[breadcrumb]
Workshop Structure
The following is based on 90 minute workshops I have run with course design teams in the past. It is designed to be an indicative structure. Feel free to make it fit your context.
| Action | Time (mins) | Brief |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Introduction: Overview of Workshop and documentation as a ‘take away’ | 5 | Explain the structure of the workshop and provide an overview of the 'take-away' from today. Include an overview of the Intended Learning Outcomes |
| 2. Activity: Orientation to your epistemological beliefs | 10 | Working in pairs (or a trio) working through Paper Activity One: Orientation to Our Epistemological Beliefs Make sure you remember to write down your responses in a legible way so a colleague can read them (this works best if you print it out Size A3) |
| 3. Activity: Feeding back within a small group | 10 | Have people exchange their completed sheet of paper with another pair. Ideally not the people immediate alongside. Have them annotate the new piece to indicate whether they had said the same thing, or something new has emerged. Any annotation convention is equally valid. I like to have a big 'tick' if its a simple agreement otherwise I would encourage a 'star' if its a new idea or concept. |
| 4. Activity: Discussion within each small group to establish common beliefs | 5 | Have each pair decide which of the four conditions cited on their piece of paper are common to their own original list. Have each pair re-write the common belief(s) on the reverse of the piece of paper in the form of a statement that begins: "a necessary condition for successful academic learning is..." |
| 5. Plenary: Feedback from the whole group (whiteboard/flipchart) | 10 | Collect the groups focus on a plenary session and ask each pair to share out one of their common belief statements. Go round the group until all the common beliefs have been noted. Invite group reflections of the results. |
| 6. Presentation: Overview of the POISE approach | 10 | A short video (9'46") that provides an overview of the POISE approach. Video will load in a new window. Make sure you have sound enabled. Video: https://youtu.be/PORIu1X6-q8 Alternative: Workshop Handout and explore videos on this site. |
| 7. Activity: Role play student responses to POISE questions | 10 | In new pairs – paper based Activity Two discuss the likely epistemological beliefs of TWO of the individuals described on the piece of paper marked Activity Two: Scenarios |
| 8. Plenary: Themes and discussion that emerge from whole group | 10 | Collate responses to Activity Two. Record responses on the whiteboard or flipchart. Is there agreement as to the likely epistemological beliefs of the individuals outlined? What information is missing in order to determine their epistemological beliefs? |
| 9. Activity: Scenarios prompted by student profiles | 5 | Working again in pairs, identify one learning challenge to 'overcome', an epistemological belief that you believe is represents an obstacle to academic learning. Consider the specific POISE challenges of individual students ? What are the consequences of different epistemological beliefs on cohort behaviour? |
| 10. Plenary: Feedback from the whole group | 10 | Collate responses and record on the whiteboard/flipchart Is there a consensus amongst workshop participants that a particular epistemological belief represents a challenge to learning in the United Kingdom higher educational context? Can participants envisage having a dialogue with students guided by the POISE questions would be beneficial and practicable? |
| 11. Presentation: Concluding comments | 5 | Review the sessions intended learning outcomes Point out support resources and outlining the ‘take-away’ documentation. Invite comments on the workshop itself Ask participants what they think their own next steps might be. |