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1.3
Anticipating Conflict and Forming Group Guidelines
Submitted By Shannon Wheatley Hartman
This activity empowers group members to anticipate potential conflict in group discussions and create guidelines that will address these concerns and bring out the best characteristics of the group.
Learning Goals
Anticipate group dynamics with a specific focus on potential group conflict.
Work together as a group to establish guiding principles.
Instructions
Set Up: Prepare for the Activity
Organize the participants into pairs or small groups (5-6 ppl).
If the group completed Activity 1.1 What is Collaborative Learning?, then use the lists of positive and negative attributes as a starting point for this activity.
Begin by introducing the learning goals of this activity.
Step One: Generate Lists of Positive & Negative Attributes (10 min)
Invite participants to think back to a time when they were working with others on a project. In pairs or small groups, ask them to generate a written list of both positive and negative traits that they associate with collaboration. Do not debate or discuss the validity of contributions. Generate broad lists. Prompts:
What made the collaboration work well? Ex: clear communication, shared goals, feelings of inclusion or trust.
What made the collaboration challenging? Ex: dominating personalities, power dynamics, no follow through of tasks.
Step Two: Prioritize Attributes (10 min)
In pairs or small groups, ask participants to discuss which of the negative attributes they are most concerned about. Prompt:
Which negative attributes are most likely to occur in our discussions or with our particular collaboration? Select the top three concerns or negative attributes.
When finished, repeat this process but focus on positive attributes. Again, ask participants to reflect on this particular group and decide which positive traits would be most helpful. Prompt:
Which positive attributes would benefit our discussions the most? Select the top three positive traits or attributes.
Step Three: Discuss as a Full Group (10 min)
Regroup as a whole and invite each small group to share their top three positive and negative attributes. Discuss:
Where do we see overlap or common themes?
As we review our consolidated lists, what might be missing?
What are the top five positive or negative traits for our group as a whole?
Step Four: Craft Guiding Principles (20 min)
Once the group has identified approximately their top five traits (positive or negative), create a space where they can craft sample guidelines that reflect these traits. This could be done on a white board or shared google document. For example:
If the concern is “negativity,” then the guideline might be “Bring your positive attitude and energy. Have fun!”
If the concern is “dominating personalities,” then the guideline might be “Make room for everyone to be heard. Listen to understand.”
If the positive trait is trust, then the guideline might be “Respect our community. Critique ideas, not people.”
Step Five: Debrief as a Full Group (10 min)
Discuss:
How often should we revisit this list?
What should be our process if someone violates our stated principles?
When are guidelines limiting and/or unproductive?
How might we adjust in anticipation to these concerns?
TIME
60
min
MODULE
Introduction to Collaborative Discussion
This activity can be completed by any discussion group.
This activity can be easily modified for asynchronous learning. See Sample Asynchronous Certificate Program Design to illustrate sample sequencing.
This activity can be used to support facilitation skills. See Sample Facilitation Certificate Program Design to illustrate sample sequencing.
This activity is suitable for professional or more formal learning environments.
Tell us what you think. Rate and review this activity:
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Share them in the comments below!
0 Comments
June 22, 2023 at 3:24:58 AM
June 16, 2023 at 3:56:28 PM
Fun activity!
June 16, 2023 at 5:01:38 AM
Great activity!
June 16, 2023 at 5:00:51 AM
anon
May 25, 2023 at 1:27:08 PM
Great site!
May 22, 2023 at 7:54:26 PM
RT
January 17, 2023 at 12:39:09 AM
This activity could possibly pair with Activity 1.8, which evaluates current discussion style. After completing that evaluation, this activity could be used to help participants envision and set goals or intentions for how they would like to participate in discussions going forward.
RT
January 16, 2023 at 10:26:09 PM
This activity helps develop a skill that is useful in many contexts, including in the classroom, workplace, community and even at home.
RT
January 13, 2023 at 3:17:13 AM
This activitiy can be modified or used as is in helping STEM students and science & technology professionals in identifying the unintended consequences and uses of any new scientific or technological developments or tools, such as AI models, etc.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 7:03:49 PM
I am waiting for someone to try this activity out and share it back with us. This is probably one of the most ambitious activities in the toolkit. I really love it but I have not had the opportunity to try it out with a group. Please someone try this and share back!