Itrainers wiki / ExerciseNo1

Purpose of the exercise

Materials Needed

20 post-it notes per participant & wall space
Whiteboard (divided into 2 sections; Topic & Discussion/Comments depending on which wiki software you are using)
Whiteboard erasers and markers (1 marker per person)

Planning

Identify a topic that is important and relevant to the group - something that everyone relates to in order that they can participate ie. Education system in the country
Write the topic on a flipchart/sign and post it on the wall

Instructions

For the first part of the exercise, participants will not be able to communicate verbally; they are allowed to communicate via post-its only; simulate an online discussion
Participants are given 15 mins or so to develop the structure or broad outline of a document related to the topic at hand (using only post-its)
Once the structure is defined, debrief by inviting participants to share the following (participants are allowed to talk):
- what they observed; what happened
- how they felt
- what would they do differently next time they had to work together collaboratively
Explain to the participants that they are now going to co-create the document based on the outlined structure using the whiteboard. They can use bullet points if they like and add, edit or delete content in any of the sections
After 20 mins or so, debrief by inviting participants to share their experience related in co-creating a document:
- what they observed; what happened
- how they felt
- how is working together face-to-face different than online

Tips

Instructor may need to help the session by facilitating parts of the discussion
Don't rush the debrief; facilitate the discussion using techniques like 'drawing people out' and 'paraphrasing'

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