Abby Oulton

Facilitator. Learner. STS Nerd. Change Enthusiast.

I’m Abby, and I’m a New York City based facilitator with over a decade experience working with learning organizations, teams, and individuals.

Youth Work

For over a decade I’ve worked directly with young people in Agile Learning Centers (ALCs) where they design their days and co-design the school experience.

Open-Space Facilitation

While the ALC is something of an open-space environment, I also work with adults in such spaces through at workshops, unconferences, and retreats.

Technology Studies

Building on years of informal study, I’m now working on designing digital literacy content, supported by a fellowship from Columbia University.

Team Consulting

As our work landscapes and communication norms shift, I increasingly consult and share decentralized and agile ways of working I’ve found successful.

Network Strategy

I offer accompaniment and guidance to teams interested in reorienting or transforming complex social ecosystems, like their network organizations.

Story Surfacing

Bringing together reflections, notes, and other artifacts into a story is one of my favorite crafts. I make websites, reports, newsletters, and more.

Varied Projects & A Common Thread

While adapting to an ever-transforming world is a signature reflex and strength of our species, when groups of us align creative efforts we can influence what kinds of worlds we all have to adapt to next. Nearly all my projects and play are looking to surface answers to this underlying question: how can we design and facilitate experience that activate this collective potential?

  • Listening to and broadcasting inspiring facilitation stories: https://soundcloud.com/sde_dispatches
  • Facilitating kids’ risky play and shifts in adults ways of seeing, then sometimes photographing and getting interviewed about it like at https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/08/the-junk-playground-of-new-york-city/495371/
  • Illustrating concepts and weaving together stories to inspire transdisciplinary audiences, like in the article at https://nycagile.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Cutting-Edge-Agile1.pdf
  • Consulting on and co-authoring guides for educators invested in fostering innovation and collaboration, like this guide from the Agile4Collaboration project: https://www.agileforcollaboration.eu/result1/
  • Publishing guides, annual reports, and blueprints for nonprofits like the Agile Learning Centers Network Starter Kit at https://agilelearningcenters.gitbook.io/english/a-meta-note

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