Divide, Develop and Discuss – a 3D Strategy for Professional Learning

Last week I presented all day, each day, fully masked. Trying to sound crisp and clear, rather than muffled, was tiring on my voice and my lungs. So I've spent some time today generating a list of my favorite ideas that increase participant talk and decrease presenter talk. The 3D Strategy - Divide, Develop and Discuss is one of them that I will use during my next professional learning session. 
 
1. Divide your content into 3 topics or categories. For example:

• 3 different stakeholders’ perspectives on a topic
• 3 goals for the company
• 3 problems the department is facing
• 3 methods for increasing engagement

2. Divide your learners into groups of three, each with their own piece of blank paper. Direct them to each write one of the categories at the top of their paper, so that each topic is represented.

3. Explain that each person will have 3 minutes to jot down bullet point ideas on their paper related to the one topic listed at the top. They might be developing new ideas, new perspectives, or solutions to a posed problem. After 3 minutes they will pass their paper to the person on their right and have 3 minutes to add to the new page, developing ideas further. Repeat this process one more time so that everyone has added to each page.

4. Prompt the trio to discuss what they developed, using some of the following questions or some of your own.

• What aha’s did they experience?
• What is surprising?
• What patterns do they see?
• What do they now wonder about?
• What is most workable?
• What might have the biggest impact?

5. Pair up two trios to share their thoughts or have trios share aloud to the larger group.
 
Tip: If each person in the trio uses a different color of ink, the added comments will be very visible.

I like this strategy because it is simple, interactive in a low-key way, and honors the experience that each learner brings to the table. For more simple ideas, check out my books Caffeinated Learning  and Caffeinated Training Design.