nothing in common except a mild to moderate interest in the topic of your project. In fact, I've worked on many projects just like that.

    Do I have to identify all of my project participants before the course begins?

    It depends. If the pool of people from whom you can draw participants is small (say just enough to do the project), you will need to get them to agree to participate before you start the course, so you can be certain that you can fill your interviews and sessions with participants. However, if your pool of potential participants is large (say an entire community or organization), you can invite people to participate as the course goes along. For example, you might gather some of your stories by simply hanging out at a local gathering place and finding people who are willing to share a story or two.

    For details on when each interview and session will take place, and how much time you will need to ask people to spend on it, see the pages titled "Project Activities" in the PNI Practicum introductory presentation. (Also see the "If you fall behind" page.)

    Can I use a PNI Practicum course to do a project I get paid to do?

    Yes. In fact, using either course to get help carrying out a paid project is a great way to pay for it. My suggestion is to look at the course schedule and make sure a project with that schedule and scope will meet your client's needs.

    Could my colleague and I take the PNI Practicum course together and do a shared project in it?

    Absolutely. That is a great way to experience the course. When you go to buy your tickets, be sure to check out the volume discount bundles.

    About the PNI Practicum I course

    I would like to take this course, but I don't think I can find any project participants. What do you suggest?

    Ask around among your family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Most people can convince (drag, bribe, guilt) at least a few people to spend a few hours sharing stories around an interesting topic. Say "I'm taking a class!" and offer pizza or donuts. Also, you might be able to collaborate on a project with another student. For example, if three students were to bring two participants each into a shared project, they could do the project as a team and take turns facilitating. Students can also act as participants in each other's projects.

    About the PNI Practicum II course

    Will I be required to use NarraFirma?

    No. Most people who take the PNI Practicum II course will probably choose to use NarraFirma, because using NarraFirma will be part of what they want to learn in the course. And we will probably be talking a lot about using NarraFirma in the course. But you can use any data analysis and visualization package you like. I won't be able to help you if you get stuck using other software. But if you already know how to use Tableau or Dedoose or R or something, you can use it in the PNI Practicum II course.

    I want to use NarraFirma, but I don't want to install it. Will you do that for me?

    Honestly? I've been waffling back and forth on this for years. I have thought about hosting a NarraFirma installation for each student in the PNI Practicum II course. But I don't think people are going to want that. I think most of the people who take the PNI Practicum II course will want to set up NarraFirma themselves — so they can learn how to do that. However, if you want me to set up NarraFirma for you, I can do that for you. NarraFirma is free, but hosting any kind of web server is not free. Having said that, I'm happy to set up a NarraFirma installation on an Amazon server (it's $5 a month) for anyone who wants to take the PNI Practicum II course, wants to use NarraFirma, and doesn't want to set it up themselves. If I do this for you, you will have access to your NarraFirma installation only until the course is over (at which time you can export your project and import it into another NarraFirma installation).

    I want to use NarraFirma, but I want to install it locally, not on the internet. Can I do that?

    Yes. But you'll have to import or enter your stories instead of using NarraFirma to collect them over the internet.

Questions?

    If you have any questions about the PNI Practicum, send them to me at cfkurtz@cfkurtz.com.

© 2022 Cynthia F. Kurtz. All rights reserved.