Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi Emily,

I just saw this post and I am sorry to miss the call.  I had a chance to read the Faunalytics article and have been reflecting on how closely it mirrors what we see in practice.

One challenge that stood out is the gap between engagement and measurable behavior change. In our work at Life of Kai, we've been trying to think about humane education as a series of stages: from content and delivery, to access and contact, then engagement, and ultimately behavior and impact.

What's been interesting is that many programs (including ours at times) are strong in the early stages-content, access, even engagement-but the transition into behavior change is much harder to observe and measure. We've started experimenting with small ways to capture that shift, like asking "What would you do?" in response to scenarios and looking at how those answers evolve.

I'd be curious if others are seeing similar patterns, or if there are approaches people have found helpful in bridging that gap.

Thanks  Julielani

Hi Julielani!

It's so great to hear from you. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and experiences. Learning is important, but making change/taking action based on that learning is key! Asking reflective questions, as you mention, is a great place to start. I also think modeling is so vital to our work as humane educators. So, demonstrating for our learners and community members what it looks like to live as consciously and compassionately as we can. Depending on the context, I also love building action into humane education as much as possible. Is there one small action or change that participants can make in that moment, together? 

I also wanted to mention that IHE is hosting another community call based on this article later this month! I'm hoping to post about it in this forum tomorrow, but in the meantime, here's the link with the info. I'd love to see you there!

Take care,

Emily

Hi Emily,

I just saw this post and I am sorry to miss the call.  I had a chance to read the Faunalytics article and have been reflecting on how closely it mirrors what we see in practice.

One challenge that stood out is the gap between engagement and measurable behavior change. In our work at Life of Kai, we've been trying to think about humane education as a series of stages: from content and delivery, to access and contact, then engagement, and ultimately behavior and impact.

What's been interesting is that many programs (including ours at times) are strong in the early stages-content, access, even engagement-but the transition into behavior change is much harder to observe and measure. We've started experimenting with small ways to capture that shift, like asking "What would you do?" in response to scenarios and looking at how those answers evolve.

I'd be curious if others are seeing similar patterns, or if there are approaches people have found helpful in bridging that gap.

Thanks  Julielani