The Lazy Netflix B: An Ethnographic Study on the Use of Humour and Visual Metaphors in Teaching Graphic Facilitation

Graphic facilitation revolves around using multimodal representations in order to drive idea generation, learning processes and collaboration among groups. The use of graphic facilitation is a growing practice in organisational contexts and is slowly emerging in educational contexts. However, there is a lack of research on the role of the facilitator when teaching graphic facilitation. At the beginning of basic graphic facilitation courses, facilitators are often met by enthusiastic participants who at the same time are hesitant and lack belief in their own drawing skills. Thus, the paper aims to provide insights into didactical considerations of facilitators when organising teaching that empowers participants to gain confidence in their own drawing abilities as an entry point to using graphic facilitation in their daily work. The empirical data used for analysis is based on participatory observations of two professional facilitators teaching two- to three-day basic courses in graphic facilitation. These observations are combined with follow-up interviews with the teachers. The analysis shows how visual metaphors and humoristic utterances are built up throughout the courses as social memories that are carried out and refined by participants. Thus, the study demonstrates how the use of humour and visual metaphors became multimodal ‘hooks’ of social memories, which support a playful and safe learning environment. The findings show how the teachers had a crucial role in initiating, acknowledging and supporting the use of humour in these settings. Based on the empirical findings, the paper concludes by outlining potentials and challenges specific to using humour and visual metaphors when teaching graphic facilitation.