Preparing to Facilitate a DLC Session
Goal: Identify foundational facilitation skills (i.e., asking questions, listening, social awareness) helpful for a successful Deliberative Lab Conversation and explore sample wording or personal scripts you can use in sessions as a facilitator
Foundational Skills for Becoming A DLC Facilitator
This evidence-informed facilitator guide is designed to support you in facilitating lab conversations using the Deliberative Lab Communication approach.
A central part of the facilitator role is to do your best to help every participant engage and for the dialogue to be open. If you are an experienced facilitator, the main difference you might find in a DLC session is the commitment to assure that everyone in the room is heard, that people are invited to explain their reasons for making certain statements or advocating for certain practices, and that everyone in the conversation starts from an equal footing, from the PI to the undergraduate lab members. If you have not done a lot of group discussion facilitation, there are many good resources we recommend, including a summary of facilitation best practices. We also provide demonstration videos to help you envision how DLC sessions work.
Sometimes people may hold back on participating because they wonder if their contributions are actually important and needed. Encouraging participation from everyone is one of the core tenets of deliberative communication. [5] A central part of the facilitator role is to do your best to help every participant engage and for the dialogue to be open.
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