The following activities are ways of encouraging active learner participation in synchronous sessions. They can all be used in both face-to-face and online tutorials. We will look at the different issues involved in facilitating face-to-face vs online later in this unit. 

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a great way to get a lot of ideas on the table. It is useful in helping learners to link new concepts to their own experience, and can help in getting people to think ‘outside of the box’.

One commonly used brainstorming technique is to ask participants to shout out their thoughts on a subject, while the facilitator writes up what they say. This can be time-consuming in a large group, and it can be difficult for the tutor to remain true to the learners’ own way of expressing their thoughts.

A quicker and more participative technique is to do a ‘silent brainstorm’. For this, you need a whiteboard (either a physical one, in a face-to-face context, or a virtual one, in a web-conferencing context). Everyone writes their thoughts on the board at the same time. The facilitator then goes through all the points checking if any clarification is needed. If any points do not make sense to the whole group, the people who wrote them should clarify what they meant. A variation on this is to use the card system. Each person is invited to write one idea on a piece of coloured card, which is then posted on the whiteboard or wall with prestick, and can be rearranged into categories by the tutor. Different coloured cards can be used for different types of response. The pattern of cards can be photographed, or the cards can be taken down per category and written up.

The key to a successful brainstorm is not allowing for any judgment or criticism of ideas during the write-up and clarification stages. The aim is to get as many ideas generated as possible, even if a lot of those ideas are, at first sight, not usable. After that, the group can selectively use the ideas that have been generated as the subject for group discussion (see point 2 below), problem solving (see point 3 below), or as input for creation of a joint product (see point 5 below)

Group discussion

Group discussions can be structured or unstructured. An unstructured discussion can be an excellent way of engaging with a topic in relatively small groups, but can quickly become chaotic in larger groups. Unstructured discussions can also be frustrating for participants if they end up going around in circles.

There are many helpful techniques for structuring discussions to help keep the discussion on track, and to ensure that everyone participates.

One famous example is Edward De Bono's (1990) 'Six Thinking Hats'. In this technique, participants are invited to contribute to the conversation, imagining they are wearing a range of hats: The yellow hat is for cheerful, optimistic thoughts; the red hat is for expressing emotions; the green hat is for creative ideas; the white hat is for neutral, factual comments; the black hat is for negative comments; and the blue hat is for comments or suggestions about the process of the discussion. Participants can choose which hat to 'wear' at different stages during the discussion, or can be asked to put on a hat of a particular colour in order to consider the issues from a new perspective. It is a good idea to have one person in the group who wears only the blue hat throughout the discussion. That person is responsible for facilitating the discussion.

Nominal group technique is another commonly used group discussion technique. This involves giving everyone the opportunity to speak in turn. Each person can only speak when her or his turn comes up. This technique can lead to slightly disjointed discussions, because each person may raise a different topic from the last person, but it is a useful way of ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard. It is often used at the beginning of a session, to give everyone the opportunity to state their expectations or concerns, and at the end of a session for people to say what they have learnt, and to suggest ideas for future sessions.

Problem solving

Many learning programmes place a great deal of emphasis on problem solving. Problem-solving can be an excellent way for learners to collaboratively build their knowledge about a subject in a real-world context. Generally, for a problem-solving activity to be successful, it needs to include different phases. The steps/phases below are illustrated with examples of how they might be applied in a certificate course on counselling for nurses.

a. Defining the problem

This may be provided by the tutor/ course materials. For example, learners may be asked to listen to an audio recording of a patient who is behaving aggressively towards his family and the medical staff in the hospital, and identify a counselling strategy. Alternatively, the learners may be asked to identify a particular type of problem that needs solving in their own workplaces.

b. Collecting the data

If the problem has been provided by the tutor, then some information will need to be given to learners to help them solve the problem. For example, the student nurses may be given a case history of the patient, as well as some information provided by the patient’s family members. Alternatively, learners may be required to collect the data needed to solve the problem they identified in their own workplaces.

c. Interpreting the data

At this point, group discussion can be very helpful. Different members of the group are likely to have different perspectives on the data they have gathered, and these different perspectives can often be integrated to create a much more comprehensive, richer picture of the situation than one person alone could come up with.

d. Generating possible solutions and choosing one

In many cases, there is not only one ‘right’ answer. There may be a range of different solutions, informed by the different perspectives discussed in the interpretation phase. The most appropriate solution will often end up as a trade-off between different interests. For example, the nurses on the counselling course may choose to offer counselling to the patient’s family members rather than to the patient.

Working through a problem-solving activity like this can be time consuming, but is usually far more emotionally engaging for learners than listening to a lecture. The carefully scaffolded process through the stages of problem-solving can help learners discover some key concepts for themselves, and can be an extremely powerful learning experience. 

Giving peer feedback

Tutorials are sometimes used for students to present their work to their peers, and to share feedback on what is presented. This can be a very good way for learners to support one another through their learning journey. In order to make this a truly supportive process, learners should first discuss the do’s and don’ts of giving and receiving feedback. Most groups will come up with very constructive lists of do’s and don’ts. Here is an example from one group:

Do's and don'ts for giving feedback

  • Do start with the positives
  • Do be honest. If you think something doesn’t work, say so. Nobody wants to be lied to!
  • Do comment on the work, not the person. * Do be sensitive and constructive.
  • Do own your feedback. Say ‘I feel...’ or ‘I think...’
  • Do ask questions. Try to find out why the person did or said what they did before jumping to conclusions.
  • Do suggest ways to fix problems you have identified.
  • Don’t say “You are wrong!” or “This is bad!”
  • Don’t try to impose your own way of thinking on the other person. There may be many ways to see the situation, and you may be wrong.

Do’s and don’ts for receiving feedback

  • Don’t take it personally.
  • Don’t interrupt until the feedback giver is finished speaking.
  • Do ask questions for clarification.
  • Do express your opinion if you disagree with the feedback and invite discussion.
  • Do thank the feedback giver for giving you feedback.

Reflection

  1. Can you relate these activity types to the four-quadrant model we looked at in Unit 3? Which quadrant do you think each one falls into? Could some of them fall into more than one quadrant?
  2. Can you explain how any of the above activities could provide scaffolding for your learners in the courses you teach? (It might help to look at the five-stage model again here.)

Additional resources

De Bono, E., 1990. Six Thinking Hats New edition., Penguin Books Ltd.

http://www.iaf-methods.org/: 'This site is dedicated to providing managers, team leaders, and facilitators with online and face-to-face tools for creating, leading and following up group meetings.'

http://www.groupjazz.com/html/gj-ideas.html 'Group Jazz draws on an eclectic array of fields and sources for theories, practices, and approaches to designing and facilitating environments and experiences for high performing groups. These include: Environmental psychology, movie production, group dynamics, cognition and learning, socio-technical design, organization development, living systems theory, sociology, creativity, sports, and jazz performance.'