Students ‘tell their neighbour’ as a means of articulating their thoughts.
- Ask a question, give thinking time, then ask students to tell their neighbour their thoughts.
- Tell students what the new topic is and then ask them to tell their neighbour everything they know about it.
Why use it (students and staff)
- To build confidence;
- To encourage reflection; To foster a sense of community;
- To share different perspectives on the same topic;
- To recall knowledge; To ‘test the water’
Possibly more feasible in smaller groups or with a seminar type setting
When to use it
Depending on purpose:
- at the beginning as a way to recall existing knowledge
- in the middle to clarify points or formulate questions
- at the end of the question to check understanding and outstanding points
- as a reflective tool
Digital tools that might be used
Synchronous:
- Break-out rooms (with some preparation); –
- Moodle chat;
- MS Teams meeting;
- Proximity apps
Please build in preparation time if you split students in pairs or small groups as they will need to get to know each other.
Asynchronous:
- Moodle Chat;
- MS Teams;
- MoodleForums;
- Moodle workshop
Speed of set up time
1 to 30 minutes depending on resources involved and planning the structure.
Workload
Depending on resources involved and planning the structure
- To define the activity
- To prepare questions
- To establish an etiquette with the students
This activity may become easier and more spontaneous if repeated throughout the modules/the sessions
Other resources
Whiteboards