Bettina's LS Activity

Bettina's LS Activity

by Bettina Boyle -
Number of replies: 4

Hi Nancy and Sue,

Similarly to Sue, I decided to try an online asynchronous online activity. It can feel limiting to not include synchronous, but it's the reality of many of our online courses at CapU, so I want to keep finding ways to support faculty within that format.

Scenario

Course in Organizational Behaviour (OB) taught online (asynchronously) in the Legal Admin Assistant program. A required course at the 100-level. May be their first experience in post-secondary, and their first online course.

The activity would happen during the first week of the course, and would follow some icebreaker/intro/community building activities.

Purpose

To clarify the purpose of our work together during the term (the big why of the course) by creating personal and shared connections to the field of OB.

Liberating Structure

Nine Whys

Draft Invitation

After reading the first chapter of the book, you will have an idea of some of the main concepts and purposes of OB. Given what you know so far, we want you to think about why OB might matter to YOU by answering the question:

How does OB relate to you/your work/life? And why is it important? [alternatively, How does learning about OB help you in your own life/career?]

How (the following is essentially the activity instructions in Moodle)

In order to get to what really matters, we are using a technique called the Nine Whys. Please follow the instructions below:

By Tuesday:

  1. Write one paragraph answering the question: How does OB relate to your work/life?
  2. Once you have your paragraph, ask yourself: Why is this important to me?
  3. Continue to ask yourself this question nine times (Why is this important to me?) and record your answer each time (nine times, just keep going!). Dig deeper, and keep answering from as many angles as you can think of.
  4. Post your answers (your paragraphs and nine whys) in your group’s forum

By Wednesday:

     5. Reply to one group member’s post (someone who doesn’t yet have a reply), commenting on commonalities or insights based on your own and your group member’s nine whys.

Thursday-Friday:

     6.  As a group, create a story using only 6 words (6-word story) that summarizes your insights and shared connection to the field of OB.  Add your story to this Padlet[link] (due end of day Friday). You may work with your group in any way you prefer (use the forum, live chat, google docs…)


Post-activity:

  1. Facilitator/instructor summarizes insights from all groups on a Padlet (model this practice so that students might do this later in the course)
  2. Students reflect in personal learning journals: How do your insights from this activity influence how you approach this course. What is one or two goals you want to set for yourself for this course? How will you make sure you stay true to what’s important to you?


Questions I’m pondering:

  • How easy to follow are these instructions? 
  • I think I may need to visualize the nine whys – maybe even provide a “worksheet”
  • I’m considering using FlipGrid (video dialogue tool) for the individual student submissions. This may work well for some and not for others. Perhaps I give them the option to choose.

 

 


In reply to Bettina Boyle

Re: Bettina's LS Activity

by Nancy White -

Oh my, I'm loving how you, Sue, and Bettina are stretching my imagination with asynchronous LS. I think we need to write a blog post at the end to share with the LS community. 

Right off the bat I was surprised that the 9 why part was done as an individual activity. My past perception and thus my belief (Ladder of Inference at play!) is that the power is when someone else is asking me the why, and they are listening to me, helping me find my blocks and move deeper. WOuld I have the discipline to really work it myself? 

Then I recalled a conversation that is happening in the LS CoP about "individual LS" - using LS on one's self and this reflects that same perspective. I want to connect Bettina with that small circle of people. People like Jim Best who - kismet - finished his PhD in OD just a couple of years ago just before retiring from his "day job."

And, I have to say, I LOVE the 9 word story. Imagine doing that WITH Drawing Together!!!!

In reply to Bettina Boyle

Re: Bettina's LS Activity

by Susan Glynn-Morris -

Hi Bettina

I really like your idea of having students think about their purpose for being in the course right off the bat. I think 9 Whys is a great LS for doing this. Your suggestion to have a template with the 9 whys might be a good way to make sure they go all the way. On that, does it ever happen that people reach a conclusion (or some sort of end point) before the 9th why?

Something I often struggle with on online courses is having multiple short deadlines in a week. A lot of our students are studying part time while working and juggling other responsibilities and so may have limited flexibility in their schedules to check in on a course each week. While I love how this format can help take an activity further and support interaction, I worry about how multiple weekly deadlines (that might vary from week to week) can be a big commitment and a lot to remember. As a new instructional designer I am curious if instructors you have supported have had success with this format?

Your instructions are clear to me but I wonder if a student who is not familiar with this activity might not understand that they are asking why of their response to the previous why (as opposed to just asking why again) - maybe I am over complicating this. Similarly, if someone has not heard of a 6-word story before it might be helpful to provide an one sentence explanation or an example. 

I love the idea of making flipgrid an option for students who want to present orally. I also think it is a great way for students to get to know one another. I wonder how many students would opt to make a video over a written post?     

It has been helpful for me to see both your and Nancy's activities putting LS in action (and thinking about the logistics of doing so online!). Thank you both. Sue 

In reply to Susan Glynn-Morris

Re: Bettina's LS Activity

by Nancy White -

I'm loving these ideas (and also trying to sense into the marginalia participation. Weird but pleasant riff off of Troika Consulting for sure.)

The constraints of people's time and attention do make asynch trickier for these.  So would a little video of a pair doing 9 whys help them understand that asking variants of why (see the prompts on the webpage) might help? So much of my F2F LS practice does involve a little bit of show and tell to lay out the structure. This requires us to think differently. I like that. 

In reply to Nancy White

Re: Bettina's LS Activity

by Bettina Boyle -
This comes a little late, nevertheless, I do want to thank you for your input. Ironically, I found myself not able to log on for the last two days,  and as I was thinking about the feedback I received,  Sue's comments around the challenge of designing an activity with multiple daily or weekly deadlines. For my own activity, I feel challenged to try to come up with something asynchronously for my students with less weekly deadlines, yet still follow the steps within Liberating Structures. I am also thinking it would be helpful to create a weekly flow or structure, which is very similar in terms of engagement from week to week regardless of the activity.  I will continue to ponder...

Both your comments around giving examples (written, video, visual) also really resonated and I will definitely include that in my design!