Planning session with climate advocates
Size of student group: 6 pp
Observer: Victor Guillen
Observee: Monika Gravagno
Note: This record is solely for exchanging developmental feedback between colleagues. Its reflective aspect informs PgCert and Fellowship assessment, but it is not an official evaluation of teaching and is not intended for other internal or legal applications such as probation or disciplinary action.
Part One
Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:
What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?
As Climate Advocate Coordinator, I oversee a program that employs and mentors students each year to serve as Climate Advocates. These students work on curriculum co-design projects in collaboration with Program Directors and Course Leaders, embedding climate, racial, and social justice into all courses. In this role, I am responsible for recruiting and training them, providing mentorship, and facilitating their engagement with academic staff.
How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?
3 months. In the capacity of Climate Advocate Coordinator
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?
In this session Climate Advocates are asked to start to refine:
- which project/s they will work on
- Their time capacity
- Who they will be involving/working with
- What is the aim of the project
The session will be focused on mapping exercises and activities.
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?
Have a clearer idea and directions about which project they will engage with, with whom they will work and the time they will allocate, what is the aim of their project
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?
It might be difficult for CAs to make some desitions on what to work on and refine their approach to the project
How will students be informed of the observation/review?
Informed by email.
What would you particularly like feedback on?
General feedback on anything that has been observed
How will feedback be exchanged?
Written and possible a chat?
Part Two
Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:
Hi Monika
Thank you again for inviting me to join your planning session with the climate advocates, sharing their work and ideas for curriculum co-design projects aim to embed climate, racial, and social justice into all courses. You didn’t specify a particular area you’d like me to focus on, so I’ve commented on general aspects of the session. I hope you find the notes below useful.
Facilitation and Engagement Strategies
You used a range of facilitation techniques including active listening, probing questions, nominating as needed, and expanding on contributions, summarising and recapping, and interacting with their posters (e.g. drawing, writing). This included eliciting or providing examples, checking understanding (“Is that clear? If not, we can discuss”), using verbal and non-verbal clues (e.g. nodding, pointing to poster, eye-contact) to signal attention, reassure and validate contributions. While allowing an open discussion, you also guided students to translate their ideas into more concrete actions (e.g. perhaps the way to move forward is to…). You were also happy to step in when clarification was needed (e.g. distinguishing between lead and collaborative roles students could take on a project or with questions “Can you explain who X is for the benefit of those who don’t know?”). The use of visual and interactive techniques was also effective; for example, the use of posters and multimodal resources (e.g. flipcharts, markers, post-its, stickers, handouts) to accommodate for different learning stlyes and capture ideas more dynamically, plus transferring key points (i.e. names, projects) to Miro
Encouraging Critical Thinking and Reflection
While maintain a supportive environment, you challenge and encourage students to refine their ideas (e.g. (“Do we have anything that is more tangible?”). You also encourage reflection by pointing possible implications of certain decisions and aspects such as scale of the project (e.g. This seems like a big project, would you have the time to lead this?), promoting realistic goal setting. You also manage time and the discussion to ensure it keeps flowing (e.g Let’s park it here and move on for now). You also drew connections between posters and topics, identifying possible areas for collaboration, and often providing a rationale for difference courses of action.
Food for thought
I thought you showed strong awareness of the learning environment, making small but significant adjustments given the constraints of the space (e.g. closing the door to minimise disruption from external noise levels). I was wondering how you manage physical comfort and energy levels during long sessions in a very confined space. For example, the standing format around posters encourages engagement but it may also become tiring over time; I noticed that one student decided to sit down after a while so maybe incorporating structured movement breaks and/or alternating between seated and standing discussions may help.
The session was highly interactive and produce with multiple ideas and projects emerging, which you and the advocates captured well. I was thinking about how you go about prioritising these and whether introducing advocates to a structured framework of prioritisation and decision-making (e.g. ICE framework: impact, confidence, effort) may help them evaluate and refine their plans more effectively. You could collaboratively develop your own, though you may already do this.
In short, it was nice to observe high levels of engagement, effective facilitation, and strong collaborative and reflective practices.
Part Three
Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:
Reflecting on the feedback I received; I appreciate the detailed observations about my facilitation and engagement strategies. It is affirming to know that my use of active listening, probing questions, and multimodal engagement techniques were effective in creating an interactive and dynamic learning environment. This reassures me that my approach to fostering collaboration and critical thinking among students is working well. However, there are specific areas where I can refine my practice further.
One key area for improvement relates to managing physical comfort and energy levels in a confined space. Going forward, I will incorporate structured movement breaks and a balance of seated and standing discussions to accommodate different comfort levels.
Thanks for the suggestion regarding the introduction of a structured framework for prioritization and decision-making, such as the ICE framework (Impact, Confidence, Effort). I recognize the importance of helping the Climate Advocates to refine their projects. I usually use a framework that focuses on structured working group planning, broken down into key components:
- Aims and Objectives – What are we trying to achieve? This ensures clarity of purpose and alignment with overarching goals.
- 3 main areas of development of the project: Preparation, Delivery and Post-Delivery. Which is divided in
- Actions – What specific steps need to be taken? This breaks down the project into manageable tasks.
- Roles and Responsibilities – Who is responsible for what? This ensures accountability and avoids duplication of effort.
- Time Allocation – How much time is needed for each step? This helps with realistic scheduling and pacing. Especially given the allocated time of 80 hours for CAs to complete their project.
- Completion Timelines – When do we aim to finish each stage? This provides a structured timeline to track progress.
This method ensures accountability and feasibility by clearly defining what needs to be done, who is responsible, and the timeframe for completion. Unlike the ICE framework, which focuses on subjective scoring, my approach allows for a more tangible, step-by-step breakdown of project feasibility and implementation. This structured approach helps students and advocates align their ambitions with practical execution strategies, ensuring that projects are not only visionary but also achievable.
I would certainly like to explore how to incorporate the ICE framework in my existing framework. I had a play with it and I added below a simple breakdown on how incorporating it could look like:
For the Project Planning
- Before starting: CAs Score ideas using ICE to pick the best ones.
- During the project: CAs can check if actions are on track and adjust if needed.
- After completion: Reflect on what worked and what didn’t using ICE.
For Prioritising the Actions
- Impact: Will this action make a real difference?
- Confidence: Are we sure it will work?
- Effort: How hard is it to do within 80 hours?
Matching ICE with Time & Roles
- If something is high impact but low confidence, get more support.
- If it’s high effort but low impact, reconsider or simplify.
Overall, this feedback has provided me with concrete steps to enhance my facilitation. By balancing engagement strategies with considerations for physical comfort, implementing structured decision-making frameworks, I can create an even more effective and inclusive learning environment. I am grateful for these insights and look forward to applying them in future sessions. Thanks Victor!
Full report document file here.