Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Help me prepare and run the exercise below. First ask for my participant count, time, setting, access needs and intended result. Check these against the stated limits. Use the supplied rules and materials. Explain any proposed changes before using them, and label them as adaptations. Do not invent source claims or require personal disclosure. Give me one step at a time when I say start. I manage the people, physical activity and clock; do not claim to observe the room. Ask me what happened before choosing a next step.

Reference revision: 956bd813fccbde1a5349d43337cfc184063ce5ffc679c6e4f9b8b695a756bb7f

# Online SDLT

Participants split into two alternating cohorts where one types commentary on a displayed technique or concept while the other reads silently without typing. The facilitator limits comment rounds to three minutes and provides brief clarifying feedback before cohorts swap roles.

**Time:** 20 minutes. The original newsletter describes running the loop over multiple items for up to an hour; this plan specifies a practical 20-minute, 3-item run.
**People:** 6 to 24. Two cohorts, A and B, sized as evenly as possible and alternating between commenting and silent reading roles.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Surface participant experience and practical applications regarding specific techniques while preventing chat overload through alternating reading and commenting roles.
**Use it when:** Use during remote webinars or structured training sessions when introducing several concise practices, principles, or tools to a group that has existing field experience.
**Skip it when:** Skip when participants have zero background knowledge on the subject, or when deep conversational consensus is required instead of rapid idea collection.

## Materials and tools

- Slide deck displaying short technique cards or concept descriptions
- Chat interface or shared document with two text stream areas
- Countdown timer visible to the facilitator

## Before participants arrive

1. Prepare slides with concise descriptions of 3 target techniques (see participant materials).
2. Verify all participants have functioning chat windows or access to the shared response sheet.

## Say this to open

We have significant real-world experience in this room, so we will not spend today listening to lectures. We will examine three specific techniques. To keep the chat readable, we will use two groups, A and B, with nearly equal numbers. During each round, one group types while the other reads silently. We then switch roles for the next technique. You may pass on typing or on the final share.

## How to run it

### 1. Explain roles and briefing (3 minutes)

Explain the roles: Commentators type reactions, questions, and examples; Readers read and reflect without posting. Assign participants alternately to Group A and Group B so their sizes differ by at most one. With 6 to 24 participants, each cohort has 3 to 12 people. Group A comments in round 1 while Group B reads. This balanced assignment is a UWT adaptation of the source surname split.

### 2. Run round 1 for technique 1 (4 minutes)

Display Technique 1 on screen. Do not read the slide aloud. Prompt Group A to start typing comments. Give a 30-second verbal warning at 2 minutes 30 seconds. Stop comments strictly at 3 minutes. Spend the final minute highlighting 1 or 2 salient comments and clarifying misconceptions.

### 3. Run round 2 for technique 2 (4 minutes)

Switch roles: Group B becomes Commentators; Group A becomes Readers. Display Technique 2 on screen without reading it aloud. Keep chat open for 3 minutes with a 30-second warning. Spend the final minute highlighting 1 or 2 comments.

### 4. Run round 3 for technique 3 (4 minutes)

Switch roles back: Group A becomes Commentators; Group B becomes Readers. Display Technique 3. Run the 3-minute timed typing sprint. Spend the final minute delivering brief facilitator closure on that item.

### 5. Consolidate and debrief (5 minutes)

Open the chat to all participants. Invite up to 2 volunteers from each cohort to share one useful point they observed while serving as silent readers. Anyone may pass without explanation; take fewer shares if there are fewer volunteers. Close by sharing the full reference sheet.


## Debrief questions

- What did you notice about other people's insights when you were required to read silently without typing?
- Which technique generated the most divided opinions, and why?
- How did the 3-minute strict limit affect the focus of the written comments?

**Finished output:** A shared chat log of participant experiences, risks, and adaptation ideas across three distinct techniques.

## Remote

Run directly in any web meeting platform using the public meeting chat or a two-column collaborative document. Paste the prompt text into chat at the start of each round.

## Hybrid

In-person and remote participants both log into the central chat or shared document from their own screens so reading and typing rules remain completely parallel.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may pass on submitting text during their commentary turn without explanation.
- Screen-reader users can be offered early access to the prompt text before rounds begin to ensure equal processing time.

## If the session gets stuck

**Participants assigned as Readers start typing into the chat anyway.**

Remind participants which cohort is commenting in this round: A in rounds 1 and 3, B in round 2. Ask the other cohort to keep reading without posting until the roles switch.

**Chat activity slows to a halt after 60 seconds.**

Post a prompt in chat: 'Consider a situation where this method would fail completely, or how you would modify it.'


## Terms used here

- SDLT: Self-Directed Learning Teams, a framework where peer learners analyze, critique, and teach content to one another rather than receiving instructor lectures.
- Zeigarnik Principle: The psychological tendency for people to recall uncompleted or interrupted tasks more readily than finished ones.

## Participant material: SDLT Technique Cards

Technique 1: Assessment-Based Learning Activity (ABLA)
Administer a brief diagnostic quiz. Participants who answer an item correctly explain and teach it to those who answered incorrectly. If no participant answered correctly, the facilitator teaches that concept.

Technique 2: Structured Reading Sprints
Provide a one-page briefing. Participants get 3 minutes of absolute silence to highlight two points they agree with and one point they contest. Discussion focuses solely on contested items.

Technique 3: Idea Marketplace
Each participant writes one tested practice on a shared card. Participants review all cards and cast two votes for practices they intend to test within two weeks.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Thiagi Gameletter (February 2011), published by The Thiagi Group, featuring the activity 'Online SDLT' alongside contributions by Tracy Tagliati and Brian Remer.

Retained the alternating commentator/reader mechanic, 3-minute comment timer, facilitator role of summarizing without excessive lecture, and the Zeigarnik interruption principle from the February 2011 Thiagi Gameletter feature 'Online SDLT'. The source uses an AM/NZ surname split; UWT assigns balanced A/B cohorts so the advertised group range does not leave a cohort empty or unable to contribute. UWT specifies the 20-minute, 3-item run, sample techniques, optional final shares and structured debrief prompts.

[The Thiagi Group](http://thiagi.net/archive/www/pfp/IE4H/february2011.html)

[The Thiagi Group](https://thiagi.net/archive/www/pfp/IE4H/february2011.html)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/tgl-february-2011/