This blog includes important tips, frameworks, and activities to create opportunities for meaningful debriefings.

This document outlines the key elements of effective debriefing.

This blog post outlines the importance of debriefing and provides tips for success. 

This reflection activity allows participants to consider assigned topics and share their thoughts with others. 

This reflection will help participants to recognize how consensus affects decision-making. It can be used in a variety of contexts.

This reflection allows participants to demonstrate their thinking about a topic or experience visually.

This tool is very versatile and can be used for reflection in number of contexts. The facilitator can determine the objectives. 

This activity enables participants to demonstrate their understanding of a previous learning experience. 

During this activity, participants will be able to demonstrate creative storytelling abilities.

There are several types of Story Cubes that can be used for different contexts (see the Links section in the tool). 

This tool is very versatile and can be used for reflection in number of contexts. The facilitator can determine the objectives. 

This reflection allows participants to share their thoughts and opinions with others. There are several different types of thumballs that can be purchased from Answers in Motion ™ (see the Links section in the tool).

This reflection allows participants to consider assigned topics and share their thoughts with others. It can be used in a variety of contexts and is most appropriate for young children. 

This reflection enables participants to share their opinions on a particular topic and explain the rationale behind their opinions. It can be used in a variety of contexts.

From the Institute for Experiential Education:

"The second in the line of Chiji processing tools, the Chiji Pocket Processor uses the Chinese concept of the yin and the yang to teach that most issues do not have an either/or solution. For example, effective leaders sometimes assume responsibility and sometimes delegate responsibility. Each deck includes fifty different cards, each representing 'two sides of the same coin.'"

From the Institute for Experiential Education:

"Chiji Processing Cards are a standard in the experiential education field. Not simply pretty pictures on a deck of playing cards, they are a valuable educational tool for all experiential educators who recognize processing (or debriefing) as the most challenging part of quality facilitation. Spread out among a group of people, the cards are forty-eight images that assist participants in creating their own metaphors. Thousands of decks have been sold to counselors, ropes course facilitators, classroom teachers, therapeutic recreation specialists, adventure programmers, camp counselors, and corporate trainers."

This reflection allows participants to consider topics and share their thoughts based on metaphors or allegories. It can be used in a variety of contexts. 

This reflection can be used in a variety of contexts. The Metaphor/Feeling Card set can be purchased from Training Wheels Gear (see Links in the tool), but the set is not required to perform this activity. The directions are also available from the UW Cooperative Extension, Buffalo County (also in Links).

This reflection can be used in a variety of contexts. It is especially appropriate for children. The Traffic Debrief set can be purchased from Training Wheels Gear (see Links in the tool), but the set is not required to perform this activity. The directions are also available from the UW Cooperative Extension, Buffalo County (also in Links).

This reflection can be used in a variety of contexts. It is especially appropriate for children. The Body Parts Debrief set can be purchased from Training Wheels Gear (see Links in the tool), but the set is not required to perform this activity. The directions are also available from the UW Cooperative Extension, Buffalo County (also in Links).

Think, Pair, Share is a commonly used reflection/debriefing technique.

According to Lederman (1992), "The process of debriefing is not ancillary to the educational experience to which it is tied. Debriefing is an integral part of any learning experience that is designed to be experience based.... Although a good debriefing may look as it if is natural and spontaneous, it is a predictable process with necessary parts and elements..."

"The point of the debrief is not necessarily to make sure all the participants take away the exact same thing—they won’t. That’s the beauty of intercultural learning. However, you do want to ensure most of your learners take away something of value—a new way of seeing things, a connection they hadn’t made before, or a question to consider. And you want to ensure that you have a sense of what that is, and that it’s not completely contrary to the goals of the activity" (Harvey, 2019).

Experiencing,

Publishing

Processing

Generalizing

Applying

Richard B. Powers' entire article is interesting. Along toward the end, he makes some observations about the importance of the debrief.

Thiagi’s six-phase model to structure debriefing questions

"An Ohio school superintendent has apologized for a class exercise that asked middle school students to choose from a list of racially, ethnically and religiously diverse candidates to save or leave behind if Earth were 'doomed for destruction.'

"The assignment presented 12 potential spaceship passengers, including 'a militant African-American medical student,' 'a Hispanic clergyman who is against homosexuality,' 'an Asian, orphaned 12-year-old boy,' 'a homosexual male professional athlete,' and a '60-year-old Jewish university administrator.' The students were instructed to select eight to take to safety on another planet, ranking them from the most deserving to the least..." (Caron, 2018).

"In 1988, managers at Lucky Stores, a Dublin, California-based grocery-store chain, attended diversity-training workshops, during which they identified common stereotypes for women and minorities. The trainers designed the exercise to raise awareness of potential prejudices so that managers could deal with employees more effectively. The effort backfired..." (Caudron, 1993).