Workshops & Courses

Education, communication, and creative inquiry in complex times

Since 2017, I have worked as an educator and facilitator within adult education, teaching through both institutional settings, including Byron College, and my own independent practice.

My teaching has taken place across in-person and online learning environments and includes short lectures and talks, intensive workshops, and multi-day courses lasting up to four and five days. Across formats, my focus is on creating learning spaces that are reflective, relational, and grounded in both lived experience and theoretical understanding.

I work primarily with adult learners, educators, and professionals, supporting learning processes that invite depth, dialogue, and meaningful engagement rather than quick solutions.

Pedagogical orientation

My teaching practice is informed by interdisciplinary perspectives and draws particularly on:

narrative inquiry and storytelling as meaning-making practice
experiential and reflective learning
dialogical and inquiry-based pedagogy
creative and critical thinking
systems thinking and social awareness
adult learning theory (andragogy)

Rather than separating theory and practice, I design learning experiences where reflection, experimentation, and conceptual understanding continuously inform one another.

Learning is approached as a process of orientation supporting participants in developing greater clarity, responsibility, and awareness within the social and institutional systems they are part of.

Teaching experience in Denmark

My pedagogical practice has also been shaped through institutional work in Denmark, including at IBOS (the Danish Institute for the Blind).

In this role, I was responsible for educating interns and students working in contexts involving crisis, grief, and trauma. This experience deepened my attention to psychological safety, ethical responsibility, and the importance of creating learning environments that are both intellectually rigorous and humanly attuned.

This work continues to inform how I design and facilitate learning spaces - particularly in relation to care ethics, reflective professionalism, and relational responsibility.

Teaching formats

I design and facilitate learning experiences across a range of formats, including:

short lectures and keynote talks (1–3 hours)
one- and two-day workshops
intensive multi-day courses (3–5 days)
online learning spaces and reflective programs

All formats are adapted to the specific institutional, cultural, and participant context.

Louise Sommer in reflective dialogue with adult learners during a facilitated learning session, exploring leadership, responsibility, and meaning through collaborative inquiry and discussion.

Current thematic focus (since 2025)

In recent years, my teaching has increasingly focused on themes central to contemporary education and social life, including:

Storytelling as social and cultural practice
Exploring narrative as a way humans understand identity, belonging, and change.
Voice, identity, and expression
Supporting learners in developing authentic voice within social, cultural, and institutional frameworks.
Writing as inquiry
Using writing as a reflective and analytical tool for thinking, learning, and sense-making.
Communication in complex societies
Examining how meaning, misunderstanding, power, and empathy shape human interaction.
Creative intelligence and systems thinking
Linking creativity with systems awareness, ethical reflection, and collective responsibility.
Leadership as reflective practice
Reframing leadership as relational, ethical, and developmental rather than performative.

These themes form the foundation of my current and future teaching practice and are continuously developed through ongoing reflection, research, and facilitation.

Student Voice