Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills Play dance music Or Lead an Energizer activity Or play Personal Bingo - On the first day of the training, ask each participant to fill in a square or two with something not everyone knows about them. Prepare a bingo card (duplicate the card for all attendees to have the same one) with one fact for each square, and instruct the participants to mingle with the group to identify the person for each square. As the information is uncovered, they ask the participant to sign their corresponding square. Keep moving among the guests until all squares are filled. Rules: only open-ended questions may be used. First person who fills card wins a prize. During lunch, determine who will be in each of the 2 small groups for the GGD activity. Be certain that people who have facilitating experience are participating in both groups.
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills As you will remember from our discussion on instructional strategies, Guided Group Discussion is one of the techniques available to us. The slide uses Word Art. This is the blue A icon on the bottom of the Powerpoint page.
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills These are the objectives for this lesson. Student Manual pg. 59 Ask what they think of this slide’s background. Point out that this may annoy some people because it is nearly impossible to line up ALL the words on the lines. Therefore some lines will run through the middle of sentences. This is another one that is packaged with some versions of PowerPoint.
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills Review Instructional Strategies: There were Instructional Methods such as Presenting vs. Facilitating, Organizing participants into dyads, triads and small groups. Methods also included different seating strategies. Review Instructional Techniques: We discussed these specific techniques (lecture and GGD). We are going to spend some time now discussing GGD. But first, who remembers some of the other techniques we discussed? See next slide
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills Here are the other techniques we discussed yesterday. The definitions are included below in case the class doesn’t remember: Instructional Techniques are the way you manage the training task – how you present the material. Examples are: Ground rules - Ground rules help facilitators manage the learning environment. Establish them early in the first session because they help to create a safe space for participants to learn. They should be agreed upon by all participants, enforced by the facilitator and followed by the facilitator. Icebreakers and energizers – activities designed to open up the group and get the energy or keep the energy moving. Parking Lot – A place to put question or comments that are irrelevant to the current discussion. Simply ask the participant to put it into the parking lot and get back to it later. Learning activities - exercises designed to allow participants to practice a particular skill or process information creatively. Demonstration – where the instructor demonstrates how something is done. (How do we do this in PBC? If they are familiar w/PBC). Demonstration/Performance (not on slide) – Very much like demonstration, but the participants actually perform the tasks after the instructor completes the demonstration. This might be after each individual task or after the entire skill has been demonstrated. Obviously this is preferred over straight Demonstration. Student Manual page. 13
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills Role Play – This is a technique that helps participants practice a skill in a close to real-world way in the classroom. Role plays are particularly useful in teaching counseling and problem-solving skills. This technique is used very effectively in the PBC training. It can be used in many other ways such as an attention grabber in the beginning of a lesson. Case Study – This is an analysis of a particular case or situation used as a basis for drawing conclusions in similar situations. (is there an EBI that uses case studies in any way?) Brainstorming – This is particularly well suited for problem solving. Everyone throws ideas out, no matter how outrageous , and they are listed on chart paper or on the white board without comment or critique. This stimulates other ideas. After all ideas are gathered, ask the group which ideas can obviously be thrown out immediately (these are the truly outrageous, impossible ideas). Then each remaining idea is gone through and discussed for suitability to the situation. Finally the best solution is chosen. Rarely done properly. We used the brainstorming technique as part of a the guided group discussion we had about the difference between presenting and facilitating.
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills GGD is a strategy used when facilitating a group. A typical group will be made up of a combination of several GGDs put together to accomplish an overall goal. It is interactive communication with a defined objective. The facilitator knows what that objective is and uses that objective to guide the discussion. Group members learn from each other. Ideally, group members should be talking with, questioning, and answering each other more than with the facilitator. A well conducted GGD will hold everyone’s attention much more than a lecture would. GGD does NOT mean that the facilitator throws out one good question and then sits back and lets the discussion go wherever it will. The facilitator has in mind what the final conclusion should be and guides the group in that direction. For example, when we were discussing the difference between Presentation and Facilitation yesterday, the learning activity was a facilitated brainstorm to compare and contrast presentation with facilitation. The objective was for the group to define presentation as one-way communication and facilitation as two-way communication. There was a lot of other good discussion but the GGD was not complete until those points were made and understood by the group. As group members become more involved in the discussion, they can personalize all that is produced by the group and decide how it will fit and can be used in their life. Sometimes, GGD evolve and are not planned for. We like to call these “teachable moments”. If the discussion is relevant to the groups purpose and does not take the group off track, these can be rich and productive discussions. In such cases, the questions that guide the discussion are not preplanned but are planned at the moment. Student manual page 61
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills Steps to Effective Guided Group Discussion Planning and preparation is critical. First of all, be sure you know and understand your population. Prepare in the appropriate language and education level. You must also have a clearly defined objective in mind that guides you in developing the pre-planned questions you will use. (Opening the session) may have already occurred, thus the parenthesis. By setting the mood and explaining the ground rules, you help the session be successful. It must be understood that all opinions and input into the discussion will be respected by everyone. Presenting the topic properly is critical to accomplishing your goal. You must clearly define what the topic is and what areas of the topic you will be discussing. For example, “Today we are going to be discussing how to lead a Guided Group Discussion.” Conduct the discussion by first beginning with a good, thought-provoking, open-ended question to the group. Try to stay out of the discussion as much as possible except to keep it on track and to summarize or reflect back what was said. NOT making eye contact may be a technique that can get the participants talking more to each other . Sitting at a table or in the circle of chairs with the group also helps. Once the discussion has ended, it is critical that you give a good summary of all that was learned and/or decided. This will ensure that all are ‘’on the same page.’’ Use different questions and repeat steps 4 & 5 as necessary until the objective has been reached. Student manual page 61-62
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills Tips Planning and preparation cannot be overemphasized. Suitable space includes the room arrangement to have participants seated in such a way as to facilitate discussion with each other. Tables in a square or horseshoe often work well. Chairs arranged in a circle is often one of the better choices. The facilitator must adequately supervise the discussion, even if there are several groups going and you appoint a group discussion leader for each group or clearly define the tasks ahead of time. As stated before, preparation includes planning specific objectives and pre-planned questions. The discussion must have a productive conclusion to make it meaningful. Summarize the lessons learned or the decisions made. You must get the entire discussion off to a good start and keep it going. Stick to the plan. When the discussion starts to stray, and it often will, bring it back through good questioning techniques. A mini-summary of what has been accomplished up to the point the discussion strayed, followed by the good question often works well. Sometimes a simple reminder of the main goal of the discussion will bring it back on track. Take care you don’t insult anyone when you are bringing the discussion back to the main topic. If you do so, it can shut down not only the embarrassed participant, but others as well. Student manual page 62
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills Facilitate a short GGD about GGD. Ask the group to sit in a circle of chairs, perhaps in the middle of the horseshoe tables they have been sitting behind. Use the techniques we have been discussing; active listening, reflective listening, using pre-planned questions with a specific objective. Pre-planned questions: What is a GGD? Describe some examples of GGDs from EBIs you work with? How is a GGD useful for an EBI? Specific Objective: The discussion is over when the group has defined GGD as: a technique of group facilitation, a discussion that uses pre-planned questions, a discussion that has a specific objective, useful because it allows group members to personalize information and that makes the information more memorable, And it is clear that all or most understand the concepts.
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills “ You will soon have the opportunity to practice Guided Group Discussion. This will be an opportunity to practice what we have been discussing about group facilitation and GGD. For this activity, you will practice being a facilitator. You will each be facilitating a part of a GGD in the third session of a training about healthy relationships. This GGD is about active listening.” “ We will divide into two groups to do this activity.” Inform the participants which group they are a member of and how many people are in their group before you go over the next instructions. DO NOT MOVE INTO SMALL GROUPS YET. You will take turns facilitating a portion of a GGD. It’s as if the planning step for a guided group discussion has already been done for you. On pgs 65-68 is a detailed lesson plan for the GGD.” ASK: “What is the purpose of this GGD?” From pg. 57: The purpose of this GGD is for each person to understand active listening and to personalize it. “ Keep the purpose in mind as you facilitate the group.” “ The first step is to open and set the tone for the session. The next step is to do the first activity and ask Question #1. There are several questions to facilitate. Some have a flip chart component, some do not. Different people will facilitate different steps/questions. Finally, someone will summarize and close the session.” “ What questions do you have about this activity? Student manual page 63-68
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills “ When you are in your small groups, you will determine who will facilitate each part.” Instruct group members to go to the appropriate instruction page in the Participant Manual for your group; e.g. A large group of 12 members will divide into 2 groups of 6 members and each will use the instructions for a small group with 6 members (pg 64). A group of 11 would divide into a small group of 6 members and a small group of 5 and use the appropriate instructions, etc. Pg 63 - Instructions for a small group of 4 Pg 63 - Instructions for a small group of 5 Pg 64 - Instructions for a small group of 6 This provides assignments for small groups for classes with 8-12 members. Facilitators will need to develop the assignment for classes smaller than 8.
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills Explain Participant Manual pg 63: Each person in the group will have a facilitator role that they can practice for about 7 minutes. For facilitating a small group of 4 members: Facilitator A – Open the session, opening activity & Question #1 and Closing Facilitator B – Question #2 & #3 Facilitator C –Question #4 & #5 Facilitator D –Question #6 & #7 Student manual page 63
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills Explain Participant Manual pg 63: Each person in the group will have a facilitator role that they will practice for about 3-5 minutes. For facilitating a small group of 4 members: Facilitator A – Open the session, opening activity & Question #1 Facilitator B – Question #2 & #3 Facilitator C – Question #4 & #5 Facilitator D – Question #6 & #7 Facilitator E – Closing Student manual page 63
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills Explain Participant Manual pg 64: Each person in the group will have a facilitator role that they will practice for about 3-5 minutes. For facilitating a small group of 6 members: Before you break into groups ask participants if they know what a check-in is, ask the group if anyone can explain If someone says they don’t know what a check-in is,. There will probably be someone who can explain that everyone checks-in by saying how they are doing since last week. It is a way for people to re-connect. Facilitator A – Open the session and do a check-in from last week. Facilitator B - Opening activity & Question #1 Facilitator C – Question #2 & #3 Facilitator D – Question #4 & #5 Facilitator E – Question #6 & #7 Facilitator F – Closing Student manual page 64
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills When the groups have completed the activity, they should spend some time processing. These questions can be left on the screen. They are also in the participant manual. Instruct the groups that when they have completed processing, they can take a break until all the groups have completed. After all groups have had a break, if there is time, chose a few of the processing questions to facilitate a large group discussion. Student manual page 69
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills Review the objectives and summarize the main points. GGD is A strategy for group facilitation, Two-way communication, Participants can personalize ideas, concepts, emotions, and behaviors produced by group and More stimulating than lecture Five Steps in Conducting Effective GGD’s Planning and preparation Opening the session Presenting the topic Conducting the discussion Summarizing Repeat steps 4 & 5 as necessary. Tips: Be prepared and plan: Specific objectives Well defined issues Suitable facilities/space Adequate supervision Productive conclusion Get off to a good start Stick to plan Guided Group Discussion done well is an excellent tool in the facilitator’s tool box. It does take practice to do well. Tomorrow you may want to use this technique during your presentations. Just keep the time constraint in mind when you are planning your presentation. It can be done in ten minutes with a single objective in mind. For instance, from the example used earlier, you might want to discuss how to recruit clients for your EBI, or how to retain them in the groups. What questions do you have?
Page of 18 Guided Group Discussion Lesson Eight –Guided Group Discussion October 2008 Presentation and Facilitation Skills Participants have the option of staying in order to work together and get help from the trainer. If available, there are computers they can use if they are far from home. Participants also have the option of leaving and working in their offices, homes or hotels.