Facilitate sessions with a welcoming environment, probing questions, and structured pauses¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The facilitation protocol assigns the facilitator the 'primary responsibility... to create a welcoming and positive environment that encourages open and thoughtful discussion', inviting 'a diversity of perspectives and even disagreement or debate'. Concrete tips include allowing '10–15 seconds for responses' after questions, using probing questions such as 'Could you say more about ____?', setting ground rules, and minimizing the facilitator's own input.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• A separate notetaker serves as a second set of eyes and ears while the facilitator leads

Constraints¶

Target Learners¶

• Facilitators of community engagement sessions with community participants

Target Learning Goals¶

• Elicit diverse, thoughtful participant input during sessions

Related Strategies¶

• Plan engagement by defining objectives, aligned questions, engagement type, and piloted materials
• Record sessions with consent, data-protection communication, disclosure norms, and detailed notetaking
• Notetaking practices: verbatim statements, contextual notes, and 24-hour review
• Interactive Read-Alouds
• Facilitating Discourse (Online)
• Instructor Presence In Discussions
• Socratic Seminars
• Critical Friends Protocol
• Discussing Race With Students
• Support instructors during execution with predefined email templates and instructor notes

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Collecting and Making Sense of Community Engagement Data. (2025). Regional Educational Laboratory Northwest. https://ies.ed.gov/rel-central/2025/01/dissemination-plan-template