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2.4
Taking Risks
Submitted by Jack Byrd, Jr.
Often groups will default to safe choices. As a result, groups fail to identify possibilities that are bold, anticipatory, or break new ground. This activity demonstrates a process that encourages groups to take risks together.
Learning Goal
Become more aware of the role that risk plays in group imagination and decision-making.
Instructions
Set Up: Prepare for the Activity
Organize participants into pairs or small groups (3-5 ppl).
Begin by introducing the learning goals of this activity.
Step One: Take Inventory of Initial Reactions (5 min)
Share the following prompt or create a relevant prompt for your group:
Institutions of higher education need to reimagine their role in society. What do you think the future university should look like?
As a full group, take a few moments to generate responses to the question posed and record them on a board, flip chart or shared screen.
Step Two: Silently Reflect and Write Responses (10 min)
Invite everyone to think bolder by asking them to respond to one or two of the following questions. Share these questions on the board or screen:
Emphasis on Time. What would the university look like if it were forced to change in only two years?
Emphasis on Change. How would the university look different if it were required by law to be accessible to all people?
Emphasis on Structure. What if universities took on a corporate partner? How would this affect the role that it plays in society?
Emphasis on Technology. How might your vision of the future university change if all instruction became automated and offered via AI? Or, entirely online? Asynchronously?
Provide ten minutes for silent reflection and writing.
Step Three: Re-imagine the Future in Groups (20 min)
In small groups, ask participants to share some of the ideas that they wrote down. Invite them to re-imagine together what a future university looks like. Prompt:
Describe your future university in a series of bullet points.
Reconvene as a full group, and invite groups to share their visions of the future university. Discuss:
What are some common themes?
What are the outliers?
Can we agree on a future vision?
Step Four: Generate a List of Risks (15 min)
As a full group, imagine the risks that a university would encounter in moving toward this particular new model.
Generate a list of these risks. Then make a parallel list of risks that a university would be taking if it didn’t move to this new model when other universities moved in this bold new direction.
Decide as a group on the preferred course of action.
Step Five: Debrief as a Full Group (10 min)
Discuss:
Where did the boldest ideas come from? Individual reflection? Building on the ideas of others in discussion? Thinking about risks?
How, if at all, did our vision for the future university change by following this process?
How might you use this activity in your daily life?
TIME
60
min
MODULE
Creative Collaboration
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 is suitable for professional or more formal learning environments.
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Share them in the comments below!
0 Comments
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:39:23 AM
Activity 5.4 uses the fun method of role playing and builds on other activities to help participants develop questions and practice gathering information to collaborate effectively with communities as partners. This activity involves working together in small groups and as a large group. It also includes multiple additional resources for participants to continue learning methods and skills to build community partnerships.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:39:00 AM
Activity 1.8 provides a very useful survey to gather information on and help support participants' different discussion styles and needs, exploring various areas like preferences for group size, ways of participating in discussions, any fears relating to discussions, etc.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:34:46 AM
Activity 5.8 further explores direct democracy by proposing the idea of "legislative juries" to improve the current initiative process through collaboration and deliberation. This activity uses role playing to have participants practice deliberation as part of a mock legislative jury to craft ballot initiatives on a given issue.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:27:35 AM
Activity 5.7 uses a fun and tactile activity like building LEGOs to explore the effects of coming together to colloborate and discuss, while also participating together in another physical activity.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:22:49 AM
Activity 5.6 uses memes and futuristic zombie scenarios to develop ways to change people's minds, while exploring various aspects of the methods used to change minds, like assumptions behind ideas, sticking to the facts versus stretching the truth, appealing to emotions etc.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:16:44 AM
Activity 5.5 uses a fun and visual/craft activity to help participants explore the many different types of knowledge, how they are valued, and the role/importance of each type of knowledge in their own lives.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:11:54 AM
Activity 5.3 gives participants to use writing, drawing, and/or speaking to share and discuss the various communities they belong to and/or feel excluded from, the various aspects that define community, as well as the practices of inclusion or exclusion and power distribution in these communities.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:07:26 AM
Activity 5.2 introduces four categories of stakeholders and multiple prompts to help participants work together in small and large groups to create comprehensive list of stakeholders, including those who are marginalized or not as obvious, for a given issue.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:04:00 AM
Activity 5.1 uses gamification by having participants play the Civics Topics Sweet Sixteen Competition to identify their issues they are passionate about both as individuals and as a group.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:01:34 AM
Activity 4.9 uses both lighthearted and serious characters, topics, and dialogue to help participants practice viewing an issue from the perspective of multiple people/characters and explain their thought processes and rationale for the choices they think these people will make in a given situation.