Oct 03, 2022 Online Variation of Gallery Walk: A Useful Tool for Active Group Reflection and Information Gathering in In-Person, Hybrid, Remote Programming

In past blog posts and in my Inspired Educator, Inspired Learner book I have shared about the value of “Gallery Walk” as an engaging structure for group reflection, information gathering, brain storming and collaboration. Over the years I have used it in my work facilitating vision and goal setting retreats, training programs and project oriented planning meetings with many schools and organizations. Time and time again I find the “Gallery Walk” activity a useful tool when I want to gather reflections experiences, opinions and questions from group members. It is a simple and effective method for getting a group moving, reflecting and staying engaged in a topic and making sure everyone’s voice is represented. It is a helpful technique for generating a list of group input on a subject, such as solutions, goals, questions, to use as a reference later in the training or program or for goal setting.

When my programming moved online in 2020 and I started using Jamboard (Google’s Whiteboard App) I found I was able to use this technique effectively online – in fact with some advantages- in that facilitating it with an online whiteboard on Zoom the initial reflections are more private, relaxed and when the Jamboard is kept open over multiple sessions it gives participants more time to  reflect upon express their thoughts in a thoughtful way. Allowing those who need more time to gather their thoughts than in a shorter in-person experience. Because of these advantages I am still using the online version even in my in-person group development, reflection and vision setting sessions.

Facilitation Suggestions:

• For in-person sessions, the facilitator tapes a number of large pieces of paper spaced apart so that participants have the opportunity to move around the room. For online experiences or as an online follow-up to an in-person experience post the questions across the pages of a whiteboard such as Jamboard
• Label each page with a review question, statement, or issue/problem related to topic
• For in-person give participants markers, for online, invite them to use the marker text or sticky note tools. Invite participants to move from paper to paper and write down their thoughts.
• In my in-person I usually ask them to do this quietly as individuals and play music in the background allowing this process to begin with quiet self-reflection that isn’t influenced by dialogue with others (knowing that they will be engaging in small group dialogue as the next step). **Online provides the ideal opportunity for this to be a quieter and more private self-reflection as what is contributed to the white board is truly anonymous whereas in person the act of writing is public and group members often recognize each other’s handwriting.
• When that allotted time has passed, or  the papers or white board pages are full of comments, invite the participants to tour gallery walk o of the room reading and discussing their comments. In person I usually facilitate this “touring” by creating pairs or small groups to visit and discuss each sheet for about  before opening the discussion up to the whole group. This works very well online by creating breakout rooms of two to three people to discuss the Gallery Walk before the whole group discussion. I find starting the dialogue in smaller groups increases comfort and generates more engagement and thoughtful discussion when the group does come back together as a whole.
• Questions for facilitating the group discussion might include:
• • What did you notice as you read the pages?
  • Are their themes or patterns that keep arising?
  • Was there something that surprised you?
• Now that I am back to more in-person facilitation I am still using online Gallery Walk’s in my workshops either as a follow-up or prior to large group engagement in Gallery Walk. As a follow-up, we start the Gallery Walk in person and then I take photographs of the initial responses and post them on a Jamboard and invite group members to continue their conversations online. This gives group members who were absent the opportunity to participate and invites time for more thought and anonymous contributions. Note- using this as a follow-up hybrid activity only works if time is allotted by program leaders for the task.
• Reading Discussions: I have also been using the online version in an online graduate course I am teaching as a way to pose questions and spark dialogue about course reading assignments. Students write their reactions to the reflection questions during the week between classes. Then during class we jumpstart the whole class discussion by inviting pairs to go into breakout rooms to discuss the comments on the Jamboard. This technique gives more introverted students the opportunity to participate actively in other ways besides verbal group discussion, and I can monitor engagement in the readings between classes.
• Another advantage of the online version is that it can easily be saved as a PDF for record keeping and sharing.

Variations: Enjoy and learn from a real gallery walk, using artwork/drawings instead of words (see Group Drawing and Graffiti Wall Online post).

Reference: I learned a version of Gallery Walk many years ago during a vision-setting meeting with Pauline Chandler of Antioch University New England and adapted and integrated the partner reflection step into the experience over the years. You can find versions of this activity in a number of books including: The Ten Minute trainer! 150 Ways to Teach it Quick and Make it Stick by Sharon Bowman and Inspired Educator, Inspired Learner. I adapted the online variation while finding ways to bring my favorite techniques in remote learning using Jamboard in 2020.