Critical Reflection of NCORE Pre-Conference Student Session

Individual Project

Samantha Gonzales

EHRD 612- Dr. Lundgren

April 14, 2021

Introduction

For my individual project I chose to do a critical reflection on a training I attended at

NCORE (National Conference of Race and Ethnicity) in 2019. The title of the course was

Understanding and Leveraging the Student Voice to Impact Institutional Change. It was a pre-

conference session aimed at students to help them understand how to impact institutional change

from the position of a student. I chose this training because of its impact on my life and the great

techniques and training strategies that I observed during the training. The trainers enthusiasm for

the topic and active learning activities helped myself and other learners stay engaged in the

learning process. The training had a “dramatic, fundamental change in the way we see ourselves

and the world in which we live,” which created a transformational learning experience for me

(Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020). This training was one of my first training sessions in social

justice issues and how I can create positive influences which has been a great interest of mine

ever since. While the training material has had a lot of personal benefit I also believe that the

training strategies used during the session were successful and worth further analysis of

effectiveness.

In summary the Pre-Conference session consisted of opening remarks, ice breakers, role

play/case study work, group association/discussion, and lastly a group collaboration to create a

transfer of learning aide. The training was designed to “enable [students] to acquire the

knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to act to make the nation and the world more democratic

and just,” (Banks, 2004). Each activity connected to areas of social justice that impact students in

higher education. Some of the lessons taught through active training included perspective taking,

self-care, ideas on leveraging the student voice, and strategies on navigating complex

institutional structures.
Key Training Strategies Used

Ice Breakers

The training started with a brief introduction of the topics and an outline of the activities

for the day. Shortly after that the class was separated into groups of about eight to ten people and

there were around six groups. Each group was assigned to work with an instructor, but before we

officially began the first learning activity, we were led through some ice breaker exercises. The

icebreaker used was familiarly simple and consisted of group members one by one introducing

themselves and sharing some facts about themselves or some interest they have. The members of

the group were encouraged to share their pronouns, where they were from/where they go to

school, and these topics led to discussions on why they were interested in social justice work.

The purpose of the ice breaker was to help in creating a more comfortable environment to

soon engage in difficult dialogue for the upcoming activities. Icebreakers “lead to a free

exchange of information and enhanced communication between group members,” (Zwaagstra,

1997). Shortly after the ice breaker I remember many of the group members bonding over the

shared experiences of fearing and handling hate speech protestors on our campuses. Sharing our

common interest in social justice work created a sense of community, but also understanding.

The icebreaker “contribut[ed] to improved student participation, increased student persistence,

and ultimately enhanced student learning,” (Chlup & Collins, 2010). It’s important in teaching

social justice to have a comfortable space for discourse and honest input.

While this was a great start to building trust among the participants, more creativity could

have been used on designing the icebreaker activity. From the perspective of the participants,

sharing facts about themselves can be overwhelming especially when someone has to go first. In

situations like these, participants often copy the response type as the first person who sets the
tone for the activity. The activity became more successful when the participants were encouraged

to share their stories of social justice work and experiences that brought them to the table that

day. Creating an icebreaker that revolved around the theme of the training session may have been

more successful.

Role Play/Case Study

Once the groups finished the ice breaker we were given a packet for a role playing/case

study activity. The packet found in Appendix A included a story about a University facing a

potential guest speaker who has a history of using hate speech. Within the story each group was

assigned to a character to analyze and eventually represent. Each character played a role and had

a vested interest in the outcome of the story. The groups started by strategizing and planning how

to get what they wanted out of the scenario. The situation forced us to put ourselves in someone

else’s shoes and some had more challenging obstacles to run through than others. After

strategizing separately the groups got to meet with other groups and communicate as the

characters to try help each other solve the issue while keeping our self interest a priority as well.

Towards the end of activity after private group work and meetings the entire class came

back to the whole group and debated in a shared space as the characters on how to solve the

problem until the instructors cut us off. By the end, we could not find a solution that met

everyone’s interest. After, each group got to share their perspective of the situation and why they

were unwilling to compromise on certain issues and compromise on others. As each group one

by one shared their experiences and it became more clear as the students the politics and

perspective taking that goes into change in high education.

The purpose of this activity was to help the students understand how to navigate through

the complicated systems that Universities have when it comes to social change. It was also meant
to put some of the students in a role they’ve never been in before such as a professor, dean, or

even the defender of the hate speech protestor. “Role play is particularly well suited for

providing trainees with the opportunity to practice and collectively reflect on how to manage

important responsibilities” (Martin, Kolomitro, & Lam, 2014). Using a role playing scenario

gave students a chance to practice their navigating skills in a controlled environment. Guiding

students through this activity helps them understand how these issues could potentially be

handled. “Learning is widely believed to be a socio-cultural experience necessitating social

interaction to achieve effective [professional] learning” (Martin, Kolomitro, & Lam, 2014). This

means we were able to actively collaborate with one another to make the experience more

believable and applicable to real social justice work.

A weakness of the role playing technique used in this training was the overall group

participation. Since the training consisted of over 50 students, groups of students would represent

one character and have to share the responsibility of representing the character. This meant some

students got more practice in the role of the character while others simply watched the events

take place. “In other words, we recognize that some students stay closer to what they are used to

rather than reaching out to explore,” which meant most of the time the same students would

practice their skills in navigating and collaborating while most of the group was too shy to speak

up (Howes & Cruz, 2009).

Group Association Discussion

After debriefing from the role playing exercise we were instructed to go to the back of the

room where there was an empty space to do another activity. The activity was a group

association game. It started with fun group associations such as “Find someone with the same

favorite ice cream flavor,” or “Find someone who’s watching the same tv show as you.” After a
couple rounds of fun ones we then started to get into more serious ones. We got into groups

based on our most salient identity and based on our privileges. In these groups we discussed

amongst ourselves about our experiences that have led us to our current perspectives and

understandings of ourselves and others. Then the conversation was opened up to the entire group

to discuss and debate. This activity allowed us to engage in group discussions based on both

differences and commonalities. “Students need to understand how life in their cultural

communities and nations influences other nations,” (Banks, 2004). We were able to have

discussions on identity, privilege, and marginalization on our campuses which led into a greater

discussion on institution change.

I noticed as a participant was the disconnect and timing between the activity and learning

objectives. As an adult learning, motivation often comes from a search for practical application

of knowledge to their daily and/or social roles. “Adults need to know why they need to learn

something” (Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020). The group association discussion was done before

any lectures or introductions into the new topic. As the adult learner at times engaging in the

learning process was challenging because it took a while to find the learning objectives and

purpose within the activity. It’s important that adult learners see purpose for an active learning

technique to enhance their understanding of the topic.

Transfer of Learning: Job Aide

For the last hour of the session the instructors had the students return to their seats. The

last hour consisted of a group collaboration dedicated to coping strategies and personal

experiences to create a guide to take home with us to our individual campuses. The presenters

pulled up a blank sheet of paper and as students presented different ideas on how to avoid

burnout or brainstorm ideas for impact at their campus the presenters jotted them down to create
a collective aid to take back to our campuses. “These aids provide a structure that helps

participants remember and apply what they learned in the course,” (Silberman & Biech, 2015).

This format was a great way to create a transfer of learning opportunity, but also a chance

for the participants to add to the training and takeaways. Adult learners often use personal

experiences as a way to understand new knowledge. Participants got to share personal stories of

success and failure to help themselves understand the topics, but also teach others. This was also

a great way to end the training in that the participants and instructors were already tired from a

long day of training. The format didn’t require participants to exert much effort, but just to listen

and participate when they see fit.

Presenter Passion

The focus of this reflection was on specific training techniques that were observed during

the training session that have been discussed and recommended in the training and development

course. I wanted to also offer some reflection on the skill of the presenters and the emotions used

to create a more immersive training experience. “Understanding the rational and emo-

tional aspects of learning as parts of a single holistic process.” are critical in teaching issues of

social justice (Shorts & York, 2002). The commonality we all shared for both students and

instructors was a passion of social justice work. Ignoring the emotions we all felt would have

created a barrier in the learning process. Emotion in this context “can also act to support learning

and behavior change.” (Shorts & York, 2002). The instructors spoke of both practical theory and

emotional personal truths that made them both credible and relatable to the audience. Expressing

passion in the form of emotional involvement helped the audience connect with both the topics

and the instructors.

Conclusion

I chose this topic because of the amount of great training and development techniques

that were used in this session. Ice breakers allowed the students and instructors to create a more

comfortable learning environment in order to speak on challenging topics with honesty and

openness. The case study and role playing activity gave students the opportunity to actively

participate in problem solving an issue that may happen at their University while also viewing it

from the perspective of many stakeholders. The group association game and following

discussion allowed the students to reflect on personal powers and marginalization and how those

experiences are played on college campuses. Lastly, the transfer of learning at the end of the

presentation gave students and instructors the opportunity to share coping strategies and

implementation strategies from personal experiences to wrap up a collaborative event.

However, every great training has its weaknesses that could use improvement. The main

weaknesses I observed in this training session included the lack of creativity in the ice breaker,

full participation, and some disconnect and timing issues between activities and learning

objectives. The Pre-Conference student session at NCORE 2019 enabled me to have a

transformational learning experience that included several strong training techniques. In

reflection of the training, many active training techniques were implemented successfully to

create an interactive and impacted learning experience for young adult learners.
 References

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The Education Forum. 68(4). 296-305. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131720408984645

Chlup, D. & Collins, T. (2010) Breaking the Ice: Using Ice-breakers and Re-energizers with

Adult Learners. Adult Learning 21(3-4) 34-39.

https://doi.org/10.1177/104515951002100305

Howes, E. & Cruz, B. (2009). Role-playing in science education. An effective strategy

for developing multiple perspectives. Journal of Elementary Science Education. 21. 33-

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Martin, B., Kolomitro, K., & Lam, T. (2014). Training methods: A review and analysis. Human

Resource Development Review. 13(1) 11-35. 10.1177/1534484313497947

Merriam, S. B., & Baumgartner, L. (2020). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide.

Jossey-Bass.

Silberman, M., & Biech, E. (2015). Active training: A handbook of techniques, designs, case

examples, and tips (4rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Shorts, D. & York, L. (2002). Analyzing training from an emotions perspective. Advances in

Developing Human Resources 4(1) 80-96. Sage Publications.

Zwaagstra, L. (1997). Group dynamics and initiative activities with outdoor programs.

Retrieved December 3, 2009, from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ PDFS/ED417056.pdf

 Appendix A

Starts on the next page.