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Making Training
Games and Activities More
Effective
Facilitator Guide
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MAKING TRAINING GAMES AND ACTIVITIES MORE EFFECTIVE
For Instructional Design Special Interest Group Meeting April 2007
Snapshot
Estimated Time for Module: 1 Hours and 30 Minutes Lesson # Topic Title Time
1 Games Equal Interactive Learning Events 0:10 2 Interactive Lecture ILEs 0:10 3 Frame Games 0:05 4 Creative Activities 0:40 5 Debriefing 0:15 6 Question and Answer Session 0:10
Module Materials Facilitator Materials
• Facilitator Guide • Handout • Flipchart or Whiteboard and Markers • Supplies for chosen ILEs, such as
envelopes, 3x5 cards, and hat/bowl. • Timer
Participant Materials • Handout • Supplies for chosen ILEs, such as
envelopes, 3x5 cards, and pens/pencils
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Topic 1: Games = Interactive Learning Event
Method Content Time
Estimate
FYI
Objectives for Topic: • Discuss the barriers to using term “game” in workplace training. • Identify participant’s expectations for course.
N/A
Say
Introduce Self and Course:
Explain: • Introduce self. • Value of interaction for retention of learning • Common mistakes in design—lecture, questioning only, and just
brainstorming as “interaction”, no debriefing to recognize the learning of an activity.
• What we’ll focus on today: interactive lecture, jazz up brainstorming, and debriefing techniques.
2 min
Handout
Handout Explain: • The handout has information on 5 topics: Games in general,
Interactive Lectures, Framegames, Creative Activities: Alternatives to Brainstorming, and Debriefing.
• We will not cover all the activities here, but will sample a few. • The handout is more for use after the presentation as a resource.
1 min
Flipchart
Flipchart – Participant Expectations Record answers on flipchart or whiteboard to: What are your expectations for today? What do you hope to get out of this topic?
2 min
FYI
The information from the flipchart may be used for some of the ILEs later in course. Keep it posted for referral later.
N/A
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Method Content Time Estimate
Discussion
Games = Interactive Learning Event (ILE) Lead discussion on What gives “games” a bad rep in training? Key points: • Perception that games aren’t serious or “real” training. • Association of games with children and non-productive pursuits.
2 min
Say
Discussion Conclusion: Explain: • Dale’s Cone of Learning demonstrates that the more actively
involved a learner is the greater retention they’ll have. • So our goal in training games is NOT fun, but creating an
interactive learning event. • Fun will help make it more memorable. • So will allowing reflection of “learning” associated with the
activity.
2 min
Transition
Transition to Next Topic Link past with next… Our focus on interactivity includes adding interaction to lecture, a delivery technique often considered the most incapable to involve interaction. We’ll look at that next…
1 min
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Topic 2: Interactive Lecture
Method Content Time
Estimate
FYI
Objectives for Topic: • Execute an Interactive Lecture ILE on first section.
N/A
Say
Interactive Lectures
Explain: • Dr. Thiagi has a number of suggestions for adding interactivity to a
lecture format. • Primarily they fall into three types: review, create your own, and
word games. • Reviews: Doing review-type activities at breaks through lecture,
such as summarizing key points, or writing pertinent questions. • Create Your Own: Creating a statement, image, or idea and
communicating it to others. The created image is then pulled into the lecture or explored as an example of the concept.
• Word Games: Applying learning to word-game structure at breaks.
• The handout has five examples.
1 min
Activity
Activity – Key Point Summary Note: Facilitator may use an alternative interactive lecture ILE. Explain: • The purpose of this activity is to identifying key points for materials
just covered. It will also illustrate doing interactive lecture technique.
• The activity is similar to “Best Summary” though we will only be doing the initial stage.
1 min
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Activity – continued
Direct participants to: • Working alone, write a key point or two about what we’ve just
discussed—using games as interactive learning events. • Key points can be a short summary or your personal “Aha” from the
information covered.
2 min
Debrief
Debrief Activity If class is small enough, have each person share one of their key points. If class is large, break groups into teams and have them compare key points and provide 2 for each group.
4 min
Ask
What questions do you have about using interactive lecture techniques? Respond appropriately.
1 min
Transition
Transition to Next Topic Link past with next… Another way to add interactivity following a period of discussion, lecture, or reading is using a frame game to review the information. Our next topic is a quick look at frame games.
1 min
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Topic 3: Frame Games
Method Content Time
Estimate
FYI
Objectives for Topic: • Identify examples of frame games.
N/A
Say
Frame Games
Explain: • Frame games provide an easy framework (rules and formats) that
you can easily substitute different content or questions into. • Many game shows are frame games, such as Jeopardy and Who
Wants to Be a Millionaire.
1 min
Ask
What other common frame games can you think of? Possible answers: • Tic-Tac-Doe • Hollywood Squares • Weakest Link • Are You Smarter than a 5th
Grader
2 min
Handout
Handout – Information Basketball Explain: • There are lots of frame games available including internet resources
for PowerPoint or e-Learning shells for the games. • I’ve included an example that I created called Information
Basketball.
1 min
Transition
Transition to Next Topic Link past with next… Frame games are a very useful training format. Another one is team strategies, such as brainstorming or some alternatives to brainstorming.
1 min
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Topic 4: Creative Activities
Method Content Time
Estimate
FYI
Objectives for Topic: • Execute at least one ILE using an alternative approach to
brainstorming.
N/A
Say
Creative Activities
Explain: • I’ve included a number of these creative activities to provide variety
in ways to expand your repertoire for brainstorm like situations. • Let’s explore a couple of these.
1 min
Activity
Activity – Reverse Storm Note: Facilitator may use an alternative creative activity ILE. Explain: • The purpose of this activity is to determine what makes training
effective or less effective • We are also seeing how a simple reversal technique can impact the
enthusiasm for an activity. • You’ll be working in teams (3-5 people preferably). • Our goal is to make training effective. • Our next step is to reverse the challenge
1 min
Activity – continued
Use the handout to conduct Reverse Storm through the stages with the following points: • “How do I ensure training is ineffective?” or “In what way can I
guarantee to undermine training’s impact?” • Only rank top 3 training-saboteurs. • Select amid teams top 3 choices so that each team has a different
item to reverse back for positive strategies.
12 min
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Debrief
Debrief Activity Have each class share their top three negative ways to impact training’s effectiveness. Have each team share their reversed question (based on high-ranking negatives) and the list generated to address those negatives. Lead discussion on good and bad of this activity. You may use the following questions. How did you feel about brainstorming negative suggestions? What happened when you selected the highest ranking negative? What impact did selecting the greatest training-saboteur for the next part of the activity? How do you feel about your final list of strategies for making training effective? How could you use this exercise in the workplace? Summarize key points. Such as: • People can become really energized at finding the negative, so
reverse storm starts by building that energy and riding it to the end. • This technique also helps identify where the bang for the buck is by
ranking what is the worse negative. • Creating strategies to address the worse negative means actually
targeting the overall.
7 min
Say
Creative Activities Explain: • There are a lot of ILE choices. • Many are from Cracking Creativity and can be used for problem-
solving or team-building outside of training class. • Let’s do one to address some of the problems we’ve encountered as
Instructional Designers and Trainers.
1 min
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Activity
Activity – TBD Note: Select an ILE from handout that best fits class expectations/needs. For example, do envelopes and base the problem statements on each envelope from the expectations listed at beginning of class—especially those that material is not likely to cover. Explain: • The purpose of this activity is … Use the handout to guide participants through each stage of the activity.
12 min
Debrief
Debrief Activity Publish any answers. Lead discussion on activity. You may use the following questions: What did you think of this activity? Do you feel you achieved the purpose of the activity? How would you use this activity for your workplace? What would you change about the activity?
5 min
Transition
Transition to Next Topic Link past with next… We’ve practiced a few different ILEs. For many of them, we did a debrief discussion. Our next topic will look at debriefs.
1 min
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Topic 5: Debriefing
Method Content Time
Estimate
FYI
Objectives for Topic: • Discuss the value of debriefing ILEs. • Identify Thiagi’s 6 recommended questions. • Execute Concentric Circles to show how to actively involve every
participant in debriefing.
N/A
Say
Value of Debriefing
Explain: • Debriefing means to help process or reflect on the activity. • It can be as simple as checking the correct answers to long
discussions about what happened and what impacts it can have. • Some students will never recognize the actual learning without
constructive reflection on the task. • We facilitate debriefings for the Interactive Learning Events
especially to help ensure we target the right learning from the event.
1 min
Say
Thiagi’s Debriefing Guide Explain: • Dr. Thiagi emphasized the need to debrief games and activities for
success in the learning. • He suggested 6 basic questions that can then be expanded on—these
are in the handout. • How do you feel? • What happened? • What did you learn? • How does it relate? • What if? • What next?
1 min
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Say
Interactive Debriefs Explain: • You can even use ILEs to do the debriefing itself. • One of the problems with debriefs is that the larger the class the
fewer people participate in actual debriefing discussion. Not all voices are heard.
• Robert Greenaway offers some suggestions for varying up debriefing to ensure greater interactivity.
• Let’s try one of them.
1 min
Activity
Activity – Concentric Circles Explain: • The purpose of this activity is to involve everyone in the debriefing
process and give each of you a voice. Direct participants to: • Stand up and come to this clear area. • Find a partner (if necessary, facilitator may need to even out the
pairings). • Stand in a circle of pairs with partners facing each other (so one set
of the pair is on the outside and one on the inside). • As the facilitator provides a question, discuss it in your pairs. After about 1 minute, call a stop to the discussion and direct participants to: • Inside circle should now shift one person to the right. • As the facilitator provides next question, discuss it in your new
pairing. Repeat the stop, rotate, and discuss in new pair for all remaining questions. Use a version of Thiagi’s 6 questions from handout.
7 min
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Debrief
Debrief Activity Publish any answers. Lead discussion on activity. You may use the following questions: What did you think of this debrief activity? Any big “Aha’s” you would like to share with everyone?
4 min
Transition
Transition to Next Topic Link past with next… Next we close, but first a recap of what we’ve done today…
1 min
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Topic 6: Question & Answer
Method Content Time
Estimate
FYI
Objectives for Topic: • None.
N/A
Summary
Today we’ve looked at using Interactive Learning Events to make your training more effective. We saw how to add them to lecture and debriefing activities. We practiced some alternatives to straight brainstorming. Last we discussed the importance of involving people in facilitated debriefings. These were my expectations, but more importantly, did it meet yours.
1 min
Flipchart
Expectations, reviewed Check with class on:
• Did we meet your expectations? • Are there any we still need to address?
3 min
Discussion
What questions do you have about the topic? Respond appropriately. PULL IN PEER OPINIONS
5 min
Transition
Transition to Work Connect learning to use in workplace. Express thanks. I hope you find the handout and the many ILEs useful in your job. They are great for training opportunities, team building activities, and group problem-solving. There are a lot of opportunities ahead. Thanks so much for participating!
1 min