Envoys Discussion Strategy: Explanation

The room is set up so that there are a series of pods, each of which is occupied by a group of three or four learners.

Pods can simply be two tables pushed together with a collection of chairs around them.

Each pod has a task of some sort that the group must complete.

Tasks can include the following:

• A question (or series of questions) that learners must discuss.
• A set of resources that learners must investigate.
• A selection of written materials learners must read, discuss, and summarise.
• A problem that learners must try and solve.

Groups are given a set amount of time in which to work together to complete their tasks.

All the tasks are linked to the same topic – that which the lesson is about.

When the time is up, one learner from each group is nominated as an envoy.

They must leave their pod and join up with another group.

On arriving, they must explain what they have been doing and the results of their group’s discussion, investigation, or problem-solving.

In turn, the group who they have joined must explain to the envoy what they have been doing.

After the initial explanation, there is an opportunity for discussion.

This can focus on the similarities and differences between the two groups’ experiences as well as the different ideas brought out by the different tasks.

The envoys then return to their original groups and a discussion takes place. Envoys share their findings with their group, and vice versa.

You can repeat the process multiple times, and you can ask learners to take it in turns playing the role of envoy.

Envoys Discussion Strategy: Example

Topic: How to create effective advertising for food products.

The various tasks could be:

• An analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of three examples of food advertising.
• A discussion, based around the question: ‘What is the purpose of advertising?’
• A rebranding exercise for an existing food item.
• An analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the following argument: ‘Different foods require different types of advertising. Therefore, no rules exist that can be applied to all food advertising.’
• The creation of a billboard advertisement for a new food product.

The tasks themselves will create lots of discussion, helping learners think carefully about the topic and to produce some high-level work.

This means there will be plenty for the envoys to discuss with other groups.

When envoys return to their home groups, both they and their peers will have been exposed to new ideas.

Discussions will thus be twofold. First, they will cover the new ideas. Second, they will deal with the application of these ideas to the task the group was originally given.

In the case we have outlined here, an example could be the group who created a billboard advertisement discussing their work in the context of new ideas they have been exposed to regarding the purpose of advertising and the strengths and weaknesses of existing food advertisements.

Envoys Discussion Strategy: Extensions and Developments

1. Rotate who is the envoy in each group. This gives different learners the opportunity to take their group’s ideas out to other members of the class.
2. Challenge learners to use what they have come across. This could involve them reworking whatever they produced at the start of the activity (in response to the task) so that it incorporates the new ideas and different perspectives to which they have been exposed by the envoy element of the activity.