171 USM R & D 18(2): 171-180 (2010) ISSN 0302-7937 Introduction The participatory approach to development has revolutionized not only community development work but also educational philosophy and practice. It has challenged the traditional and “banking” models of education. Its advocates take the position that the ultimate goal of education is freedom from oppression and ignorance, and that being so, the process in a participatory education should therefore be problem-posing and dialogical (Friere 1984). The learning process should not be mere transfer or diffusion of knowledge from those who have it to those whose minds are “blank slates” (Bartlett 2005). Learning is a liberating process of conscientization, knowledge generation and empowerment that both teachers and students realize together through dialogue (Bartlett 2005). The participatory approach to education has also reconstructed the traditional concept of a teacher: from a classroom authority who “owns” knowledge and “deposits” it in students to an emphatic facilitator who engages students in action and relection using their own experiences and social realities in a “mutual learning process” of raising awareness, enhancing capabilities, and resolving to take action to change their life situations (Freire 1984; Hope and Timmel 1984; Bartlett 2005). Participation in the learning process is viewed as a constitutive communication act, not as a communication method or tool. It is within and through these communication acts that meaningful, relevant and liberating transformation of teachers and students happen. Knowledge is invented and reinvented through dialogue, which should “not be viewed Experiences of facilitators in using ADIDS as a participatory approach in a training class: an exploratory study Romel A Daya Department of Educational Communication, College of Development Communication, University of the Philippines Los Baños, College, Laguna, Philippines Email: rdaya2001@yahoo.com Abstract Participatory education views the classroom as a learning space where both teachers and students actively and critically engage in action and relection, invention and re-invention of knowledge, and meaningful transformation through dialogical communication. This view is shared by the Ugnayan ng Pahinungód volunteers who developed the participatory program design of the Civic Welfare Training Service 1 (CWTS1) course of the National Service Training Program (NSTP) of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). The UPLB NSTP-CWTS1 is a non-academic course handled by a team of volunteer facilitators. They use a participatory learning approach called ADIDS, which stands for activity, discussion, inputs, deepening, and synthesis. The approach is grounded on experiential, participatory, and transformative learning principles. This exploratory study aimed to describe the volunteer facilitators’ understanding of ADIDS and how they initiate and sustain participatory interaction in learning situations in CWTS1 using the ADIDS approach. The interpretive and descriptive approach to qualitative study was employed gain an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon of inquiry. Data were gathered through document analysis, participant observation, and interviews. Results showed that volunteer facilitators understand ADIDS as a participatory approach that uses experiences from the class and their individual lives in learning and re-learning concepts on community service through a structured but lexible process. They initiated participatory learning interaction by engaging in communicative acts such as calling for action, talk, and group interaction. To sustain participatory interaction, they performed evocative acts, emphasized their evocative attributes, and deliver evocative lines. Key words: models of education, participatory education, participatory learning approaches