How Effective Are Training Games?

In this article, Thiagi details important questions for facilitators to ask themselves to ensure effectiveness when deciding which facilitation activities to use. 

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So Many Games

In this article, Thiagi highlights his philosophy on game facilitation and adaptation, encouraging facilitators and trainers to consider new ways of implementing old games to build their skills and encourage new learning objectives.

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Games, Training Games, Simulation Games,…

This article delineates important characteristics of games, training games, and simulations. 

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The Second Revolution

This article details the history and vision of the "simulation and games movement."

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Annette Benson onto Fictional Culture Simulations

Simulation Games: An Analysis of the Last Decade

This article presents an analysis of decades of simulation research to identify patterns, issues, and areas of opportunity.

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10 Secrets of Successful Simulations

This article includes tips for simulation success, defined as an "aha" moment for learners. 

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Active Involvement: Simulation Games and Teaching

This article discusses what needs to be present in design and implementation for effective simulation results.

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The Educational Effectiveness of Simulation Games: A Synthesis of Findings

An article that sheds light on simulation design and effectiveness, and the variables that impact learning from simulations.

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Creating effective learning environments and learning organizations through gaming simulation design

This article from Willy C. Kriz provides guidance for instructors and facilitators on solution-oriented simulation design aimed at learning and sustainability. 

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The Power of Simulation-based e-Learning (SIMBEL)

This article from Randall Kindley, PhD, provides design strategies for instructors and trainers within e-learning contexts. 

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A Field Guide to Educational Simulations

This guidebook from Clark Aldrich provides facilitation tips for trainers and instructors.

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The Myths and Realities of Simulations in Performance Technology

This other article from Thiagi is excellent for trainers, providing additional details to address and debunk misconceptions about simulations.

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Play For Performance Archive

This article archive provides activity ideas, an interview with activity trainer, and facilitation techniques. 

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Simulation Games with Embedded Puzzles

This article provides simulation activity ideas that include embedded puzzles.

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Misconceptions About Simulations

This article from Thiagi is excellent for trainers, addressing and debunking misconceptions about simulations.

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CILMAR Annual Cycle of Assessment: 2022 Report

A report assessing whether CILMAR met its goals in 2022. 

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New Activity Checklists

This is the checklist we used to assess and include andragogical, developmental, experiential, transformational, constructivist, and critically inclusive aspects into intercultural learning activities. 

The Ramping Up - New Activity Checklist Version 2 includes the items from our whiteboard brainstorming session during the workshop.

*Both Word docs and PDFs included.

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One Woman Is Holding Politicians Accountable for Nasty Speech. It’s Changing Politics.

This article introduces Tami Pyfer, Utah Demonstration Project Lead of the Dignity Index, a rhetorical scoring scale for politicians developed to address issues of scapegoating, polarization, and other divisive language in politics. 

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Ramping Up: From Theory to Facilitation Presentation Slides

These are the slides we used in our pre-conference presentation.

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Does Country Equate with Culture? Beyond Geography in the Search for Cultural Boundaries

This article explores culture beyond country borders.

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Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism

This book by Benedict Anderson discusses nationalism, detailing that humans of different cultural groups have always contested territorial control through war, migrated for multiple reasons, co-existed, and intermingled. 

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Human Values Continuum

This activity challenges participants to recognize and analyze their reactions to a variety of cultural values. 

Within our session, we used this tool as an opportunity to practice assessing and developing intercultural learning tools after completing the New Activity Checklist.

Overview: This lesson plan will challenge participants to recognize and analyze their reactions to a variety of cultural values. In this activity, participants will move to various locations around the room based on their opinions about value statements read by the facilitator.

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Hofstede Website Activity

For this activity, participants refer to the Hofstede Insights website and explore the cultural proclivities of their own cultures as well as compare them with others’ cultures, understanding that these are generalizations. Additionally, participants examine the generalizations presented on the website and reflect on the complex nuances that are excluded from these over-simplified categories.

Within our session, we used this tool as an opportunity to practice assessing and developing intercultural learning tools after completing the New Activity Checklist.

For this activity, participants will refer to the Hofstede Insights website and explore the cultural proclivities of their own cultures as well as compare them with others’ cultures, understanding that these are generalizations. Participants will examine the generalizations presented on the website and reflect on the complex nuances that are excluded from these over-simplified categories.

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HubICL presentation - 1/24/23

This presentation is an outline of our time together on 1/24/23, covering the development of the HubICL Toolbox, areas beyond the Toolbox, and ways you can get involved. Feel free to follow along during the presentation and/or use it as a reference in the future.

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Teaching Students to Describe, Interpret/Analyze, Evaluate

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Geography

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Pre-work for In-person consultation

This presentation provides tips and tricks for most efficiently finding HubICL resources on a particular topic.

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A demonstration of 5 scaffolded activities for engaging with audiences concerning intersectionality SIETAR 2022 National Conference Presentation

These slides were part of the "A demonstration of 5 scaffolded activities for engaging with audiences concerning intersectionality" presentation at the SIETAR 2022 National Conference in Omaha, NE.

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Reducing Stereotype Threats

This activity, created by Dr. Dan Jones, CILMAR, is based on the chapter by Toni Schmader, William Hall, and Alyssa Croft, “Stereotype threat in intergroup relations”. This activity will help participants recognize the mechanisms that cause negative impacts of stereotyping. This activity explores the ways to combat negative performance by identifying and removing stereotype threats. This activity and handout are especially beneficial to instructors and program leaders in addressing issues of academic performance among marginalized and minority students.

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Coming Out Meatless Podcast Transcript

This is a transcript of the following podcast: 

Antolini, T. & Gross, R. (Hosts). (2015, September 10). Coming out meatless. In Gravy (No. 21) [Audio podcast episode]. Southern Foodways Alliance. https://www.southernfoodways.org/gravy/coming-out-meatless-gravy-ep-21/

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An experiential and interactive lesson plan for appreciating difference NAFSA Bi-regional VI VIII 2022 Presentation

These slides were part of the "An experiential and interactive lesson plan for appreciating difference" presentation at the 2022 NAFSA Bi-regional VI and VIII in Pittsburgh, PA.

 

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Interactive (even fun!) resources for reviewing the Intercultural Development Continuum

These slides were part of the "Interactive (even fun!) resources for reviewing the Intercultural Development Continuum" presentation at the 2022 NAFSA Bi-regional VI and VIII in Pittsburgh, PA.

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A toolkit for building intercultural empathy through non-verbal communication NAFSA Bi-regional VI VIII 2022 Presentation

These slides were part of the "A toolkit for building intercultural empathy through non-verbal communication" presentation at the 2022 NAFSA Bi-regional VI and VIII in Pittsburgh, PA.

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Ritual

An activity from Thiagi: "As a teenager, if you ever desperately wanted to belong to a group but you were not permitted to do so, you know how it feels to be excluded. This jolt deals with the concept of exclusion (and inclusion) in groups."

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Poker Face

This activity challenges participants to interrogate how stereotypes affect our first impressions and the value that we place on others. In this activity, participants will place one card from a deck of playing cards on their forehead. They will then interact with each other based on the values on their cards. They will then reflect on how they were treated and how they treated others based on those values. Additionally, they will relate these experiences to issues of diversity, inclusion, and cultural norms.

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Pacing

This activity challenges participants to recognize different communication patterns involving pacing. They will also reflect on how differences in pacing are perceived and how they might interact with individuals who use different patterns from them. In this activity, participants will first learn three different ways that people pace their communication. Then, they will role play using these patterns and discuss how they managed these various roles.

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The Parable

This activity uses a parable—a story that typically imparts a moral lesson—to get participants thinking about cultural differences and similarities. Participants will first read a parable that is provided to them and then discuss their assumptions and moral judgments of the characters based on their own cultural values.

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Hum Tum

This scene from Hum Tum is a great way to introduce the Dynamic Conflict style (indirect communication and highly expressive in the lower right quadrant) of the Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory (ICS). The Intercultural Conflict Styles Activity + Role Play in the HubICL (link provided in post) presents an example of how you might use this film clip in an activity. 

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Intercultural Conflict Styles: Activity + Role Play

This activity introduces participants to the Intercultural Conflict Styles and gives them an opportunity to explore their own conflict style and learn about others’ styles. To enrich the activity, participants can take the fee-based inventory if time and funding allows, but the activity can still work without taking the inventory. The goal of this activity is to encourage participants to consider how their conflict style has formed over time and how their and others’ styles impact conflicts.

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Types of Conflict & Identifying the Source Activity

This activity gives participants the opportunity to re-envision conflicts by considering the source(s), toward more effective and enduring resolutions.

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Re-imagining Rhetoric Activity

Foss and Griffin (1995) re-imagined traditional rhetoric by creating an alternative way of communicating across differences in opinion, namely through invitational rhetoric (IR). IR is a rhetorical practice that welcomes and honors all perspectives on a topic without the traditional rhetorical practices of persuasion and domination. This activity encourages participants to discover new ways of discussing and disagreeing across differing perspectives and provides real-world examples of IR practices.

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Invitational Rhetoric Activity

Invitational rhetoric was created with the goal of understanding one another rather than persuading others to believe what the rhetor believes. As an alternative to contemporary communication theory (rhetoric as persuasion to change other people), invitational rhetoric fosters strong relationships. In this activity, participants will practice offering perspectives without the goal of persuasion, and practice listening to other’s perspectives without judgment.

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What I've Learned Grieving on the Job

In her article, Lisa Lackey sheds light on the realities of grief and loss, presents a call and challenge to companies and organizations as they consider grief leave policies, and shares about the ways in which grief and loss disproportionately affect Black women.

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Zipair Becomes First Japanese Air Carrier to Put Crickets On Menu

This Japanese airline now offers a new menu item - nutrient-rich crickets - for the sake of sustainability!

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'Hangry is a Real Thing': Psychologists Find Link Between Hunger and Emotions

This article legitimizes "hangry" feelings with a research study that explores the link between feelings and hunger.

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What Teaching Looks Like

This powerful Elon University Open Access Book Series gives us photographic glimpses into "what teaching looks like" in higher education.

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Ethics Across the IDC

This activity familiarizes participants with the Intercultural Development Continuum (IDC) and provides opportunities for applying the five orientations of the IDC to different case studies.

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Intercultural Learning Through a Japanese Cooking TV Show

This article and embedded YouTube clip shed light on a popular Japanese TV show in which two celebrity chefs enter a stranger's home to cook dinner in their kitchen with only the ingredients found in the home. What viewers should know, however, is that this is an extremely unlikely occurrence in Japan - strangers don't tend to invite themselves into someone's home, let alone cook in their kitchen! 

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Favorite Food Words Celebrating Julia Child's 100th Birthday

This blog post shares fun food verbiage in honor of Julia Child's 100th birthday. 

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Will You Receive Food as a Guest at Someone's House

This highlighted map indicates where in the world you might expect (and not expect) to be given a meal as a guest.

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"Black sounding" Names and Their Surprising History

This video provides important insight into the meaning and history of Black naming traditions. 

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Chef Crystal Wahpepah on the power of Indigenous cuisine: ‘Native foods are overlooked’

 This article features a spotlight on indigenous cuisine chef Crystal Wahpepah and highlights the compelling and influential nature of Native American cuisine.

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Names That Are Unfamiliar to You Aren't "Hard," They're "Unpracticed"

This article describes the importance of attitude in learning others' names.

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Peek-a-Who Names Review

This intercultural learning tool helps participants learn, remember and correctly pronounce each others' names.

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Name Roulette

This intercultural learning tool helps participants learn each others' names and pronounce them correctly.

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The Importance of Getting to Know our Students

This Facebook post emphasizes the importance of building relationships with students toward more effective teaching.

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Name Story, aka The Name Game

This intercultural learning tool allows participants to engage with each others' names and understand the importance of using names and pronouncing them correctly. It also emphasizes the importance of understanding the cultural significance of names, as well as different cultural naming practices.

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Say My Name

This intercultural learning tool allows participants to engage with the importance of names and identity and teaches key name usage practices and understanding.

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Career Coach: The Power of Using a Name

This article demonstrates why it is so important to call individuals by their name when interacting with and referring to them. 

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Naming Students is Even More Crucial in Online Classes

This article emphasizes the importance of calling students by name, especially in online instructional contexts. This crucial practice allows instructors to acknowledge individual student's unique identities and connect and engage with students in meaningful ways. 

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‘Blackness Deserves a Seat at the Seder’

Black American Jews say they are seeking ways to bring their full identity to the symbolic food of the Passover meal.

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Researchers in Valencia pinpoint unwritten rules of paella

"Vidal says there are as many recipes as there are cooks and what makes a good paella is a matter of opinion, except in Valencia, where it’s a question of science."

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For the Love of Bread

As they say in the video, eating bread is like eating a piece of history! Let me at it! I love bread!

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How Unexamined Judgments Skew Our Understanding of the World

What is the difference between good and great communication skills? Sharon Kristjanson suggests it is the ability to examine our judgments that skew our understanding of the world. Her vision is a world with more collaborative and productive discussions, regardless of politics or background.

I love her analogy of an 8-piece and a 1000-piece puzzle.

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CILMAR Annual Cycle of Assessment: 2021 Report

A report assessing whether CILMAR met its goals in 2021. 

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The Pendulum Model Collection

This collection includes resources by the creators of the pendulum model of intercultural competence development and maintenance.

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Intercultural Praxis Video

In this video, participants will learn to understand the Intercultural Praxis model and identify concrete examples of each aspect of the cycle (Inquiry, Framing, Positioning, Dialogue, Reflection and Action). 

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Intercultural Praxis Case Study Activity

In this activity, participants will read a case study about a diverse group of students attending an environmental justice event. The students in the case study have conflicting viewpoints about environmental justice based on their own cultural frameworks.

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Intercultural Praxis Model

In this book, participants will be able to gain familiarity with the study of communication among cultures, recognize history, power, and global institutions as central to understanding the relationships and contexts that shape intercultural communication, value reflection and action. and practice these tools to create a more equitable world through communication.

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Computer Keyboard Keys

This activity can be used in team-building workshops for the dual purpose of introductions and reflection. This facilitation tool is easily adaptable to different contexts, e.g., the activity can be used to facilitate discussion about participants’ progress in class research projects.

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Air Handshake Mingle and No Touch Mingle

For this activity, participants will learn how to build rapport, make introductions, create connections, review names, and become more comfortable with each other.

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Personal Agendas in Teamwork

In this activity, participants will learn how to define and identity personal agendas, and study how personal agendas can create conflicts in a Case Study. Students engage in group and small group discussion to explore their understanding of personal agendas.

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Comfort with Discomfort

This lesson asks participants to reflect on their emotions and practice managing them during interactions that may be tense or uncomfortable. They can choose either to talk with a family member or close friend with whom they disagree on a deeply-held value/belief or to attend an event in which their social identity is minoritized. Either way, they will reflect on their emotions before, during, and after the conversation/event and consider how they might more strategically manage their emotions for future difficult encounters.

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Turning the Tables

This activity asks participants to create their own retelling of a popular movie, comic, novel, or historical event and reflect on their experience of shifting perspectives.

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Thick Description Observation

This lesson challenges participants to practice thick description and dig deeper into how culture impacts how people design and use physical spaces. They will choose a space to observe and then write a thick description essay based on the notes that they take.

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Five D's of Bystander Intervention Training

In this activity, participants read Hollaback’s description of the 5 D’s and the decision tree and then answer several discussion questions. The 5 D’s of Bystander Intervention Training were developed by Hollaback to help combat bias and harassment. The purpose of the 5 D’s is to empower individuals to support someone who is the target of harassment. 

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Analysis of an Intercultural Interaction

In this lesson plan, participants describe an intercultural interaction. Participants choose an interaction in which they took part, as this will be more beneficial for them in terms of self-awareness. The interaction participants choose should have involved some confusion, misunderstanding, conflict, or offense of some sort, on their part or on the part of others involved, and which may or may not have been resolved. Participants identify who was involved, where they were and under what circumstances, what was said or not said, and what happened. 

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Emic Perspective

This lesson presents the concepts of etic (outsider/objective) and emic (insider/subjective) understanding of culture. The slides explain the differences in these two perspectives, offer motivation for developing emic perspectives by discussing the value of this viewpoint, list some strategies for learning to see a culture from the insider viewpoint, and use concrete (published) case study examples as fodder for practice and instruction. 

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Connect Your Cultural Dots

This lesson challenges participants to think more deeply about how culture contributes to everyday norms/behaviors and habits. With a partner, they will choose several cards from two sets: cultural contexts and behaviors/norms. Then, they will talk through their life experiences and attempt to “connect the dots” between how their cultural contexts have affected their behaviors/norms in particular scenarios. Finally, they will complete a debriefing reflection on what they learned about themselves and their partner.

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Unintentional Harm

This lesson will challenges participants to think more deeply about scenarios that cause unintentional harm. They will first identify several situations where they have either experienced or caused unintentional harm. Then, they will place those scenarios on a Jamboard shared with several group members and reflect on how they felt and how they might have handled the situation differently. 

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Intent vs Impact

This lesson challenges participants to consider how a mismatch between intent and impact can cause conflict and develop strategies for mitigating problems. They will first learn the differences between intent and impact and then find real-world examples where intent and impact did not match. 

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