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1.8
Evaluating Your Discussion Style
Submitted by Ritu Thomas
This activity is designed to help discussion participants reflect on their own styles and needs during a discussion. It can also serve as pre-discussion preparation for facilitators. The survey can help facilitators better understand and support individual and/or group needs.
Learning Goals
Develop a deeper understanding of how we show up and present ourselves in discussions.
Develop greater awareness and empathy for different discussion styles and needs.
Instructions
Set Up: Prepare for the Activity
Gather information on discussion participants’ discussion styles and needs using the Evaluating Your Discussion Style Questionnaire.
Step One: Share Group Assessment (30 min)
If participants completed the survey in advance, share the group’s assessment of their discussion styles (do not share individual results). Share a visual of the general tendencies and trends you see in the collective results. Discuss:
How do most people in this group self identify? Does this surprise you?
According to our collective feedback, how do most of us like to organize in groups? Does this surprise you?
What are some general discussion participation trends?
What are some common fears or points of anxiety? How could we anticipate and address these as a group?
How can we best support all members in this group?
If participants did not complete the survey in advance, then distribute hard copies of the Evaluating Your Discussion Style Worksheet and invite participants to discuss:
How did these questions encourage self reflection on your own discussion styles?
Were you surprised by any of your responses?
Not knowing how other people responded, how might we use this activity to help us create a more inclusive discussion space?
Step Two: Create Space for Quiet Reflection and Writing (5 min)
Prompts:
What stands out most to you when reviewing our group responses or hearing how group members shared their thoughts about creating an inclusive discussion space?
What can you take away from this peer feedback?
Step Three: Share Discussion Styles (10 min)
In pairs or small groups (3-4 ppl), ask participants to share the three most important things that they would like others to know about their discussion style. Note that they only need to share what they are comfortable sharing and they may not have three items. Invite pairs or small groups to decide how they will share this information: verbally, real time writing, asynchronously after some time to process, etc.
Step Four: Debrief as a Full Group (10 min)
Discuss:
What surprised you most about the group survey feedback?
What similarities or differences stood out in your small groups?
Again, what can we do as a group to support different discussion styles? Why does this matter?
TIME
55
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 build trust and interpersonal connection.
This activity can be used to support facilitation skills. See Sample Facilitation Certificate Program Design to illustrate sample sequencing.
Tell us what you think. Rate and review this activity:
Have any helpful suggestions or modifications for this activity?
Share them in the comments below!
0 Comments
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 7:01:33 PM
Another all time favorite. I really recommend this activity when you are trying to think about the complexity of a social topic and who/what is impacted by it. It pairs well with the Divergent Thinking/Surround the Topic activity. This activity also includes a really helpful worksheet for capturing types of stakeholders.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:59:07 PM
I really like this activity. It is a fun way to figure out what matters most to us as a group. For example, if you need to figure out the theme for a discussion series or a topic for a group project, try out this activity. It helps participants to reflect on their own civic passion but also negotiate together the civic passions of the group. It could be paired with the value activities in Module One.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:54:13 PM
I the process in this activity ("surround the topic") a lot. It is particularly useful as facilitation preparation. It also helps with generative thinking.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:52:01 PM
This is an all time favorite. Use it as a warm-up activity or whenever you have a group that feels stuck and can't think of new ways of engaging a topic or problem.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:49:22 PM
Similar to the previous activity (1.7 Taking Inventory of CD Skills), this activity includes a google survey that participants can complete at the beginning of a program or class. Instructors or facilitators can use this information to then tailor future activities to best fits the discussion needs of their group.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:46:46 PM
Use this as pre-class or pre-workshop preparation! These self-evaluations will help teachers or facilitators to better understand the starting point of each participant and an aggregate view of the group. The survey results are shared only with the instructor/facilitator. This is a really helpful resource (and you can modify the survey to fit your needs).
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:43:42 PM
This activity and the previous (1.5 Understanding Values) are great for difficult conversations. I would use this as the prep work before diving into potentially tricky conversations. It helps participants to look for the values that inform opinions (and not just dismiss ideas that they don't like).
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:41:01 PM
This is also known as "Identity Pie." It's a great warm up and way for participants to get to know one another. I would use this early in a group setting to help build connection.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:39:24 PM
I think we all know that creating guidelines is important. I introduce activity 1.1 What is Collaborative Learning? first and then use the positive and negative attributes that they generate to help form our group guidelines.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:36:43 PM
I always recommend that folks start off with this activity and pair it with 1.3 Creating Guidelines. It is a great way to set the tone and emphasize the importance of collaborative discussion.