海角社区

SKILLS21 is on hold for the 2024/25 academic year. If you have questions about recognition of your participation, please email myinvolvement [at] mcgill.ca.

Ideas for Closing your Workshop

海角社区

The closing of your workshop is when you provide time for participants to reflect, synthesize, and consolidate what they have learned.

Guidelines:

  • Provide a summary of the main points (either you or your participants can give a brief recap).
  • Hold a short discussion on the workshop effectiveness and processes.
  • Debrief: Hold a short discussion on workshop effectiveness and processes. Consider asking questions to the group that induce reflection from participants follow the ladder of inference: 1. What? (i.e. what happened), 2. So what? (i.e. why is this important), 3. Now what? (i.e. What actions to take next?)
  • Take time to recognize contributions. Acknowledge effort and achievement.
  • Let participants know how they can continue their learning and follow up if they have questions.
  • Thank participants and provide instructions for filling out the feedback form.
  • Remind participants that the workshop is a part of the SKILLS21 program and is recognized on the co-curricular record, accessible through myInvolvement.


Additional Strategies to Consider:

Exit Cards

  • Prepare a prompt that you will ask participants to respond to in the last 5 minutes of the workshop and write it on the board, a chart paper, or on the screen, or in the chat for a virtual workshop.
  • Some sample prompts could include:
    • 鈥淲hat were three key points or 鈥榯ake-aways鈥 from today鈥檚 workshop?鈥
    • 鈥淲hat is a question you have about what we discussed today?鈥
    • 鈥淲hat did you want to learn more about?鈥
    • 鈥淐reate a quiz question based on today鈥檚 discussion.鈥
    • 鈥淲hich topics from today鈥檚 workshop do you think would be important to include in an end-of-module quiz?鈥
  • Ask participants to respond individually. They can write on paper, create a drawing, or post their response to an you create beforehand. Anonymous submissions are possible.
  • Have participants submit their responses and then exit the workshop.
  • Review participants鈥 responses.
  • Decide whether to summarize results for sharing with participants. This may depend on whether or not you told participants their responses were confidential.
  • Decide how participants鈥 responses may inform your facilitation of future workshops.

Note to Future Self

  • Ask participants to write a letter to their 鈥渇uture self鈥 that describes their current thinking on a workshop-related topic or concept where participants need to see progression of thinking.
  • Collect the letters or ask participants to email them to you.
  • Redistribute the letters to participants in the workshop at a later date.
  • Ask participants to read their letters and reflect on how their thinking has changed.

One-sentence Summary

  • Ask participants to summarize the topic in one sentence that incorporates who/what/when/where/why/how, as appropriate. You might choose to ask them to do this task independently, or with a partner.
  • Ask participants to share their sentences with the group.
  • For a virtual workshop, ask participants to do this task independently and share their sentences in the chat.

Harvesting

After an experience or activity in the workshop, ask participants to reflect on and write down:

  • What they learned.
  • So what: why what they have learned is important, and what the implications are.
  • Now what: how this learning can be applied.
  • Have participants share their responses in small groups or with the whole group. In a virtual workshop, responses can be shared in breakout rooms or in the chat.

Get One, Give One

  • Ask participants to fold a piece of paper in half and write 鈥淕ive One鈥 on one side and 鈥淕et One鈥 on the other side.
  • On the 鈥淕ive One鈥 side, ask them to write four insights from today鈥檚 material.
  • Have participants stand up and find a partner. Each participant shares one idea from their 鈥淕ive One鈥 side of the paper and writes down one idea on the 鈥淕et One鈥 side of the paper.
  • Have participants continue finding new partners in an effort to fill their 鈥淕et One鈥 side of the paper with new ideas.
  • For a virtual workshop, give participants a few moments to reflect and take note of their "Give One" response. Ask participants to join breakout rooms and share their "Give One" responses and take note of "Get One" ideas.


        While this web page is accessible worldwide, 海角社区 is on land which has served and continues to serve as a site of meeting and exchange amongst Indigenous peoples, including the Haudenosaunee and Anishinabeg nations. Teaching and Learning Services acknowledges and thanks the diverse Indigenous peoples whose footsteps mark this territory on which peoples of the world now gather. This land acknowledgement is shared as a starting point to provide context for further learning and action.


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