Starters
3 Ways to Start and End Your Course
Contributor: Alice Cassidy, In View Educational Development, alicecas@telus.net (Editor's note) Note this could be a starter or a dessert - much like cheese! As a newcomer to Canada from the UK some years ago I was surprised to find cheese is often ser ...
Buttons
Contributor: Mandy Frake-Mistak, York University, mfmistak@yorku.ca Ingredients: Lots and lots of buttons varying in size, design, colour Method: Everyone gets a button at the start of the workshop. Participants will think of one thing that is weighin ...
Cheese Straw Confessions
Contributor: Sarra Saffron Powell (Freelance Academic Writing Specialist) sarrasaffron@gmail.com Ingredients: post it notes, pens Method: This works very well at the start of academic writing workshops I’ve used it very successfully with students and ...
Express Yourself
Contributor: Ruth Powell, University of the Arts, London Ingredients: requires students to complete a task prior to the first class Send students the following instructions about two weeks before the first class: Using any materials you have to hand or ...
Feedback Sizzle
Contributor: Iddo Oberski, Senior Lecturer in Learning and Teaching, Queen Margaret University, ioberski@qmu.ac.uk Ingredients: You’ll need a timing device that indicates seconds. Participants need a piece of A4 paper, a pen and another small object of ...
How Are You Feeling?
Contributor: Mandy Frake-Mistak, York University, mfmistak@yorku.ca Ingredients: Cue cards, each with a different “feeling” word or emotion written on them Method: Facilitator will spread out all of the cue cards with the emotion word face down. Each p ...
Line Up
Contributor: Angela Buckingham Academic Developer in CQSD (Centre for Quality Support and Development), University of Reading, a.s.buckingham@reading.ac.uk Ingredients: None but you do need sufficient space Method: When you need to mix up people in the ...
Rock, Paper Scissors Tournament
Submitted by: Mel Young, Cambrian College, mel.young@cambriancollege.ca Ingredients: Nothing Method: Have everyone in your session stand up and pair up. Each pair does ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’. The winner finds another winner to continue playing; the lo ...
Rose or Daisy?
Contributor: Gaye Manwaring, University of Dundee, g.manwaring@dundee.ac.uk Ingredients Post-its Method Explain that you will give them several pairs of words and they have to decide which of each pair of alternatives they most resemble. Give an exam ...
Share Your Enthusiasm!
Contributor: Alice Cassidy, In View Educational Development, alicecas@telus.net Ingredients: Nothing, unless you plan to include an image or an object Method: Consider this as the first thing you say on the first day of your course, or if leading a on ...
Spot The Differences
Contributor: Siân Etherington, University of Salford, s.etherington@salford.ac.uk Ingredients: 3-4 plastic ducks (but you could use something else small and ‘unexpected’); a ‘fake’ notice to replace one usually found in classrooms (see below); air fre ...
Things in Common
Submitted by: Mel Young, Cambrian College, mel.young@cambriancollege.ca Ingredients: Post-It, Pen Method: Have everyone in your session pair up. Give them two minutes on the clock to find out everything they have in common with their partner. I usually ...
True or False About My Peers
Contributor: Carolyn Samuel, PhD, McGill University, carolyn.samuel@mcgill.ca Ingredients: paper/pen/pencil/laptop/tablet – all optional Method: Each participant thinks of or writes down three sentences about him/herself. Two of the sentences should be ...
What's In Your Hand?
Contributor: Lindy-Ann Blaize Alfred, Robert Gordon University, l.blaize-alfred@rgu.ac.uk Ingredients: (Hi tech – craft supplies, drawing supplies; low tech – pen and paper) Method: The activity relates to professional identities. Start with pictures o ...
When I Went On Holiday
(Celia on holiday with her husband Rad watching dolphins in North Carolina) Contributor: Celia Popovic, York University, cpopovic@yorku.ca Ingredients: Nothing Method: Each person takes turns to say ;'I am N (eg Celia), when we went on holiday I took ...
Where In The World
Contributor: Deena Ingham, Loughborough University. D.ingham@lboro.ac.uk Ingredients: Nothing apart from physical space Method: Taking a central point (and making that the centre of our universe – i.e. Loughborough) we ask people to arrange themselves ...
Year of the Coin
Contributor: Julia Hope, University of Kent Ingredients : coins (local currency) with a mixture of years Method: Special Notes: Hand out a coin to each person and ask people to share something they were doing the year the coin was minted. Be sure to s ...
