There are excellent reasons to incorporate participatory activities that engage an audience, even when time for a presentation is very limited. Luckily, there are also many quick and simple learning activities that are very participant-centered.

First of all, why should trainers and presenters incorporate participatory learning activities into their presentations? If the intent of the lecture is to educate rather than simply entertain, then some level of learning is clearly desired. Lecture alone will not provide any feedback about whether or not the audience has “bought into” the ideas presented or learned anything. The audience will need to do something to at least indicate that they have understood the message.

Second, what participant-centered learning activities are quick and simple to incorporate into presentations? Let’s consider four different categories of activities that engage learners and enable them to demonstrate their learning in one to ten minutes: written, verbal, visual and physical.

1. Written Activities:

a. Questionnaire- This can be used to organize the presentation by including statements or questions that cover the major points. A questionnaire can be an easy way to convert a lecture into an interactive learning activity.

b. Crossword Puzzle or Word Search- There are free internet sites that enable trainers to create these puzzles. Crossword puzzles are particularly good for checking learner comprehension.

c. Worksheets- Fill-in-the-blanks worksheets enable learners to post key points as they learn them. Match up worksheets check learner comprehension.

2. Verbal Activities:

a. Shout Outs- Learners shout out answers to questions posed by the trainer.

b. Question and Answer Session- Learners and presenter can interact, with the nature of the questions providing

direct feedback to the presenter regarding the audience’s level of understanding.

c. Paired Conversations- Asking participants to turn to someone next to them to discuss a point or share information about a topic requires them to articulate their thoughts and enriches their learning experience.

d. Debate- Participant volunteers take two sides of an argument and debate them in front of the entire group, which

is split in half to provide verbal assistance to their designated representative. A debate clearly reveals the

learners’ awareness of both sides of an issue.

e. Competitive Brainstorming- Table groups compete against each other to list the greatest number of responses to a question posed by the trainer. The winning group gets a small prize. The competitive nature of this activity adds interest and energy, while checking for learner comprehension.

3. Visual Activities:

a. Video Simulation- Trainers can show pictures that simulate on-site situations on Power Point slides and ask the

learners to analyze what they see and report out.

b. Demonstration- With live demonstrations, either the trainer or participant volunteers can show the steps in a

process. Demonstrations can also be on video, giving the learners an opportunity to see what to do or not do in

given situations.

4. Physical Activities:

a. Pop Ups- The trainer poses a question and learners who have an answer stand up to respond. Pop ups get learners out of their seats and let them articulate what they have learned.

b. Relay Race- The trainer divides the group into teams of a manageable size (8-10 people). The teams race against each other to list content items or fill in the blanks on flip charts. Relay races take very little time to set up and facilitate, and they invigorate the learners.

c. Signaling- Learners indicate by a show of hands or thumbs up or down whether they agree or disagree with a statement. Learners indicate by the fingers of one hand their degree of satisfaction with the training content. Signaling adds a physical aspect to the learning experience.

d. Koosh Toss- The Koosh ball (or some other soft object) indicates which learner has the floor to speak on a topic or report out key learning. It helps to have the learners stand and then, after they have received the Koosh ball, spoken and tossed it to someone else, they sit down. The Koosh Toss gets participants out of their chairs.

These are just a few of the many quick and easy ways to incorporate participatory activities into lectures or presentations. The important point to keep in mind is that both trainers and learners benefit from participatory activities. Trainers benefit because they get real-time feedback about what the participants learned. Learners benefit because they are more engaged and, therefore, more likely to learn and retain what they learned.

May your learning be sweet.

Deborah

Tip #349: Avoid Mistakes When Timing Learning Activities, Part Two

Posted on November 15, 2010 by admin

“Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied.” Pearl Buck

There are ten mistakes that trainers frequently make when they plan and schedule time for learning activities. We considered the first five mistakes in last week’s Tip. This Tip discusses the remaining five mistakes.

Mistake #6: Not Building In Extra Time

Learning activities will rarely take the same amount of time with every group. It is important to build in some extra time so that you will be able to handle unanticipated questions or issues and still accomplish the scheduled activity. It is wise to budget for an extra 15-30 minutes for each activity. It is better to have the time available than to come up short. If the extra time is not needed for the activity, you can always fill it with additional discussion or (the ever popular) end early.

Mistake #7: Not Adapting an Activity to the Time Available

What do you do if you need 50 minutes for an activity, but something [an extended group discussion or a classroom management issue] ends up reducing the time available to 15 minutes? Clearly, the lesson design process determined that this activity was necessary and appropriate. It is better to adapt the planned activity to the shorter timeframe than to throw out the activity. For example, instead of having small groups discuss and report out their conclusions, you can conduct a large group discussion. Instead of small groups discussing a questionnaire, you can read the questions and have the participants signal whether they agree or disagree with the statements. You can then ask representative participants to explain the reason behind their signaled answers.

Mistake #8: Not Building in Time for Breaks

Brain studies have shown that people need breaks approximately every 50 minutes. Otherwise, their brains get saturated and the individuals get exhausted. It is very convenient if the content and learning activities fit neatly into 50- minute modules. But if they don’t, figure out how to split the content and activities in a reasonable place so the participants can take their breaks. For example, explain an activity, assign it and have the participants complete it. Then give a break. After the break, the participants can discuss or debrief the activity.

Mistake #9: Thinking That Participatory Activities Take Too Much Time

First of all, participatory activities are necessary to achieve any learning level higher than knowledge. It is true that some activities require more time than others. However, there are many different brief activities that can accomplish the same learning level. For example, if you want to check participant comprehension, you can use one-minute pop ups or shout outs, five-minute competitive brainstorming or signaled answers to a questionnaire, or ten-minute relay races.

Mistake #10: Not Leaving Enough Time for Closing Activities

There are at least three closing activities that should occur before the end of a workshop. First, there should be some activity that checks for participant comprehension of key content [such as a fill-in-the-blanks worksheet or a quiz game].

Second, there should be sufficient time for the participants to complete a [hopefully simple] workshop evaluation. Third, there should be some general summary [such as individual report-outs of their key take-aways or concluding comments from the instructor].

Avoiding these five mistakes should reduce stress for both the trainer and the participants!

Special Announcement: Our four-day Train the Trainer: Designing and Delivering Dynamic Learning is now scheduled for January 11-14, 2011 in Madison, Wisconsin. There are discounted rates for early bird registration and ASTD members. The brochure with registration form is posted on our website: http://www.laurelandassociates.com. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at (608) 255-2010.

May your learning be sweet.

Deborah