Objective
- Build skills and confidence in meeting new people (communication skills) and working in groups
- Develop questioning and listening skills
- Reflect on, and draw out, learning (facts, experience and process)
Great method to bring in externals with minimum preparation for them. Great opportunity to "lift the lid" on a role, sector, or the realities of professional life.
*Key is to scaffold and prepare group to have a great experience, and provide multiple "meet and greet" gives experiences to reflect upon as they review their own behaviour when given this opportunity.
Overview
Having invited sufficient sector experts, SME owners or near-peer alumni to create small groups (3-4 students or delegates per speaker) this is the online version of "A Compendium of Pedagogies" (Gibb and Price 2007) technique to work with externals, to provide opportunities to ask questions, meet "real people" working in the sector and respond to a situation as it unfolds. Using online functions (zoom rooms or teams functions) will allow the student teams to meet several experts/alumni and compare their experiences, and share their learning with the full group.
Activity
Having identified and booked appropriate guests (as fits your Intended Learning Outcomes. topic area or current focus) to come online for the session, brief them in advance as to the nature of the questioning, topic area or focus, and outline the format of the event as:Â a chance to talk, informally, in small groups, answering questioning - then move to another group to start again" - rather than requiring a talk, power point or prohibitive/extensive preparation.
This is a minimal-prep approach to working with externals (FOR THEM) as you are not asking for a talk, slide deck or promotional story - but to share their own experiences, background, approach - to a limit where they feel comfortable.
Each online room will hold an expert and 2-3 students, allowing the student group to experience leading, by asking questions -Â and the expert to share, ask questions and explore topics together.
This can be a formulated as an open chat, question and answer format, or a strict 1 question per student approach but typically an organic approach will allow for different experiences each time and ideally the students will meet 2 or 3 experts and then be given the opportunity as a group, and as a full cohort, to reflect on their learning but also their approach to the encounters.
Clear student preparation and guidance is likely to be required to ensure the most benefit is created for all - however, it can be desirable in the right context to provide this opportunity and then ask the students to reflect on their responses and what they wish they had done differently. This is an opportunity to be grasped and the learning can be reflected upon creating powerful tool in a "low cost" situation where students can see the benefit of engaging with their own learning, taking time to be prepared and seizing professional opportunities when presented.
Skill Development
Providing opportunities to ask questions, spot opportunities, seize the moment; learn professional and sector insights
Experience appreciative listening: taking the initiative; increase self-awareness and take risks in the moment.
Resources
- Online - ability to create separate rooms
- Reflection Framework - asking about knowledge gained, learning and content as well as process (what, so what, now what? what differently next time?)