To be quite honest, I wasn't confident how well this would work. It was clear to me that I would have to get a few things right for this to work - and then trust the participants to work well together without me eavesdropping (as I usually do when we are working together in the same place).
So I had to be very clear in my own mind, both what they needed to know before the exercise, and precisely how I was going to instruct them to do it.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ_jH-hoGPuG6xP8wV73ad_C0ybXpS22FvDmuMEzn36mrk1Zxp3UhvzlcB_SU_EBfyueI4FSsT1Ag7WWBqwJEwH9bJvJV8IpTV0gi8zjX8DLYxI28yBFDJZql4MzqLybMb5HurbMPRISrL/s320/austin-distel-VvAcrVa56fc-unsplash.jpg)
In the event, the session went very well. It was slightly unnerving to put them into groups and then simply wait, trusting them to make good use of the time. But I had decided not to go around the rooms, as I thought that would be disruptive and distracting.
So it was a great relief when they came back to the plenary session, and told me how valuable the exercise had been, and what they had learned from it. It is a great credit to the professors concerned that they were able to practice what is essentially a face-to-face skill in a virtual environment, give each other feedback, polish their skill, and generate and share learning. I think that was a lot to expect of them, and they rose to the challenge really well.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjByIG_jOSXDiN7B9Qd3ydMtZRm3hP9iWOzWiIUe_4o_0VRi3VGr32R-AnOsdpSnKfe7-g6ChAYYkETuav1H0bW750Pwdc03Qwh4muZGM-sVAoRuEEpgnrLgBxPjZCzpC3IBlOR0d5NmM81/s320/bruno-cervera-azsk_6IMT3I-unsplash.jpg)
Now that I know that we can do serious skills practice, the benefits of relatively short (2 hour) modular sessions that people can do from their own office or home, and which I can facilitate without needing to travel and be put up in hotels, are very clear. So not quite a complete Zoom convert, but at least a believer in richer approach to mixed delivery.
(images courtesy Chris Mongomery, Austin Distel and Bruno Cervera, respectively, from Unsplash)
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