Developing Collaborative Perspective
Appreciating the perspectives of others
Dear collaborative discussion friends,
This week we are highlighting an activity that helps participants understand the value in seeking out others’ perspectives and collaboratively exploring an issue as a group. This activity uses a fun and playful method to demonstrate that there are often many different facets to a topic that any one person cannot see. It shows how different people can offer new and valuable insights about a complex issue.
This activity is contributed by Lori Britt, Professor at the School of Communication & ICAD Co-Director at James Madison University. It is one of the many activities in the Introduction to Collaborative Discussion Module.
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This week's activity:
Activity 1.2 – Developing Collaborative Perspective
Understanding the value of collaboration and others’ perspectives
This activity uses puzzle pieces to help participants understand that working collaboratively as a group can uncover valuable information and insights that might not be visible when working alone. Participants are first invited to individually guess what image a complete puzzle shows based only on the single piece that they have. They then describe and discuss their pieces in small groups, still without showing their pieces to each other, and share ideas on what the full image might be. Participants then show each other their puzzle pieces and this time venture a guess with their group as to what the complete image might be based on their collection of pieces.
Prepare for the Activity
Choose a puzzle with large pieces (preferably under 50 pieces) to use for this activity. Use a puzzle with a recognizable image where any one piece only has a fraction of the total image.
Organize participants into small groups (5-6 ppl). Begin by introducing the learning goals of this activity:
Acknowledge the limitations of individual vantage points and develop appreciation for the perspectives of others.
Individually Reflect on a Puzzle Piece
Explain that each participant will be given a puzzle piece and that they are not to show the puzzle piece to anyone else. Distribute the puzzle pieces.
Invite participants to individually examine their piece and silently write down what they think the image may be.
Break into Small Groups and Describe & Discuss Puzzle Pieces
Next, invite participants to break into small groups (5-6 ppl). Have participants describe their puzzle pieces and discuss with their small group, still without showing the pieces to one another. Encourage participants to be detailed in their descriptions and to ask clarifying questions about others’ puzzle pieces. Ask the group discuss what the full puzzle image might be based only on these descriptions.
Facilitator Tip: This activity can be altered by adding a twist. At the beginning of the discussion, secretly assign one participant to offer misleading or inaccurate information. The purpose of this role is to later encourage participants to reflect upon and address issues of intentional misinformation and/or deception in group communication.
Groups Offer Guesses
Next, ask participants to reveal their pieces and examine them all together. Invite them to discuss what they can now see as a group. Ask each group to then share guesses of what the complete image might be.
Debrief as a Full Group
Come back together as a full group. Reveal the complete image of the puzzle to the full group. Discuss the following questions:
How did descriptions of other people’s puzzle pieces alter your initial views of what the picture might be?
Could you understand what each person was describing or did you have to ask clarifying questions?
How did your perspective change when you saw others’ puzzle pieces?
After being shown the full image, what were you not able to see that would have helped you identify the image?
Twist: How does this puzzle activity relate to situations that you experience at work, class, or you see nationally where people intentionally use misinformation?
Twist: What happens to the power of the group when one person is deliberately trying to mislead others?
In addition to these debriefing questions, the full description of Activity 1.2 Developing Collaborative Perspective includes reflection questions, a practice journal prompt, and additional resources to help participants dive deeper.
Dive Deeper by Clustering Activities Together
Start with Activity 1.2 to introduce participants to the need for seeking out others’ perspectives. Next, do Activity 3.5 Seeking Divergent Thinking to have participants practice exploring a topic from a wide range of dimensions and perspectives. Activity 4.9 Taking the Perspective of Another can further help participants practice viewing an issue or situation from the perspective of another person.
If you try out this activity, please share with us what you think:
We hope this toolkit activity helps participants gain a deeper understanding of the limitations of any individual viewpoint, as well as a greater appreciation for the perspective of others and the valuable information and insights they can offer.
Upcoming Events
The Interactivity Foundation is organizing a 3-part interactive, small group conversation series, exploring Who are We The People — and who is being pushed out? Join us for the final session this Friday, November 17 at 2pm (EDT). Invite your students! Register here.
The Interactivity Foundation is organizing the third round of sustained discussions on the topic of Learning & Society. This is an exciting opportunity to engage in discussion with educators about the future of learning in our society. Participants will be awarded a $500 honorarium. Read our previous newsletter to learn more about this discussion series. The deadline to apply is Thursday, November 30th at 5 pm EST. If you are an educator and interested in being part of this discussion series, apply here.
Congratulations to our Collaborative Discussion Coaches who are concluding a certificate program at the end of this fall semester! Please remember to email Shannon Wheatley Hartman at esw@interactivityfoundation.org to receive the link for the Retrospective Participant Survey and to have your participants complete this survey at the conclusion of your program. The results of these surveys will provide valuable feedback to help us better understand the impact of Collaborative Discussion Certificate Programs.
Looking forward to collaborating,
Ritu Thomas & the Collaborative Discussion Team