Unit 6 Opening Exercises, Active Training, and Discussion Methods

Overview

You may be surprised that this unit is so late in the class – but it is by design! Planning the ‘how’ of learning opportunities necessarily comes after determining learning objectives and assessment. This is sometimes referred to as ‘Backwards Planning’. (For more on this approach see this Slideshare presentation and/or this article by one of the ‘gurus’ Jay McTighe.) In this unit you will focus on how to create opening exercises and designing active and engaging learning opportunities.

Topics

  1. Creating Opening Exercises
  2. Designing Active Learning Opportunities
  3. Leading Discussions and Giving Presentations

Learning Outcomes

When you have completed this unit you should be able to:

  • Provide a rationale for opening exercises.
  • Design, sequence and plan active learning opportunities.
  • Describe how to facilitate discussion, get learners engaged with a topic and encourage them to have confidence to share their ideas.
  • Articulate a vision of adult education where adult educators and learners are agents of transformation.

Activity Checklist

Here is a checklist of learning activities you will benefit from in completing this unit. You may find it useful for planning your work.

Learning Activities

  • Read Silberman, chapters 3 and 11.
  • Watch TedTalk video, and then create your own ‘elevator speech’ about something you are passionate about. If you like, post it to the Learning Café for this week.
  • Skim-read Silberman chapters 7-10.
  • Prepare your draft learning design assignment and post for peer review.
  • Read Silberman chapter 13 and Brookfield chapter 3. Skim read Brookfield, S. and Preskill, S. (2016). The Discussion Book: 50 Great Ways to Get People Talking. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
  • Settling on your ALDA (Adult Learning Design Assignment)

Assessment

  • Complete the Unit 6 Discussion Post and respond to at least two others’ posts.

Resources

Here are the resources you will need to complete this unit:

  1. Brookfield, S. (2013). Powerful Techniques for Teaching Adults. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
  2. Brookfield, S., & Preskill, S. (2016). The Discussion Book: 50 Great Ways to Get People Talking. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
  3. Silberman, M. L., & Biech, E. (2015). Active Training: A Handbook of Techniques, Designs, Case Examples, and Tips. (4th ed.) Wiley.
  4. Other online resources will be provided in the unit, or can be accessed through the TWU Library.

6.1 Creating Opening Exercises

You may know of Malcolm Gladwell’s research about the power of first impressions. It’s worth reading more about here. Gladwell discusses our snap judgments of people and situations, and this information has implications for adult educators. When we’re planning sessions, we need to pay particular attention to our opening exercises so that participants’ first impressions are favourable, and they are willing to commit to being involved and engaged in whatever we have planned.

Opening exercises (also referred to as warm-ups or icebreakers) should be tied to the data collected from pre-assessments and to the objectives of the session. It’s important to find ways to connect the learners’ experience to what you are going to be teaching. This will answer the unspoken question in participants’ minds: Is this going to be worth my time? Opening exercises should also help people feel connected in some way and establish some group sense of purpose.

Silberman chapter 3 has many practical strategies for team building, on the spot assessment and immediate learning involvement. As you read you will learn about the following methods: Open discussion, response cards, polling, subgroup discussions, partners, go-arounds, games, calling on the next speaker, panels and fishbowls. Wang chapter 13 synthesizes research about opening exercises, considers learning resistance and practical strategies. Here is a taste of the findings that are unpacked in more detail in chapter 13:

Most of the literature indicates that teachers will see the most success with students if they focus on creating a positive first impression by exhibiting positive body language and using nonverbal cues to draw students’ attention… Appear confident and professional, … High amounts of eye contact, … Creating a good learning atmosphere, …ice breakers… professional and organized. (332-333)

Frye, S., Taylor, J. & Stafford, A. in Wang emphasize the importance of passion – believing in the importance of what you teach and the influence you have as an educator to help people become the best version of themselves. Their words about passion are quite poetic:

Passion is not passive; passion leans forward with its face in the wind. Passion is passed through to practice in the form of energy and motion. Passion is not monotone; passion is not motionless. Passion does not stand behind a lectern or sit in a chair. In fact, passion doesn’t stand still much at all. (340)

One way of planning to communicate your passion is to create an ‘elevator speech’ about your course or learning session. Introduce the topic, give one or two ‘did you know ‘statements (surprising facts), ask your participants to imagine a preferred future and ‘sell’ the course as a step to creating this preferred future. Then make it interactive and ask for their ideas. Here is a TedTalk video about how to communicate your passion and create intrigue in a structured and intentional way. I tried it at an important meeting recently and it worked marvelously!

Activity: Reading

Read the following chapters:

  • Silberman, M. L., & Biech, E. (2015). Active Training: A Handbook of Techniques, Designs, Case Examples, and Tips (4th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Chapters 3 and 11.
  • Wang, C. X. (2017). Theory and Practice of Adult and Higher Education. Information Age Publishing Inc. Chapter 13.

When reading these chapters, take note of the strategies that most resonate with your preferred style of teaching and what you think would be most effective in your context. How do you get learners involved and engaged right from the beginning of your session?

6.1.1 Activity: Creating and Elevator Speech

Watch: Intrigue - How to Create Interest and Connect with Anyone

After watching the TedTalk referenced in the introduction to topic 1, create your own ‘elevator speech’ about something you are passionate about. If you like, post it to the Learning Café for this week so that we can all learn a bit more about one another.

6.2 Designing Active Learning Opportunities

Introduction

The heart and soul of teaching well is designing, sequencing and planning active learning opportunities around engaging and compelling content. This is creative work that requires the educator to research solid content aligned with the learning objectives and discern effective means of sharing and engaging learners with that content. Furthermore, it requires the educator to think about their specific learners, their prior knowledge about the topic, any fears or resistance they may bring to the topic and then carefully craft the time allotted so that objectives can be met in a fair, reasonably-paced, anxiety-free and hopefully enjoyable manner. It is tempting to try to use many fun activities during a session, but it’s very important to be judicious in selecting activities that serve a learning purpose. Avoid the trap of many beginning educators who focus more on ‘activitizing’ rather than aligning learning opportunities to objectives and assessment.

There are many chapters to read this week from Silberman. It’s not heavy reading as the book is a handbook, so you’ll find yourself reading quickly through the eclectic mix of ideas, case studies and best practices. It’s very practical reading and I’m sure you’ll find much that is applicable to your work setting and much to reflect upon how to integrate into your current practice. It’s okay to bounce around the text and read what strikes you as relevant. Yes, it’s okay to ‘skim’!

The delivery of a program involves adjusting, refining and redesigning. It’s about fitting the content to the participants – their questions, their needs, their mood even. Some things you can’t define in advance so you have to have a bit of a ‘bag of tricks’ to draw from to suit the situation. This all takes a lot of advanced planning. As Silberman says, “Preparation is one of the most important ingredients for success” (p. 207).

As you consider how the strategies and technologies presented by Silberman may relate to your context, also consider the bigger picture of education that involves a vision where educators and students alike become agents of transformation. How might you as an educator reflect this vision of faith and hope? How might the strategies and techniques you choose to design your learning opportunities convey this message of hope?

Activity: Reading

Skim these chapters and read what is interesting and useful to your practice and context. Note anything of relevance to your learning design assignment.

Silberman, M. L., & Biech, E. (2015). Active Training: A Handbook of Techniques, Designs, Case Examples, and Tips (4th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10.

Activity: Draft Review

Look at your draft learning design assignment and ensure that you have included creative design of learning opportunities. Consider the time allotted, buy-in, key points and instructions, materials, physical setting, sequencing and ending. Would integrating technology enhance the learning design (See considerations in Silberman pgs 226-227)?

6.3 Leading Discussions and Teacher-Lead Presentations

Just for a laugh, view this video about how NOT to present or facilitate discussion. (“Anyone, anyone” teacher from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)

Discussions don’t happen ‘on the fly’ and it’s not enough to write in your lesson plan ‘have a discussion about…’. You need to think about how you will involve all learners, how to create a safe environment where agreeing to disagree is possible, how the discussion will proceed to avoid bias, exchange of misinformation or inaccurate facts. Giving voice to adults in an academic environment relates to Academic Freedom. You may be interested in TWU’s website for Academic Freedom. There you will find the statement as well as a Discussion paper.

Brookfield explains power differences among students and how these manifest in the class. It can certainly be a challenge for educators to promote participation in as democratic a manner as possible. Adult educators need to emphasize with learners that it’s not about speaking out as often as possible to impress the teacher. On the contrary, the goal is group creation of knowledge through discussion. Brookfield admonishes readers to remember that ‘the most important part of participation is listening, not talking’ and that ‘a good discussion participant is someone who links contributions, asks questions of others, builds on comments, and raises questions’ (p. 71). Several interesting and worthwhile facilitation techniques are described in Brookfield’s chapter 3, and in depth in his book: Brookfield, S. and Preskill, S. (2016). The Discussion Book: 50 Great Ways to Get People Talking. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

‘Preparation is one of the most important ingredients for success’ (Silberman, p. 207). Keep in mind his advice that planning is not (only) about you – it’s about the participants! He suggests that the first time you present content – use the expertise of the group; keep track of questions on a ‘Parking Lot’. When you’ve given a session many times, it’s important to keep your enthusiasm, be flexible, change it up (be creative!), establish rapport with participants and learn from others.

Facilitating discussion is a key skill of the adult educator and giving voice to the adult learner is one of the most important aspects for an adult educator to consider. Getting learners involved in the topic and having the confidence to speak in class and share their ideas whether through discussions or presentations, are essential elements of adult education. If you are strategic about planning discussion, your learners will be more involved and perceive you to be fair. Your effectiveness as an adult educator will be greatly enhanced.

Activity: Reading

Read Silberman, M. L., & Biech, E. (2015). Active Training: A Handbook of Techniques, Designs, Case Examples, and Tips (4th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Chapter 13.

Read Brookfield, S. (2013). Powerful Techniques for Teaching Adults. Chapter 3.

Skim read Brookfield, S. and Preskill, S. (2016). The Discussion Book: 50 Great Ways to Get People Talking. San Francisco: Jossey Bass

This is a very accessible manual that collects the best techniques to start discussion, keep it going and stay focused. Depending on what your role and context are, you will choose techniques accordingly. The book doesn’t have traditional chapters per se but a listing of fifty techniques fully explained. Check out the user guide on pages xiii-xvii to help you choose techniques for your situation.

Summary

In this unit, you have had the opportunity to learn about some of the ‘nuts and bolts’ of designing learning opportunities for adults. You focused on opening exercises, how to facilitate the learning of content through engaging activities and how to facilitate content through discussion and presentations.

Assessment

Unit 6 Discussion

In the Brookfield video you viewed in a previous unit and considering this unit’s reading, how do Brookfield and Silberman advise instructors to challenge student assumptions and model the exploration of alternative perspectives? Post your response in the discussion forum and respond to 2 of your peers’ posts.

Checking your Learning

Use the learning outcomes for this unit as a checklist of understanding before you move to the next unit.

  • Can you describe how to facilitate discussion, get learners engaged with a topic and encourage them to have confidence to speak in class and share their ideas?
  • Can you articulate a vision of education where educators and students alike become agents of transformation?

Resources

  • Brookfield, S. (2013). Powerful Techniques for Teaching Adults. (Ch. 3)
  • Brookfield, Stephen and Preskill, S. (2016). The Discussion Book: 50 Great Ways to Get People Talking. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
  • Silberman, M. L., & Biech, E. (2015). Active Training: A Handbook of Techniques, Designs, Case Examples, and Tips (4th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Chapter 3, 7-11, 13
  • TedTalk video Intrigue - How to Create Interest and Connect With Anyone: Sam Horn at TEDxBethesdaWomen, January 3, 2014.
  • Wang, C. X. (2017). Theory and Practice of Adult and Higher Education. Information Age Publishing Inc. (Ch. 13)