Page 222 - The Creative Training Idea Book Inspired Tips and Techniques for Engaging and Effective Learning

lucas chap 06 11/20/02 12:21 PM Page 211
Grouping Participants and Selecting Volunteers 211
ground and to share important details about themselves. This doesn’t always happen
when you have a large number of people in a group setting.
Information Exchange Is Important
The amount of lively discussion and exchange of ideas often increases when there is an
equal number of people in each group for discussions. This is particularly valuable if
you want a consensus or discussion on a topic. If brainstorming of ideas, solutions,
or issues is expected, this also helps in generating a potentially higher number of
comments.

Planning Time Is Gained

By dividing participants into smaller discussion groups, then assigning tasks, you can
allow time for yourself to plan another activity, get ready for the next phase of a pro-
gram, and to better manage interaction during discussion. As participants work on
assigned tasks, you can check your lesson plan to mentally prepare for what is to fol-
low the small group activity.
In addition, as participants are interacting, you can walk around to eavesdrop and
offer appropriate comments. Participants often view this as personal attention by the
facilitator. They may even ask questions that they felt were inappropriate in front of the
larger group. For example, maybe they would like your feedback on how to handle a
specific workplace situation.
The major challenge this latter instance creates is that, if lengthy conversations
evolve, you might take participants off task and they might not finish along with the rest
of the groups.

People Tend to Cluster
By randomly grouping learners, you break up cliques of friends and co-workers. This
helps encourage the sharing of ideas among different groups and individuals because
people often congregate with those with whom they feel most comfortable. When they
do this, they often tend to talk and joke more, while paying less attention to you and
program content. This leads to disruption and distraction for others. It may also make
it necessary for you to deal with the disruptive behavior and possibly discipline some-
one. In any event, it’s a lose–lose situation.
In breaking up these insular groups, it is important to make group member selec-
tion seem “random,” so that it does not appear you are singling anyone out. To convey
this perception you may want to prepare before anyone arrives, by placing props or other
items that you will use to group participants at their tables.
The key to getting small groups off to a good start is to plan your technique for
smooth division of participants. I typically outline my strategy in my lesson plan. By
doing so, I don’t have to remember which approach I had planned to use when the time
comes for grouping learners for an activity.