Rotating Stations

This is a way of debriefing small-group work in which participants stay together in their groups.

Purposes

• To ensure that each participant's work is studied intensely by everyone in the class, workshop, or meeting
• To encourage introverts and ESL speakers to participate in exchanging ideas
• To create a permanent record of what was discussed
• To challenge groups to consider multiple perspectives
• To help participants build on earlier responses, thus creating a more organically developing conversation
• To increase the variety, richness, and fun of small-group interactions

How It Works

• A question is posed and small groups discuss their responses. We have allotted anywhere from ten to forty-five minutes for this part of the exercise.
• Each group writes a summary of its discussion on provided newsprint paper. The members are encouraged to be as descriptive and specific as possible and also to write legibly.
• Each group then posts its summary on the wall and places one or two blank sheets of newsprint next to it.
• Groups then move into sharing their findings. This begins with each group standing next to its own posting.
• The facilitator asks groups to move clockwise to the next posting on the wall or station. When the group is at this first station the members talk about what's posted there and then write their reactions, comments, questions, agreements, and disagreements directly onto the blank sheet of paper provided.
• After three to five minutes (this can be extended depending on the complexity of the question and original postings) each small group rotates clockwise to the next station. Now, as well as reading the original posting, the group can also read the responses made by another group to that posting.
• At this second station the group discusses the original posting and records its reactions to it, but they also read what the last group wrote and raise questions or add comments about it.
• The process continues around the room with groups developing new threads as they respond to earlier group comments.
• Eventually each group ends up back where it began, at its own station. The members read the reactions of all the other groups to their original posting and spend five minutes talking about these. Is there anything they want to respond to? Are there comments posted that they don't understand? What do they find most interesting about how people have responded to their posting?
• The exercise ends with a large-group debrief in which any participants can talk about the process or comments left by other groups. They can also respond to questions that have been raised about their postings.

Where and When This Works Well

1. In community-based settings. This is an excellent way to hear from virtually everyone in, say, a community planning meeting, and then to get all to comment on each other's ideas. This broadens the range of input and gives everyone a chance to consider what is coming up in small groups.
2. Academic settings. Students especially enjoy moving around the classroom to see what comments each previous group has left behind. This stimulates lively conversations that reflect a wide range of opinions.
3. Organizational settings. As in community-based settings, this enables you to hear from a lot of coworkers in a relatively safe and nonthreatening way.
4. Multiple perspectives in diverse settings. Because groups arrive at each new posting ready to consider what new ideas are written there, they're less likely to miss diverse or dissenting viewpoints.

What Users Appreciate

1. It democratizes participation. No small-group report gets more airtime in this exercise. People enjoy the intimacy of the small group throughout. All participants have an equal chance to comment on all other group contributions.
2. It gets people moving. We typically do this for afternoon classes and workshops when people get sleepy and distracted. This is an especially good technique, therefore, to liven up proceedings that have fallen into a rut or in which interaction has been limited.
3. It provides a permanent record. In meetings, when a permanent record of the conversation is desired, the rotating stations dialogue can be an excellent substitute for minutes.
4. It encourages organically developing conversation. People have the chance to build on comments made by earlier groups and respond to questions posed.

What to Watch Out For

1. Time to consider the original question. This should be adjusted depending on the question's complexity. A simple question about which people are well informed can be discussed in fifteen minutes. A complex and open-ended one may need up to an hour.
2. Timing for visiting each station. As groups rotate between postings, monitor their progress and be flexible in determining how long you allow. We typically budget three to five minutes for each rotation.
3. Legibility and specificity. The first time people try this they often use general phrases and don't give enough detail in the original posting. This improves the next time around.
4. Getting lost in details. It's easy to get too focused on a particular finding or response. Remind people they should be looking for patterns of agreement, recurring questions, important contradictions, and new issues raised.
5. The debriefing flops. Sometimes the energy of small-group discussions is followed by awkward silence when the whole group is given the chance to debrief. If so, simply remind participants that a vigorous conversation has already happened. Each group has focused on, discussed, and responded to every other group's work.

Questions That Fit This Protocol

• Questions that are open and multidimensional in which you want to discover the different ways people think about an issue or pursue their practice: “What does it mean to act inclusively?” “How can we work more democratically?” “Where does our group, team, or community go from here?”
• Questions asking people to dive into a difficult issue: “What is stopping us from being a learning organization?” “'What will help us do our best work?”
• Questions that invite groups to enumerate central qualities of something: “What are the elements of an effective theory?” “What are the key ingredients of student success?”