Action-Learning Sets

By Caroline Samne, Concordia University

At a Glance

Discipline

Social sciences

Instructional Level

University

Course

Applied Human Sciences

Tasks in Workflow

Social Plane(s)

Individual
Group

Type of Tasks

Analyzing
Gaming & role-playing
Creating & designing
Revising & improving
Writing

Technical Details

Time

Part of a semester (4-6 weeks)

Instructional Purpose

Application & knowledge building

Overview

In this activity, which lasts through the course of seven classes, students work in groups to examine, through others’ inquiry and probing, a complex personal problem (school or work related) with which they have been struggling.

Before starting, students have to come up with an issue that has been bothering them for a while and is connected either to their time in university or their work life. They write this down and give it or send it to the instructor; this allows the instructor to verify that the the problem chosen by the students is appropriate to the activity. This is a graded assignment.

Once the instructor has approved the problems, students, in class, split into groups. In the first round, 2 students present the problem they have chosen to work on. Others ask questions meant to help the person better understand and analyse their issue. Each student does this until all have presented their problem.The outcome of this first phase is to create an action plan that might resolve the problem.

In the following weeks, students come back to their group to reflect on how they are carrying out the action plan and the benefits and challenges of its implementation. Other group members continue to probe and ask questions to help the person understand their actions more in depth.

Instructional Objectives

Students will be able to develop an action plan to a complex personal problem
Students will be able to explain the importance of collective wisdom, collaborative learning, and problem solving as it relates to personal development
Students will be able to identify a mechanism used to solve complex organizational and group problems

Workflow & Materials

Activity Workflow

View on CourseFlow

Document

Lesson Presentation

Caroline Samne

Document

Assignment Instructions

Caroline Samne

Contributor's Notes

Benefits

Working together to solve problems, students can appreciate the power and importance of shared learning and of collective – versus purely individual – wisdom;
Students get to practice asking meaningful and insightful questions, which is a skill rarely exercised in class;
This activity models how problems are often solved in ‘real-world’ teams and organisations;
Students learn to build group trust and be vulnerable, which are key qualities for a leader to possess;
Students have the opportunity to tackle problems, both personal and professional, with which they had been struggling for a long while.

Challenges

Group dynamics might be dysfunctional and/or lack the trust necessarily for members to have significant interactions and sharing;
Some groups struggled with the high level of independence and self-management required by the activity.

Tips

Students were told they could present for around 20 minutes and then receive questions for 20 minutes, though times were given as suggestion and students could manage their own time;
Because the activity takes around half the course’s class time, the instructor has to have a high conviction in the activity’s value;
Modelling the activity – presenting the problem and probing – might be useful t might be useful for students to better understand the process;
Implementing journals that ask students to reflect on the process that they’re engaging in could also be a good way for the instructor to have a clearer idea of how the group work is evolving;
As a final essay, in this class the instructor asked students to reflect on their learning of the semester, which included this activity.

Applied Strategies

Peer Assessment

Critical thinking and communication

Inquiry-Based Learning

Research, Problem solving and Lab-based methods

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Published: 15/12/2018

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