Tell your neighbour

About this activity

Students ‘tell their neighbour’ as a means of articulating their thoughts.

• Ask a question, give thinking time, then ask students to tell their neighbour their thoughts.
• Tell students what the new topic is and then ask them to tell their neighbour everything they know about it.

Why use it

• To build confidence; 
• To encourage reflection; To foster a sense of community;  
• To share different perspectives on the same topic;  
• To recall knowledge; To ‘test the water’.

Possibly more feasible in smaller groups or with a seminar type setting

When to use it

Depending on purpose:  

• at the beginning as a way to recall existing knowledge 
• in the middle to clarify points or formulate questions 
• at the end of the question to check understanding and outstanding points 
• as a reflective tool 

Digital tools that might be used

Synchronous:

• Break-out rooms (with some preparation); –
• Moodle chat; 
• MS Teams meeting; 
• Proximity apps

Please build in preparation time if you split students in pairs or small groups as they will need to get to know each other.

Asynchronous:

• Moodle Chat; 
• MS Teams; 
• MoodleForums; 
• Moodle workshop 

Speed of set up time 

1 to 30 minutes depending on resources involved and planning the structure.

Workload

Depending on resources involved and planning the structure.

• To define the activity 
• To prepare questions 
• To establish an etiquette with the students 

This activity may become easier and more spontaneous if repeated throughout the modules/the sessions.

Other resources

• Whiteboards.

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