The NASAGA Training Activity Book

By Judith M. Blohm

From the acclaimed North American Simulation and Gaming Association, comes the much-anticipated The NASAGA Training Activity Book. This first-of-its-kind book offers a dynamic collection of ready-to-use games, simulations, and activities. With contributions from expert trainers, educators, and simulation and game designers, this highly accessible resource presents a variety of activities that address the most common issues that trainers are asked to tackle including:

• Communication
• Conflict management
• Creativity
• Customer service/sales/marketing
• Decision making/problem solving
• MulticulturAL ISSUES
• Organization development
• Self-awareness/personal growth
• Team building
• Training of trainers

Each activity is presented in detail, giving suggestions on set-up, group size, materials and equipment, process, and debriefing. To address the wide range of training opportunities, the book includes at least two variations for each activity. Contributors demonstrate how to adapt each activity to ensure learning is directly connected to instructional objectives and considerate of cultural issues. In addition, all the activities are cross-referenced to other uses.

The NASAGA Training Activity Book is filled with illustrative examples that show how activities can be used for maximum results and includes several debriefing models that contain real answers to help facilitators during debriefing sessions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Oct 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9781118329962

Book preview

Introduction

The North American Simulation and Gaming Association (NASAGA) is a community of practice of trainers, educators, game designers, and facilitators working on the design and implementation of serious games, simulations, and other experiential activities. NASAGA promotes professional networking, provides training and education, and advocates the use of experiential activities to industry, government and non-governmental organizations, and academia.

This book fulfills one of NASAGA’s goals: to provide games, simulations, and other tools that are immediately useful.

In seeking contributions to this volume, NASAGA solicited activities that are ready to use. All the information needed to present these activities is provided:

Purpose of the activity

Learning objectives for participants (what they will be able to do as a result of participating in the activity)

Target audience

Group size

Duration

Physical setting

Materials and equipment

Facilitation notes (how it works, suggestions for what might happen, how to deal with specific participant reactions, etc.)

Facilitator preparation

Process (step by step how to conduct the activity)

Debriefing (processes and questions to help participants gain the maximum from reflecting on the experience they just had)

Variations (at least two modifications that can be made to the activity)

Contributor profile

With the exception of one activity in Part 1, How to Use This Book, the activities appear in Part 3 alphabetically. We organized like this, as each activity can be used for many purposes. If you want to read all the activities that might be useful for a specific purpose, look at the cross-reference chart in Part 1. However, we suggest that you read all of the activities! We believe that activities are frames that can be modified and, with appropriate changes, used for almost any purpose.

To help you evaluate and consider how to use or modify the activities, we provide you with two sets of considerations in Part 1: (1) modification issues and (2) cultural issues. In addition, there is Part 2 on debriefing, with three models.

To meet NASAGA’s goal of facilitating professional networking, we provide contributors’ contact information. We trust you will find not only useful activities but important contacts who will enrich your interest and skills in interactive learning.

PART I

How to Use This Book

Organizations use training to build skills and change behavior in individuals. Without change there can be no impact. The way to ensure that training has an impact is to have participants experience the content by working with it. This book gives you activities that provide participants with hands-on experience with content.

Which Activities Are Applicable to Which Topics?

Each author describes the purpose of the activity and suggested audiences. Sometimes the variations contain suggestions on how to use the activity with other audiences or for other purposes. In addition, the editors have suggested other purposes or settings for which the activities seem suitable. All of the activities are cross-referenced in the Cross-Reference Matrix below. You may find activities that you like and can suitably adapt for your training purpose. That’s the reason we encourage you to read them all.

CROSS-REFERENCED PURPOSES OR SETTINGS

Cultural/cross-cultural training (C)

Creativity and innovation (CI)

Communication (COM)

Customer service (CS)

Decision making/problem solving (DM)

Organization development (OD)

Self-awareness/personal growth (SA)

Team building (TB)

Training of trainers (TOT)

Modification Issues

As you read the activities, you may find that, while you like a given activity, it may not be exactly right for your audience or circumstances. Be creative. If you like the activity but it does not exactly fit your situation, identify what needs to be modified with the use of the What if . . .? questions below.

What if . . .?

There is not enough time in the session? There is lots more time than the activity will take?

I have too few people? I have too many people?

I don’t have sufficient supplies or funds for the supplies/equipment?

I don’t have time to do all the required preparation?

The competition in the activity distracts from my purpose.

Participants will be reluctant to engage because of peers, supervisors in the group? No one volunteers?

Different participants will know more/less about the topic? Participants work at very different rates when doing the activities? No one in the group has the skill to assist with required modeling?

Participants don’t come up with ideas? Participants give strange/wrong examples, answers? People feel left out because their ideas were not asked for/used? Some participants never participate in discussions?

I am not a subject matter expert?

The topic is controversial? Participants biased?

The topic is complex?

I want to do some/all of it online?

Adapted from Thiagaragan, 2005.

Identifying the issues is the first step. Thinking creatively how to modify the activity to address the issues is the second. Maybe just a kernel of the activity will inspire you to build a different activity. Don’t forget to try your modified activities with practice audiences before heading into the training room.

Cultural Issues

All simulations and games, and many activities, have cultural elements. Most training groups have people of different cultural backgrounds, as cultural differences are not only based on nationality or ethnic group, but they may also be based on cultural subgroups, age, gender, status, or occupation. For example, accountants may not react in the same way as graphics designers or writers, even if the group is mono-cultural. If you are not purposefully focusing on cultural differences, check the activity for any of the following that might affect whether participants understand or how they may react (Blohm & Bradley, 1991).

CONCEPTS

Confidentiality

Decision-making styles

Fairness

Feedback

Leadership

Power

Punishment

Rewards

Rules

Success

Winning

KNOWLEDGE

One’s culture’s historical concepts, heroes, anecdotes, proverbs

One’s culture’s daily tools (money, transportation, housing)

Rituals

TRAINING/LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Beliefs about how learning takes place

Expectations of role of a teacher, trainer, facilitator

Formality of workspace, classroom, training room

Learning style preferences

ORIENTATION TOWARD VALUES

Absolute versus relative values (right/wrong)

Competition, cooperation

Group versus individual orientation

Respect

Status

Time

LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION STYLES

Acceptable terminology (slang, acronyms, jargon)

Direct/indirect styles

First and second languages

High/low context

Linear/circular patterns

Nonverbals

Symbols

CULTURAL ADVANTAGE

Expected outcomes of the game may exclude a particular group

Rules of game/activity may favor one culture’s problem-solving style

After you identify which of these issues are present, consider your training or workshop participants. Which issues might affect their understanding of or interactions with others? Can you substitute something more universally understood? Do you need to provide definitions or explanations? Do you need to establish a mutually agreeable definition for the purpose of the activity with the participants? The point is to not be blindsided by something that could have been predicted with a little more thought.

Where to Place a Training Activity in a Session

Where in a training session might you use an activity? The answer to this can be as varied as those who train. Activities can motivate or be used to introduce, practice, review, or apply content. They can also be used to assess participant learning. For example, activities in this book are used in the following ways:

Links and How Many Squares expand participants’ vision of what they can do.

Decision Matrix and The End in Mind are intended to introduce participants to the content they will be working with.

Team Characteristics encourages teams to consider the unique features of their teams, while Developing Your Cultural Team Charter helps new teams (local or virtual) develop their ground rules for functioning.

Poker Revisited gives salespeople a chance to analyze their performance in individual contacts at the beginning of a workshop.

ORID Model for Conversations introduces a structure for understanding conversations and applies it to the workshop itself.

Interviewing as Team Building develops awareness and skills through a sequence of activities and debriefings.

Give It Up! simulates an experience in the future.

What Is the Learner to Learn? has the activity as the culmination of the session.

As you read the activities in the book, you will see that each has two variations to help you think about how you might adapt the activity for your specific use. In some variations, there are changes in audience or in how parts of the activity can be conducted. Some variations show how an activity might be used in a different place in a training design.

When designing your training, determining where experiential activities may best fit can be the most daunting task. Consider the following questions when looking at your complete session design.

How engaged are the senses?

Are kinesthetic and cognitive combined?

Are participants asked to interact or move around?

Can participants decide their level of engagement?

How well is the content explained/demonstrated?

Can participants practice and apply it?

Can participants experience ‘ah-ha’ moments?

How easily is the experience applied to real-world situations?

Is the experience a model or metaphor of their reality?

Does the debriefing move participants to real-world applications?

How connected is the experience to the goal?

Can participants reconstruct the experience when needed?

Can future applications with the same group be utilized?

Sample Activity

So let’s practice what we preach. Play This Book provides an engaging way for participants to learn what’s in this book and how to modify what they find. Take a moment and read it. Then answer these questions:

What is your impression of the activity to help participants acclimate to the book? Did it help you to imagine how you might use the book?

What did you like about the activity?

Could you think of ways to make the activity more useful to you?

Can you imagine when and how you could use it (or a modification of it) in your training?

We trust you will find many useful ideas in this book and wish you luck in designing your training!

Play This Book

By Thiagi

My father was fond of quoting Francis Bacon: Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.

This book is to be played. And here’s a game to help you do that. The game comes in two parts.

Part 1. Rapid Retrieval

Purpose

To rapidly retrieve (and use) appropriate content from this book

Group Size

Minimum: four

Maximum: thirty

Best: ten to twenty

Duration

30 minutes

Materials and Equipment

A copy of this book for each participant

Index cards (see Part 1, Step 3, and Part 2, Step 2)

Flip chart

Facilitator Preparation

Flip through the book and create a series of content-based questions taken from different pages and sections of the book. Write each question on one side of an index card and a page reference (where the answer is located) on the other side. Write at least ten questions, making sure that they are distributed throughout different parts of the book. Set these question cards aside until later.

Process

1. Tell participants that you are going to conduct a quiz contest that incorporates an open-book test. To get ready for the contest, ask them to individually spend 5 minutes exploring the structure and organization of the book so that they will be able to rapidly retrieve specific information when asked. Pause while participants study their books.

2. At the end of 5 minutes, call time and ask participants to pair up. If a participant is left out, ask him or her to join a pair to create a triad. Tell participants to spend a few minutes sharing what they have learned about the structure and organization of the book.

3. Distribute ten blank index cards to each pair (or triad). Ask participants to write questions about the content of the book, one question on each card. On the back of the card, participants write the page reference where the answer is found. This is a collaborative activity between both members of each pair. Encourage participants to distribute their questions throughout different parts of the book. Walk among the participants and clarify the instructions, if necessary. Also make sure that participants do not forget to write the page reference on the back of each card. Announce a 7-minute time limit for this activity.

4. At the end of 7 minutes, call time. Ask each pair of participants to join two other pairs to form a team of six. (If necessary, you may have some groups of four.) Ask someone in each team to collect all the question cards.

5. Give the packet of question cards from the first team to the second team, from the second team to the third team, and so on. The question cards from the last team go to the first team. Ask each team to review the questions and remove duplicates. Also ask them to remove trivial or trick questions. Announce a 5-minute time limit for each team to select the seven best questions from the cards they received.

6. At the end of 7 minutes, call time and collect the selected cards from each team. Go to the front of the room and sort through the cards.

7. Conduct the quiz contest. Give the following instructions in your own words.

Everyone should have the book open.

I will read a question.

Any person who thinks that he or she can immediately locate the answer should stand up.

The first person who stands up should give the page reference within 5 seconds.

Other members of the team can help the person who stood up.

I will check the page reference on the back of the card. If the page reference is correct, this person’s team scores 10 points. If incorrect, the team loses 10 points.

I will continue conducting the quiz, one question at a time, for the next 10 minutes.

8. Read the questions, one at a time, and keep score. Skip duplicate questions. If necessary, use the questions that you prepared earlier.

9. At the end of 10 minutes, conclude the quiz contest. Identify the team with the highest score and congratulate its members. Also, thank all participants for creating the questions for the quiz contest.

Part 2. Flexible Application

Purpose

To flexibly adapt the games to suit the context in which they are played

Group Size

Minimum: four

Maximum: thirty

Best: ten to twenty

Duration

20 to 30 minutes

Process

1. Demonstrate how to ask open questions about realistic constraints in facilitating the games from the book. Invite a volunteer participant to help you create an example of an open question (such as, What would you do if you have only 10 minutes to play the game on page 128?).

2. Distribute additional blank index cards to participants. Ask each participant to write a single open question on the card. There is no need to write a page reference on the card.

3. When everyone has finished writing an open question, ask participants to organize themselves into triads. If one or two participants are left over, create groups of four.

4. Explain how to play. Give the following instructions, using your own words:

If you are the shortest person in your group, you will start the game.

Hold up your question card so the other participants in your group can read the question. Do not read the question yourself or give any hints for the answer.

Point to one of the other players and ask him or her to cover his or her ears. Also suggest that he or she move away a little distance to avoid overhearing the other person’s answer.

Ask the other player to give his or her answer. Listen carefully to the answer.

Signal to the other player to uncover his or her ears. Ask him or her to answer the same open question. Let the other player listen to the answer.

Give a brief summary of the first player’s answer. Make a quick and objective decision about which of the two answers was better. Write your initials on the question card and give it to the person who gave the better answer.

The other two players will take turns to show the questions on their cards and repeat the process.

5. Briskly move around the room to monitor the play.

6. When everyone has had a turn at displaying the question and processing responses, announce the end of the play period. Ask participants to count the number of initialed question cards they collected.

Contributor

For the past forty years Sivasailam Thiagi Thiagarajan has been earning a fairly decent living by designing training games, activities, and simulations. He is currently the Resident Mad Scientist at the Thiagi Group, an organization that specializes in effective and enjoyable approaches for improving human performance. He produces a monthly online newsletter, Thiagi GameLetter, that is available on his website (www.thiagi.com). Thiagi has hosted five NASAGA conferences and has been a NASAGA board member and chairman of the board several times.

References

Blohm, J., & Bradley, J. (1991). Creating Participatory Learning Activities for Effective Functioning of Multicultural Work Groups. Presentation at SIETAR International Conference, Kilkenny, Ireland.

Thiagarajan, S. (2005). Thiagi’s Interactive Lectures. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.

PART II

Debriefing

In training we use the term debriefing to generally refer to the step(s) that follow an interactive experience. It is the point at which the activity stops and reflection on the activity begins. Sometimes, interactive experiences are stopped, a debriefing takes places, and the activity resumes. The purpose of the mid-stream debriefing is to allow participants to reflect on how things are going in order to change or improve what happens in the activity next. An example can be found in the Perfect Cooperation Game, Variation 1.

Debriefings usually include questions and discussion about what happened during the activity, what it meant personally to participants, how it relates to the goal of the session and the work of the group, and how what was learned applies to future work or learning. The segments roughly follow these three questions: What? So what? Now what? Debriefings are not a quick series of reaction questions, but a thoughtful exploration of the activity. Debriefings may last as long as the activity itself, sometimes longer.

Why Debrief?

Why is debriefing important in training? There are several reasons. (1) All people do not learn equally well from active learning; (2) Activities by their very definition involve participants in doing things, often detailed tasks. It is by putting all the pieces together after the activity that the meaning of it becomes clear to everyone; (3) Learning games, simulations, and activities are used to meet specific learning objectives. To ensure the learning objectives are met, participants need to reflect on the interaction and make concrete connections with the learning content.

Participants naturally favor a style of learning. David Kolb (1983) described four different ways people prefer to learn. One of them is having a concrete experience. Using a game, simulation, or activity in the classroom or training room to engage the participants is providing this type of learning experience. Often called active learning, it is valuable because it involves multiple senses as well as emotions. Not all participants find learning this way comfortable or easily transferable. Kolb’s other styles include listening, thinking and watching, and discussing (reflective observation), listening/reading and thinking more on one’s own (abstract conceptualization), and active experimentation where participants alone or in groups figure things out for themselves by proposing solutions and trying them out.

Everyone can learn from all of these different approaches, and some content may require participants to use one style rather the others, at least in the beginning. For example, we don’t want brain surgeons to learn by active experimentation but that may be a valid learning option when you take a new mechanical device home and learn to use it or buy an unusual ingredient and learn to cook it.

There are many other descriptions of different learning styles, but for our purposes these four are useful.

When participants engage in a learning activity that is presented to them, they take on roles and tasks to accomplish it. In focusing their attention, they rarely participate in the whole process, or observe what is happening as the activity unfolds (unless assigned the role of an observer). It is the debriefing after the activity is accomplished that helps participants put their part in context of the whole and see how the activity relates to what they are trying to learn.

The experiential learning cycle (shown in Figure 1), built on Kolb’s learning styles, provides a sequence that helps participants learn from an experience while addressing the other three learning styles.

Figure 1 Experiential Learning Cycle

Source: John Jones, The Reference Guide for Annuals and Handbooks (1st ed.). San Francisco: Pfeiffer, 1972.

What we call debriefing moves the participants through the experiential learning cycle clockwise. From the learning activity they move to reflective observation. There, through a sequence of questions and discussion, participants begin to understand what happened during the activity and how it relates to the learning objectives. The learning activity and discussion usually provide sufficient information to move the participants to abstract conceptualization, where they can draw conclusions and relate the experience to concepts and theories. In each stage, the experience should become clearer in terms of what was learned and how it applies to other situations. Active experimentation is the application: how participants will take what was learned to improve their teamwork, communicate