Speed dating teaching strategy

Speed Dating: An Interactive Strategy

I was working with my team on finishing the agenda for an intense, 2-day meeting. There was only one minute block of time left to fill. And nobody wanted to take it on. It was the 90 minutes immediately after lunch on the second day. Perfect timing for food coma and exhaustion to be setting in. Terrible timing for a facilitator. We wanted to use this 90 minutes of time to introduce a series of new initiatives we were unveiling. That was a format that would lull even the most enthusiastic participant to sleep after three or four presentations. After 8 minutes, groups were asked to rotate to the next new initiative.

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The panel discussion is a valuable, time-tested teaching technique used in classrooms of all types to help students understand the experiences of a particular group of people. My previous experiences facilitating successful panel discussions led me to believe that a panel would be a good method to use here. It was not. In an effort to create a panel that represented a diversity of functions and practitioners, I ended up with too many panelists and, consequently, an ineffective exercise.

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At the start of a speed dating session, students are given a topic or question to discuss. Each student sits facing another student. Students typically remain in their partner-groups for about minutes before the instructor, who must keep time, notifies them to move on to their next partner. Once students rotate to their new partners, the timer is reset and students again discuss their topic or question, this time with a new discussion partner. The session proceeds in this manner, with each student thus getting the opportunity to interact with multiple other students in a series of brief one-on-one discussions Murphy, Depending on the goals of the session, the instructor may prepare just a few broad questions for students to discuss Murphy,

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“Speed Dating” Teaching Strategy

Discussions are the cornerstone of my teaching style. We end up with the same speakers sharing their strongly held opinions while the rest of the class sits with glazed eyes. One set of students stays sitting in chairs while the other group rotates around.

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