melanie mcbride.net

Back when I was at teacher’s college (OISE/UT) I learned a number of fun learning activities that can work with elementary, secondary and post-secondary, adult learners (also works great at conferences!). The “affinity line” is one of my favourites.

I firs tried an affinity line while teaching Macbeth in a grade 11 University English literature course. I chose to use the line midway into the play to assess higher order thinking and the question of fate, will and external forces in relation to ethics and responsibility. My question was: Who is responsible for Macbeth’s evil acts? (“wholly external forces” “a bit of both” and “Macbeth only”). Students then explain their reasoning for their position (i.e,. “I think the witches spell really had a big influence. You can see it in the other characters as well. So I chose external forces”).

Read On – “Why to” and “How to” below!

WHY TO?

Addresses learning style: Logical, kinestetic, oral/verbal, visual, social

This activity engages a number of learning styles that aren’t normally activated in college and university learners.

Assessment value: Knowledge and Understanding, Inquiry/Thinking, Communication, Application

Affinity lines are a good formative midpoint assessment of knowledge/understanding and communication via direct inquiry. The line is also plain fun and gets students out of their seats/ordered rows, moving around and results in more candor and humour of responses. It’s a nice ice breaker, too.

Mobility accomodation:

Because this activity requires students to physically move themselves around the room, you can give students with mobility options the choice to identify their position with pen and paper or choose a spot in the room easily accessed by those with wheelchairs.

HOW TO!

Technology Adoption Lifecycle affinity line: For web related courses

I currently use the affinity line in my web courses to assess their relationship with technology – good, bad, ugly, excited, confused, or neutral. Doing this at the start of a webby course helps to clear the air of a lot of the anxieties I frequently come across in lab and tech based learning. It’s also very social and a nice intro ice breaker. I get a sense of my students personalities and they get the chance to share thier initial thoughts and feelings about the web/tech.

As many issues as I have with the tech adoption lifecyle, it’s still a good basic criteria from which to begin our analysis of some basic relationships people have with the web (from innovators and visionaries to the web averse). And I make it clear that we all occupy many different positions on this continuum depending on our alignment to different issues. I, for example, am an early adopter to social networks and online things but late majority when it comes to hardware (which is costly!).

Here’s how to do it:

1) Review and print the Technology Adoption Lifecycle page (print version) from Wikipedia – or make your own handout with our own customized categories (using the tech adoption lifecycle as a guide and offer the URL for further reading). Distribute to class.

2) Unpack (explain) the range of relationships people have to the web – and how this relates to the particular area you’re teaching in. For me, this course is about publishing. So I might use some examples of those publishers who have lagged behind only to find themselves in trouble later. Or the visionaries who embraced new tools and what they’re doing now. It’s good to model it with yourself and perhaps an example of somebody you know and respect who is a skeptic laggard.

3) Map: Choose a far point, close point and mid point in an open part of the room (or hallway) where students have enough room to line themselves up (they will be clustered in groups, not standing side by side). The tech adoption lifecyle will break down like this: the chalkboard is “visionary OR laggard” the back of the room is “laggard OR visionary” the middle point is “early majority.” Place yourself in your own category then explain why you chose that spot.

4) Line up: Have the students line up and position themselves in a spot that feels right to them “right now” (explain that they can change their minds any time and that this is just a “how I feel right now” thing). Very important: Students may not choose to not choose (an opt out). If they’re really not into it, suggest they choose the most neutral spot.

5) Discuss: Choose a place on the line up (I like starting with the laggards!) and ask for a show of hands from that spot about why they chose that spot. Make sure you allow for some wait time (5 seconds to a minute!) for them to think about this. Some will, no doubt, have their hands in the air right away. Try and ask as many students as you can from each section. As you move through the line, students will volunteer more and more.

6) Return to seats! Ask students to reflect on their original position as the course moves along.

7) Reflect: At the end of the course you might want to do this activity again to have the students self assess how much has changed – if anything – in their relationship with the web :)

Share and share alike!

If you choose to use this activity with your class, please be sure to drop back here and let me know how it went and what changes you made.