Crossed viewpoints

Initial situation

In this course, the teacher tackles the theme of micro-pollutants. Among these, there is always one that is emerging in the development of knowledge and students’ interest. While two years ago the teacher explored the subject of manufactured nanoparticles, she is now tackling the issue of microplastics. The latter is characterized by great complexity and multi-dimensionality.

To tackle such a hotly debated topic, it was necessary to move away from traditional teaching formats and consider the link between science, politics and education. The teacher therefore decided to offer a course in the form of a world café workshop, inviting experts from different sectors to defend divergent points of view on the subject.

Project implementation

This workshop is part of a core course that the teacher shares with 3 colleagues. It is delivered as a 10-hour block course spread over 2 weeks in December. The world café is organized during the first of these 2 weeks.

To prepare for the world café session, the teacher introduces it during the first course given in November by her colleague who begins the series. For around 15 minutes, she presents the initial theoretical foundations of the course she will be teaching, as well as the concept of the world café. She introduces the guest experts and the sub-themes that will be covered. She indicates the existence of a Moodle space providing the compulsory and optional readings to prepare the 4 sub-themes of the workshop. These readings are made available by the teacher, as well as by the various guest experts. Several questions for discussion during the workshop are proposed, and students are encouraged to prepare a few more. They are also asked to form groups of no more than 9 or 10 people, depending on the sub-theme chosen, to be e-mailed to the teacher the following week. As student groups function more effectively when roles are assigned to each member, it is suggested that students choose one of several roles: facilitator, recorder, reporter, timekeeper, harmonizer, prioritizer (see detailed descriptions in appendix).

On the day of the World Café, the teacher gives a short theoretical introduction (see appendix) before the 4 groups of students sit down with one of the guest experts. Each expert comes from a different sector (international organization, university/NGO, government, private sector), enabling students to approach their questions from different points of view. For 20 minutes, the group exchanges with the expert, then a bell rings to inform them that it’s time to take stock of the discussion in 5 minutes, in preparation for the short final presentation they’ll be asked to make at the end of the world café. When the bell rings for the second time, each expert moves to the next table to start the discussion with another group. The 4 groups thus can exchange views with each invited expert representing different stakeholders, and to bring together different perspectives on each topic. The fact that the world café takes place during the first of the two weeks of the course gives the teacher the opportunity to offer a quick debriefing during the second week’s sessions.

The course exam consists of 4 parts, each covering the content taught by each of the 4 teachers. It’s a written exam in which students have to describe processes or reproduce diagrams, for example. As the content covered during the world café does not lend itself to this type of exercise, the teacher decided not to include it in the exam. Participation in the world café is, however, credited with 30% of the mark for the teacher’s part.

Thoughts and advice

The teacher observed that this workshop helped to change the students’ initial preconceptions about microplastics. The opportunity to be confronted with actors in the field defending different solutions enabled them to envisage different perspectives and to understand that emerging solutions are not necessarily always the best ones.

She notes that for a course in this format, prior organization is essential, both in terms of preparing the students and the experts. Indeed, it’s important to provide students with the necessary materials well in advance of the workshop, at least a month in advance. It’s also important to ensure that all students have the same level of knowledge at the end of the workshop (in this master’s program, students come from a wide range of backgrounds).

As far as experts are concerned, the teacher emphasizes the importance of including a variety of different stakeholders. It is also essential, after an initial contact, to plan one or more organizational sessions to clarify what is expected of them (a presentation or not, proposing documents or not). For this course in particular, the International Relations and Partnerships Department team facilitates, if necessary, initial contact with stakeholders from international organizations and NGOs in Geneva International. The teacher reports that feedback from experts is always very positive: not only are they enthusiastic about taking part in the next edition of the World Café, but they are also interested in offering internships to master’s students.

For support during the first edition of her world café, the teacher contacted the SEA pole (Support for Teaching and Learning) department. She notes that the advice she received was beneficial and enabled her to implement certain changes based on student feedback. She recommends this contact as a means of implementing, improving and changing innovative teaching methods.

Among other feedback, students commented that they felt the workshop was too short to go into sufficient depth in the discussions. Similarly, the 5-minute debriefing at the end of the discussions was not always enough time to prepare the final presentation. If possible, the teacher recommends a 4-hour workshop rather than a 3-hour one. Given the large number of students, she would also consider the presence of a 5th expert to increase the number of groups (which, however, implies the need for a larger space and a longer schedule). To test this format with a smaller audience, the teacher plans to offer this world café format to her Bachelor students (around twenty students).

The students also noted that it would have been interesting to have a moment of exchange between the different experts during the workshop, so that they could discuss their different points of view.

Student feedback

“Having the opportunity to talk to people who are involved in the issues, and who have in-depth knowledge of the topics covered. This means you can ask all your questions openly, and sometimes hear different points of view on the same issue.”

[What I appreciated most about the Workhop: ]* “The different positioning of the speakers, their background and the questions specific to our themes that didn’t create redundancy in this context.”*

“I really appreciated being able to talk to industry professionals. My favorite part was hearing about their work and interests.”

“Thanks to the different perspectives and knowledge of the speakers, I was able to get a better grasp of the microplastics issue, which turned out to be very complex. I understood that to deal with this problem, several sectors and experts need to be mobilized, and we need to be able to consider several scales of investigation.”

[What I didn’t like so much about the Workshop:] “The lack of interaction between the players; at times when we had different (and sometimes conflicting) answers to the same question, it would have been interesting for the experts to confront their points of view and exchange views with the students. For example, during a discussion session where a teacher poses a question to the experts and each of them can state his or her point of view and react to that of the others.”