Virtual Activities for Facilitating Clarification Processes

Provide a Google Form through which participants submit anonymous questions. Read a submitted question out loud, answer it, and repeat. If desired, have the form linked to a Google spreadsheet for easy sorting and tracking.

A way to have a small group conversation within the large group. Have a few volunteer talkers leave their cameras on and the listeners turn their cameras off and then hide non-video participants. Provide a prompt or focus for the conversation, let the small group talk for a few minutes, hopping in with questions if needed. Swap out for different talkers, repeat if desired.

Using Googles Slides built in Q&A feature have participants submit their anonymous questions and if you choose, up-vote the ones they most want answered. Present the question you want to answer, answer it, and repeat.

Using the spotlight function on Zoom, highlight a participant for the hot seat. Have other participants raise their hands and/or unmute to ask questions of the person in the hot seat. Swap who's in the hot seat, the given topic, or both as needed.

Instruct your group that you’ll be sending them into breakout rooms in pairs. Once there, given a prompt or question, one partner shares for thirty seconds. The listener then echoes word-for-word, as best they can, what the speaker said. If the echo is satisfactory, they will swap roles and repeat. If not, the original speaker reiterates and the listener tries again. You can broadcast new prompts to the breakout rooms, or call everyone back after a few minutes.

Share your screen and display your Google Slide with numbered list of frequently asked questions. Read the list aloud and ask participants to identify which questions they want answered by saying a number out loud or via the chat. Read the question requested aloud, answer it yourself or have a volunteer try. Repeat.

Have pairs come up with analogies (i.e., comparisons of two otherwise unlike things) to describe the idea or concept you’re focusing on. Ask the pairs to be specific about how it captures all of the elements of that concept and to be as specific as possible. Give them time to consider multiple analogies, searching for the best fit.