Use Brainstorming
2.
Quantity is more important than quality. Often a
bad idea is the father of several good ones.
3. Unusual ideas are highly welcomed. Even those
that sound crazy or impossible are recorded.
4. Hitchhike on the ideas of others. There is no
individual copyright. Brainstorming is a group
effort.
ALL ideas related to the topic are recorded. Evaluation activities come later after many good and even
unique ideas are generated.
Procedure
Introduction
Brainstorming activities are a great way to "get a
workshop going." The process actively involves your
participants in a creative and active thinking activity.
Not only are the techniques useful in the workshop,
your participants should be able to use this technique
on the job when faced with a problem.
Purpose
Brainstorming is a technique used to generate many
fresh ideas about a topic or problem. It stimulates
involvement, interest and creative thought.
The purpose of brainstorming, however, is NOT to
solve a problem.
Requirements
Use brainstorming with groups whose experience and
background are related to the topic or ideas you wish
to generate.
Brainstorming works best with group sizes of 10 to
20 people. In larger groups, not everyone will have
the opportunity to participate. If your group size is
larger than 20, break into smaller groups, do the
brainstorming with each group, and then combine the
groups for discussion.
The session requires a facilitator to direct the activity,
one or two recorders to capture the comments of the
group, a chalkboard, a pin board or a flip chart for
recording the comments.
Rule
Brainstorming works on the principle of postponed
judgement. Many people start criticizing ideas even
before they are spelled out completely. As brainstorming aims at generating ideas, there is a single
most important rule for conducting brainstorming
activities:
1.
Evaluation and criticism are NOT allowed during the activity.
Other rules are:
TOOL
1. Select the leader and the recorder (s).
The facilitator may be a person from outside or chosen from the group. The recorder is normally selected
from the group.
2. Identify a specific topic or problem to be addressed.
The topic must be understood by all. The participants
must have enough knowledge and experience to deal
with the topic.
The topic should be as specific as possible. Normally, formulate the topic as a question. It must be challenging, open and at the same time well focussed
Following are two good and two examples for brainstorming questions:
•
How can we generate more production income?
•
What shall we do for a social event this year?
•
Agriculture in Nepal.
(Much too broad a subject.)
•
How to cure AIDS?
(There is no cure now. Your group probably
would not have the knowledge for this discussion.)
Write the question or problem clearly on the board
for all to see.
3. Orient the participants to the brainstorming
technique. If you have never used this technique
before with the group, explain the purpose and rules
for brainstorming.
4. Call for input--record the responses. Now is
the time to open the door to the comments from the
group. Make sure the recorder is prepared and that
each comment is recorded for all to see.
5. As a facilitator, guide, not dominate. Stay in the
background as much as possible. When the ideas
taper off, try to get the ball rolling again. Make sure
that negative comments do not enter into the session.
Try to get all of the participants involved, not just a
few "talkers."
6. Close the session. After a set time, or when the
ideas have stopped coming, stop the session and call
for a report from the recorder(s).
Developed by Dr. John Collum
Swisscontact - TITI
7. Report. The recorder should give a report on the
ideas generated. This report can be given orally at the
end of the session or later, in writing. The important
thing here is NOT to discard the group ideas.
Why use group
activities?
give
instructor a
break
After brainstorming
Brainstorming is usually just the beginning of a process.
The next activity could be to group similar ideas.
This is especially easy when you use flash cards and
pin boards. Move the cards that belong together and
add headings to the different clusters
At some point these ideas will have to be evaluated
and possibly a “best” idea or solution selected.
Techniques such as “multi-voting” and “ranking” can
be very helpful with this process. Before evaluating
the ideas make sure that all participants understand
all cards. It might be necessary to reword some of the
cards.
To use multi-voting, give participants a marker and
have them place three to five marks (votes) besides
the ideas they favor. Discuss the ideas with the most
votes.
The leader may wish to collect more information on
each idea to help later with decision making.
methods
learners
change
methods
get
everybody
involved
variety of
working
styles
less
boring
tap learners'
experience
connect
theory and
practice
make shy
persons
participate
learners
learn from
each other
reduce
competetion
among learners
let learners
work
themselves
stimulate
autonomy cooperation
transfer
key skills
build a bridge
to real world
improve
communication
skills
practice
group
leadership
practice
writing flip
charts
practice oral
reporting
Advantages
•
Brainstorming is a very active preplanning technique.
•
Brainstorming involves the group in creative
thinking.
•
No evaluation is allowed, therefore, everyone’s
comments are valuable.
•
You can also do brainstorming alone, although
it is less productive, because the ideas of others
are missing. Experienced "brainstormers" generate many good ideas.
Disadvantages
•
Productivity may be questionable at times. Orient the group properly and make sure they have
the knowledge and interest to deal with the topic.
•
Some students may try to dominate the activity.
Make an effort to obtain participation from the
entire group.
•
The ideas may become nonsense. Select the topic
carefully. Make sure that it is very specific and
challenging.
Conclusion
Brainstorming is one of the most useful methods for
generating a great deal of interest in a topic or question. Most individuals like the technique because it is
non-threatening: all responses, no matter how unusual, are accepted equally.
Performance Guide
Use Brainstorming
Use the following criteria to rate a brainstorming
session:
1. Was a leader and recorder selected?
2. Was a specific topic or problem stated clearly and
placed before the group?
3. Was the group oriented to the brainstorming
technique?
4. Were ALL of the group responses recorded
without evaluation or criticism?
5. Did most of the group participate?
6. Was a report given back to the group?
7. Were follow-up activities such as clustering and
multi-voting conducted?
For successful brainstorming sessions, your response
to all questions should be "YES."