A Continuum of Comfort

Title of Activity: A Continuum of Comfort Time: 60 min

Focus: To learn about participants’ experiences with using EFF; for participants to consider their own EFF experiences in relationship to others; to become better acquainted and more comfortable in the group.

Participants group themselves along a continuum according to their own comfort with using EFF. Later, they will discuss why they feel the way they do.

Purpose: Assessing audience knowledge of EFF

Target audience: Appropriate for all audiences

Format: Small group discussion and reporting out to the whole group.

Materials: Flip chart and markers

Key discoveries: This may be the first time that these participants have been so personally involved in a continuum. If some of their opening questions center on assessment, you may use this as an opportunity to refer to this continuum as symbolic of the EFF assessment framework.

When and if this activity is used again at the end of the session, you may want to use the participants’ descriptions to identify the points along the continuum.

Facilitation notes: In a workshop setting, the welcome, introductions, housekeeping details, etc. would precede this activity. An overview of the day’s agenda would follow it.

Be sure to write the guidelines for discussion (see step 6 -7) on flip chart paper before beginning this activity.

Feedback/Commentary: I’ve facilitated this activity outdoors with two trees representing the beginning and end of the human continuum of comfort.

Groups of 3’s, 4’s or 5’s are useful for this particular activity. Remember that larger groups require more time for discussion, and people are less likely to be passive in a smaller group.

Remember this is a warm-up activity and an opportunity for participants to share their experiences with EFF. Allow as much time as possible (up to ¾ of the total) for the small group discussions. Ronna Spacone

Description of Activity:

Step 1: Introduce the activity and its purpose. This is an opportunity to learn something about the degree to which participants are comfortable with using the EFF content, and why.

Step 2: Identify an imaginary continuum in the room to measure the group’s comfort with using EFF, with one end of the continuum “feeling completely comfortable” and the opposite end of the continuum “feeling completely uncomfortable.”

Step 3: Ask participants to place themselves at a point on the continuum that most closely corresponds with how they feel about using EFF.

Step 4: Individuals place themselves on the continuum. Through the process they sort and divide themselves into a number small groups from one end of the continuum to the other.

Step 5: Participants leave the continuum but remain in their small groups to share and discuss their experiences with using EFF. Remember 3’s, 4’s, or 5’s are a useful number for the small groups in this activity, so some of the groups may need to be divided further.

Step 6: Give these instructions for the small group discussion: Individuals share about 1.their reasons for situating themselves where they did on the continuum, 2.what their “spot” on the continuum means to them, 3.their experience with EFF, and 4. what they need in order to feel more comfortable. After everyone has shared their EFF experience and perceptions about what they’ve done with it thus far, their task is to consider their experiences collectively and name it. In other words, the groups will arrive at a word, phrase, or sentence that accurately describes or captures their combined comfort with using EFF.

Step 7: Refer participants to the posted guidelines for discussion on flip chart paper. Instruct participants to identify a person in their discussion group to report back. About ten minutes before the end of the small group discussion period, ask each group to focus on its report back and to synthesize the discussion.

Step 8: Now have each small group report back. Each group’s representative reports the word, phrase, or sentence that captures their group’s comfort with EFF as well as the two or three main points the group discussed that they would like to share with the plenary.

Step 9: As facilitator, you can record the main points collected from each group on flip chart paper.

Segue: Summarize the comments from the small groups’ reports, recorded on the flip chart. Use the discussion points that are pertinent to the rest of the day’s activities to make the transition to an overview of the agenda. Present the day’s objectives, the activities you’ve planned for participants and how major blocks of time on the agenda will be spent.