Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- Acknowledgements
- Planning
- Delivery
- Activities
- 51 Action learning
- 52 Amplifying your teaching
- 53 Audio feedback
- 54 Bibliographies
- 55 Blogs
- 56 Brainstorming
- 57 Building blocks
- 58 Buzz groups
- 59 Card sorting
- 60 Case studies
- 61 Cephalonian method
- 62 Checklists
- 63 Design briefs
- 64 Discussions
- 65 Dividing the dots
- 66 Drawing the line
- 67 Fear cards
- 68 Future scenarios
- 69 Games
- 70 Goldfish bowl
- 71 Guided tours
- 72 Hands-on workshops
- 73 Ice-breakers
- 74 Interviewing
- 75 Jigsaws
- 76 Lectures
- 77 Mind maps
- 78 Multiple-choice questions
- 79 Peer assessment
- 80 Podcasts
- 81 Portfolios
- 82 Poster tours
- 83 Presentations by learners
- 84 Problem-based learning (PBL)
- 85 Pub quizzes
- 86 Questionnaires
- 87 Quizzes
- 88 Self-assessment
- 89 Self-guided tours
- 90 Social bookmarking
- 91 Stop, Start, Continue feedback
- 92 Storytelling
- 93 Technology-enhanced learning (TEL)
- 94 Treasure hunt
- 95 Video
- 96 Virtual learning environments (VLEs) (or learning management systems, LMSs)
- 97 Visiting lecturers/guest speakers
- 98 Voting systems
- 99 WebQuests
- 100 Wikis
- 101 Worksheets
- Index
65 - Dividing the dots
from Activities
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 June 2018
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- Acknowledgements
- Planning
- Delivery
- Activities
- 51 Action learning
- 52 Amplifying your teaching
- 53 Audio feedback
- 54 Bibliographies
- 55 Blogs
- 56 Brainstorming
- 57 Building blocks
- 58 Buzz groups
- 59 Card sorting
- 60 Case studies
- 61 Cephalonian method
- 62 Checklists
- 63 Design briefs
- 64 Discussions
- 65 Dividing the dots
- 66 Drawing the line
- 67 Fear cards
- 68 Future scenarios
- 69 Games
- 70 Goldfish bowl
- 71 Guided tours
- 72 Hands-on workshops
- 73 Ice-breakers
- 74 Interviewing
- 75 Jigsaws
- 76 Lectures
- 77 Mind maps
- 78 Multiple-choice questions
- 79 Peer assessment
- 80 Podcasts
- 81 Portfolios
- 82 Poster tours
- 83 Presentations by learners
- 84 Problem-based learning (PBL)
- 85 Pub quizzes
- 86 Questionnaires
- 87 Quizzes
- 88 Self-assessment
- 89 Self-guided tours
- 90 Social bookmarking
- 91 Stop, Start, Continue feedback
- 92 Storytelling
- 93 Technology-enhanced learning (TEL)
- 94 Treasure hunt
- 95 Video
- 96 Virtual learning environments (VLEs) (or learning management systems, LMSs)
- 97 Visiting lecturers/guest speakers
- 98 Voting systems
- 99 WebQuests
- 100 Wikis
- 101 Worksheets
- Index
Summary
This activity is an active way of enabling a group to express opinion and show preference for a given set of options. It gets your learners on their feet and gives them the opportunity to express their opinions relatively anonymously. It can be used for any situation where you want to be able to rank a range of options. For example, you could have a range of search terms or sources of information, and ask a group to decide which would be the best options.
The options need to be displayed on a wall with enough space next to each option for the group to stick their dots, so flip-chart paper is probably the best option. If you have a small group, sticky notes may be sufficient.
Give each person five sticky dots. Ask them to allocate the dots to the best option or options (for example, all five dots could go to one option or three to one and two to another, and so on.). Set a time limit for the activity – no more than five or ten minutes. Once the activity is finished you can count up the dots and review the findings.
✓ BEST FOR
• enabling individual contribution from a group
• adding activity to a teaching session
• making quick group decisions.
+ MORE
• One of the strengths of this approach, as opposed to using voting systems, is that it enables learners to set priorities and rank between options rather than a yes/no answer. Participants have time to choose rather than feel rushed. It also allows plenty of opportunity for personal decision-making rather than learners anxiously looking at how their peers are voting. You can use the process as well as the outcomes as a focus for discussion.
• Ways of changing the process include dividing up the group so that not all the participants choose – some instead lobby for particular options.
• If you're short of dots, ask learners to use pens to draw dots – this does mean you'll have to trust them to only add the number of dots you've allowed them!
: WATCH OUT
• Learners reluctant to participate may try to hang back or just try to divide all the dots evenly. Personal preference – over who has championed one option – may dominate the process with some groups who refuse to engage fully with the task.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A Guide to Teaching Information Literacy101 Practical Tips, pp. 176 - 177Publisher: FacetPrint publication year: 2011