Students are asked to share their opinions by moving along a set axis (in-person or virtually) to find their position on a scale from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’ in response to a set statement.

Statements can range from surface level, e.g. ‘The building was easy to find’ to more in-depth and reflective topics, e.g. ‘I am uncertain about what is expected of me at university'.

Designate at least three options, e.g. “strongly agree”; “strongly disagree” and “impartial/undecided” (this can be three areas in a physical room, three options in an online form, or three breakout rooms in a Teams channel). Once everyone has found a spot that they think represents their opinion, encourage discussion in small groups or in breakout rooms.

Where voting polls are used, participants could be encouraged to raise their hands, share in their chat or use a Padlet.

Subsequent statements are then used to shuffle and reshuffle students to facilitate discussion (and debate) about a range of issues that can be explored in a safe and supportive way (including the Warwick Values).

 In order to link this activity to exploring Warwick’s guiding principles, you should include at least two of these statements:

Other suggested statement (you can develop your own which relate to your department):

In advance of the session:

• Prepare your statements (see suggested list in the 'How to link to Warwick values' dropdown above).
• Download the PowerPoint template and fill in your own statements.
• Plan your timings (how long for movement, how long to discuss). We'd recommend a minimum of five minutes of movement and discussion per question.
• Arrange an appropriate physical space to accommodate your group size:
  • Book a space big enough for your students to move around in. You can view room layouts on Rooms and Spaces.
  • Allow time to arrange/rearrange the room (students usually help).
  • If there is no appropriate in-person space, see the adaptations for big/online groups below.

 During the session:

• Communicate the culture of the session: Non-judgemental, find out what we have in common, appreciate differences, respectfully listen, and discuss opinions.
• Present the Warwick Values at the end of the activity. Students discuss/share first impressions of what the principles mean to them having now explored commonalities and differences together.

When facilitating the activity online or with bigger groups, consider using the following:

• Use Vevox voting technology. Be sure to share the Vevox joining instructions in advance of the session to save time.
• For online sessions, you may need to lead a bigger group discussion or talk through responses, highlighting interesting points. Breakout rooms might be good to get students interacting with larger group discussions. Allow extra time.