Purpose: To take participants’ “temperature” and help the instructor deliver hot training.

 Time Required: 10 minutes.

 Size of Group: Unlimited.

 Materials Required: Colored sticky dots; a thermometer drawn on flipchart paper.

 The Exercise in Action: End-of-session evaluation forms are nice for the instructor and for future participants, but they don’t do much to improve the session for the participants who fill them out at the end of a course. Colleen McCarthy, an educator at Markham-Stoussville Hospital, Markham, Ontario, gets feedback throughout a session using sticky dots and a thermometer drawn on flipchart paper.

Participants are invited to use color-coded stickers during breaks to mark how “hot” or “cold” she is on various course components. For example, if McCarthy asks participants to gauge the relevance of the course so far, participants can place a blue sticker near the bottom of the thermometer if they feel the course is “cool” or a little off base so far; similarly, when asked to rate her delivery of material, a red sticker might be used to show she’s “hot” and doing well.

To make the thermometer even more telling, mark an “ideal temperature” near the midpoint. Then participants can place dots denoting either too much or too little. For example, a participant who believes the materials are being covered too rapidly might place a dot at the extreme top of the thermometer, not necessarily meaning that the delivery is hot and right on target, while a person who feels delivery is too slow may place a dot near the low end of the scale.