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Although peer learning is an educational concept that has gained traction in recent years, there is still a lot of confusion surrounding the topic. In this post, we’ll break down what peer learning is, its benefits and drawbacks, and how you can use peer learning to make teaching easier for yourself and your students.
Keep reading to learn more about peer learning. You can also visit ViewSonic’s range of education solutions for additional valuable insights into EdTech and the modern classroom.
There are many ways to uplift teaching and learning, and peer learning is a teaching method that encourages collaborations in the classroom. Using peer learning techniques not only promotes student learning from one another, but also help them develop skills in oral communication and boost their self-esteem. Having students work through an assignment together also helps increase retention and create an atmosphere of achievement.
Peer learning is defined as a process in which students acquire knowledge and skills by actively helping and supporting their peers. Rather than teachers instructing students, in peer learning, students educate their peers as part of a two-way learning activity to help each other try to understand the curriculum.
Peer learning can take many forms. Some classrooms use older students to teach younger students while other classrooms rely on a buddy system. Other classes might ask students to form groups and create a presentation to lecture on a certain topic. It transforms the lesson from a one-way lecture into a conversation. However, just like with any other teaching model, there are benefits as well as drawbacks to peer learning.
One of the key advantages of peer learning is that it changes learning from a passive to an active activity. Rather than just processing information, students are now tasked with having to lecture, teach, discuss, debate, and answer questions about the material. With peer learning, students who are educating their peers can identify gaps in their comprehension and gain a better understanding of the subject matter.
Students will develop social skills as they learn how to collaborate and interact with their classmates. Rather than passively absorbing lectures, students will have to work with one another to pass along information to their peers. In certain models, peer learning can also develop a sense of community and cooperation as students work together towards a common goal.
Students who are relatively shy in a large group setting may feel more comfortable interacting in a one-on-one scenario. By working with someone they can identify with, they can more easily ask questions, work through challenging problems, and develop confidence in their skills.
One drawback of having students teach each other is their inexperience in teaching. Figuring out the best way to convey information in an easily understandable way is a skill that takes practice. Because of inexperience, students who are teaching may give wrong answers, unclear feedback, or confusing instructions.
Another drawback of peer learning is the fact that the teaching process is not something that can be completely monitored. Because you are not actively teaching, some students may receive better educational outcomes than others due to a wide range of teaching abilities and understanding of the material.
While peer learning can be a messy process even for experienced educators, there are certain strategies you can employ to ensure that the peer learning experience is active, effective, and beneficial for everyone involved.
Here are some quick tips to make peer learning more effective:
Because most students model teaching based on adult role models or the way they were taught, getting students to provide constructive feedback can be tricky. Before splitting students into peer learning groups, it can be helpful to go over how to provide constructive feedback and what criteria students should be looking out for. A rubric can help provide students with a document to refer to when critiquing their peers.
Feedback should be as specific as possible and given within the context of achieving the goals of the assignment. Teach students to provide feedback that’s either positive (“that looks great!”) or constructive (“I’m not sure that’s correct. How about we try again?”) and to stay away from feedback that’s rude or demeaning.
For students who are better able to articulate themselves through writing, it may be helpful to give students the option of presenting their feedback in a written rather than verbal form.
Teaching students how to provide feedback can have the added benefit of sharpening their social skills and teaching them to be more empathetic towards each other.
Rather than having one student teach the entire time, have students trade off on teaching one another as they move down a list of topics. This has the effect of enhancing both their teaching and listening skills. This also emphasizes on students learning simultaneously and making equal contributions to each other’s learning.
Forming and maintaining peer learning groups is one of the ways to make this teaching model work. Clear instructions need to be given to guide students on how to work collaboratively and cooperatively. Teachers will also need to prepare the types of problems the students will solve together to maximize this teaching model. There are a few ways to facilitate peer learning with the following groups:
Break students into small groups and assign them a topic. With active learning, the goal is for students to gather information, share questions but also to generate concrete actions towards solving a particular problem or achieving a goal. Active learning groups are especially great for STEAM topics like building a trebuchet or a bridge with popsicle sticks.
Break students into small groups and provide them with a topic. Ask students to make decisions or generate recommendations to share with students outside the committee or the rest of the class. While the focus isn’t exclusively on learning, having students separate into committees helps promote autonomy, problem-solving, and collaboration.
Debates are a formal activity where students try to convince their peers of their viewpoints and can be done in both small and large groups. Positions are either self-selected or randomly assigned. Debates are done within a structured format with each side being allotted a certain amount of time to make their point. The competitive nature of a debate encourages students to study up on a topic and to use their critical thinking and logic skills.
Pair students off into groups and have them engage in sharing their thoughts on a topic. With dialogue groups, the emphasis is on sharing one’s own opinion rather than tackling the viewpoints with others. Students are encouraged to ask questions to clarify and deepen their understanding of their partners’ viewpoint. Usually, dialogue is done with students paired off into groups of two, though it can be done with larger groups.
In discussion groups, an emphasis is placed on having students actively engage with their peer’s viewpoints. Separate students into groups and have them take turns discussing a topic. Discussions are not as formal as debates, but students are free to provide feedback to others as they discuss. Discussion groups are usually two or more students.
Another way to execute peer learning is to use technology to enhance the curriculum. Students can teach each other by making video lessons, explaining concepts in a language that makes sense to their classmates. By presenting the concepts themselves, it also strengthens their own understanding of the topics at hand.
Students can also make use of interactive displays or touchscreen monitors to help teach and learn from one another. These screens have touch capabilities that allow students to write their ideas down and problem-solve together in real-time. They can also share their knowledge and notes with one another by sending one another documents and multimedia content.
For educational spaces using hybrid classroom arrangements, some platforms such as myViewBoard’s Whiteboard allow teachers to create digital huddles for students to come together to collaborate. Students can communicate with their classmates and engage in peer-to-peer learning no matter where they are physically. The teachers can also assess all the groups from a remote location by asking for feedback on the same platform.
When it comes to peer learning, few other educational strategies are more interactive than having students directly engage with their peers. It brings students a sense of belonging as they must depend on each other to maximize their learning experience. Peer learning also encourages important cooperation behaviors and social skills, giving peers the opportunity to take on mentor roles in subjects they excel in.
Although there are certain disadvantages to peer learning, those can be overcome by preparing suitable lesson plan, forming appropriate groups, and using technology to facilitate. It is also important for teachers to monitor every group’s work and interactions, and only intervene when help with teamwork is needed. In all, the benefits of peer learning will deliver a richer and more interactive learning environment.
If you would like to learn more insights into the world of education and EdTech, you can read our guides on our Library. For more information on software that facilitates peer learning no matter where your students are, check out myviewboard.com.
Creating a positive corporate culture and delivering better meetings are key objectives for many business leaders, but the two ideas go hand-in-hand. Your meetings have a major influence on company culture while creating a positive culture can help to improve perceptions of meetings too.
Continue reading to find out four useful strategies for creating a positive work culture. You can also take a look at ViewSonic’s range of tools and software to encourage collaborations for stronger company culture in meetings.
One of the big reasons why many business leaders are eager to deliver better meetings is because they can help to create a positive corporate culture. Conversely, a major concern with bad or unproductive business meetings is that they have the potential to reflect poorly on corporate culture and adversely affect morale.
In this article, we provide four strategies that can help you to improve your meetings and your corporate culture.
Before getting to the strategies for using meetings to create a positive corporate culture, it is worth explaining why culture is so important. According to research from Glassdoor, 77 percent of workers consider corporate culture before applying for a job, while more than half consider culture to be more important than salary.
Your corporate culture is essentially a distillation of your business’s beliefs, behaviors, values, standards, and a general sense of the way things are done. Taking the time to design, create and promote a positive culture can help employees to enjoy their jobs more and can help to persuade customers or clients to do business with you too.
The following four strategies will help you to deliver better meetings while also promoting a positive culture.
Once you have a clear idea about what your corporate culture is – or what you would like it to become – you need to make sure the same ideas are visible to your employees and not just ideas in your head. You need to think carefully about whether the defining features of your culture are reflected in your business meetings.
In a blog post for Culture Amp, Tai Tsao makes the point that if a business cites transparency as one of the cornerstones of its culture, this needs to be reflected in meetings. Therefore, people need to know what meetings are about and what they are intended to achieve, and people need to have access to outcomes and decisions afterward.
This same principle applies to your other values too. For instance, you cannot credibly claim your corporate culture is based on empathy or friendliness if your meetings are hostile and argumentative. Think carefully about your core values and the way your business meetings tend to play out, then take the time to make sure the two are aligned.
Recent years have seen a large increase in the number of companies allowing employees to work remotely. While remote work offers several benefits, it provides challenges too, and corporate culture is one of these.
Meetings can play a valuable role here because they keep remote workers in touch with their colleagues and with leaders in the organization. However, meetings still need to have a clear purpose, or you risk negatively impacting your corporate culture by wasting time and preventing actual work from being done.
The balancing act is ensuring meetings have a purpose while avoiding instances where certain remote workers have very little contact with colleagues. Simple catch-up or status update meetings can be unproductive, but onboarding meetings for new recruits, innovation meetings for sharing ideas, and one-to-one coaching all have their place.
Physical meeting spaces still have an important role to play, especially when it comes to collaborative spaces, so you need to be up-to-date with the latest trends in this area. For example, there is now a strong focus on comfort, with sofas often replacing more traditional office chairs in spaces designed to encourage creativity and idea-sharing.
If flexibility is a key part of your work culture, you might want to consider ‘huddle rooms’, where people can get together in smaller groups for impromptu meetings without needing to reserve the room. However, you may need to embrace some more modern technology trends in these spaces, whether they are intimate huddle rooms or more traditional boardrooms.
Collaborative devices such as interactive displays and portable touch monitors can help to modernize your meeting spaces and provide visual information. Digital screens also potentially allow for some remote workers to participate in more traditional meetings.
According to statistics compiled by Fast Company from various surveys, sustainability is important to your current and future employees, so this should form part of your positive corporate culture. In fact, 64 percent of millennials say they would not take a job at a company that was not socially responsible, 70 percent say they are more likely to work for a company that has a strong environmental agenda, and younger generations are likely to follow suit.
There are many ways you can promote sustainability through your meetings and help ensure your business is doing its part, with a simple option being avoiding unnecessary paper handouts. Instead, make use of intuitive software to share and cast content during meetings so as to reduce the need for printouts.
Going further, making intelligent use of advanced telecommuting equipment and investing in this area can help you to avoid situations where you are calling in remote workers for one-off meetings or where staff are expected to travel long distances for meetings elsewhere. This can then reduce their carbon emissions in the process.
The four strategies outlined can help to improve the quality of your meetings while ensuring they reflect well on corporate culture. This is especially important as more and more meetings move online, meaning there is a greater need to try to capture some of the usual on-site energy and introduce it to virtual settings.
Strong company culture can also affect employee engagement and satisfaction, which impacts how meetings can be carried out in the organization. Hence, it is essential to ensure that positive elements of your company’s culture are captured when meetings are taking place. One of the ways is to make sure that your meetings are worth having, thus saving your employees’ precious time and effort. Or take a look at ViewSonic’s devices and solutions for building a meeting space that promotes positive corporate culture.
In many ways, the question of how to run effective meetings revolves around a separate question, which is how to plan a meeting properly. After all, many of the common problems with productivity and engagement within meetings could be addressed through careful preparation.
Keep reading to learn more about the importance of planning meetings and how to actually do it. Or browse through ViewSonic’s range of collaboration tools and software for more effective meetings.
Many businesses are still unaware of the true importance of learning how to run effective meetings, but they continue to ignore this issue at their peril. In fact, according to a report from Doodle, poorly organized meetings cost businesses close to half a trillion dollars a year in the United States and the United Kingdom alone – mainly due to wasted time.
Among the issues highlighted by the study were meetings called at inopportune times, a lack of overall focus, and an insistence that certain staff attend meetings that are irrelevant to them. All of this helps to highlight how critical planning can be. In this article, we will explain precisely how to plan a meeting.
The first step towards planning an effective meeting is to be clear on exactly what it is you are hoping to achieve from the session. Another way to think of this is to set a goal or a series of goals or otherwise decide on success criteria. Once you have this in place, you can then plan the contents of the meeting accordingly.
The precise goals of your meeting will depend on your circumstances, the nature of the work you are doing, and so on. Common goals include officially launching a new project, reaching a decision on an important business matter, analyzing past performance and drawing conclusions, and generating ideas for the business to take forward.
Once you have some goals in mind for the meeting, it becomes significantly easier to keep the meeting on track too. Furthermore, you will also be able to leave the meeting with a clear sense of how well it went, and this will be based almost entirely on whether the meeting achieved what you wanted it to.
Next, you need to think more carefully about how you want the meeting to play out and, in particular, the topics you hope to cover. Again, this will largely depend on the nature of your business, the work you are doing, and the aims and objectives for the meeting you are organizing, but there are some basic best practices too.
First, you should make a list of the broad points you want to cover. Then, for each of them, you should also plan out more specific points you would like people to know or to speak about during the meeting. This will then give you the basis to create an agenda for the meeting, which can be crucial for productivity.
The main benefit of planning topics in advance is the ability to prevent the discussion from drifting too far off course. This can help to ensure the time in the meeting is spent wisely. Knowing what will be covered can also assist you in deciding who would benefit most from the meeting and who can be of benefit to others through their attendance.
One of the downfalls of meetings is when participants feel that they were not needed in the meeting in the first place. To avoid wasting their time, it is important to identify necessary attendees who have a stake in the topic, those who need to be informed of their tasks, and those who must make the final decisions.
Once the list of participants is finalized, send out a calendar invitation to the relevant parties at least a day or two before the meeting. The invitation should clearly state the date, time, and location of the meeting. Should the meeting be held online, ensure that the conferencing link with its alternate call-in options is provided on the invitation.
Distributing materials that could easily have been sent in advance is another major drain on time during meetings, and this also needs to be addressed. Part of the process of learning how to run effective meetings must focus on the need to create, prepare, and distribute relevant material in advance.
The most immediately obvious material that would be useful to send to attendees ahead of the meeting is the agenda. This will allow everyone attending to go in with an understanding of what the meeting is about and why it is being held. Beyond this, slide show presentations, reading material, and other content can also be sent to attendees.
During this stage of the planning process, you should also consider how the material will be distributed. Some material works best as a hard copy, but if people in the meeting are likely to have access to a laptop, you could just as easily send the material via email or cast the agenda onto a digital display so that everyone has access.
The last thing to focus on is preparing the meeting room before people arrive so that you minimize the amount of time wasted during the session. Make sure there is sufficient seating for the attendees and that everyone has a view of any displays during the meeting.
Another thing to consider is your use of technology. For example, a lot of wasted time in meetings occurs early on, when equipment is being set up. Try to set up the required devices before people arrive. Some tech solutions, such as ViewSonic’s interactive whiteboards, are also specifically designed with fast start-up times in mind.
Your preparation for the meeting and the associated benefits can be easily undone if the room is ready. It is also important to avoid situations where your chosen meeting room has been double-booked or an earlier meeting overruns, or it could result in your meeting being delayed.
Meetings are a major part of running a business and learning how to run effective meetings is vital for maximizing productivity. However, achieving this requires a robust planning process.
The question of planning a meeting is one that many business leaders overlook, but it can be the difference between success and failure. The planning process itself should involve setting clear goals, deciding on the topics that will be covered, making sure the necessary attendees are invited prior, distributing material in advance, and ensuring the meeting room is set up properly.
Running an effective meeting can be easily achieved when you hold worthwhile meetings, carry out productivity practices, communicate better, and have a comprehensive follow-up. Technology is an important part of ensuring the success of meetings, especially in hybrid or remote work environments. Check out ViewSonic’s intuitive meeting devices and solutions for more effective and efficient collaborations.
For any business looking to improve productivity, one of the top priorities should be devising a strategy to deliver better meetings. Many employees have negative opinions about business meetings, often feeling that they achieve little or just waste time that could have been better spent elsewhere. A great way to improve the perception of meetings is through a better follow-up process.
Keep reading for four tips on improving follow-up after meetings to boost productivity. Or browse through ViewSonic’s range of collaboration tools and software for more effective meetings.
The need to deliver better meetings is of vital importance to any company that is serious about its desire to improve productivity. It is estimated that unproductive meetings could be costing businesses as much as $102 billion every year, and this does not even factor in the costs associated with travel.
One of the very best ways to improve the quality of business meetings – and your employees’ perception of them – is by optimizing your follow-up process. In this article, we provide four useful tips that can assist you with this getting the most out of your meetings and achieving more of your strategic objectives.
The complaint that business meetings are unproductive is an extremely common one. In fact, according to the Harvard Business Review, this is the view of 71 percent of senior managers, and it should come as little surprise that plenty of their employees agree with this assessment too, finding many meetings to be a waste of their valuable time.
A great way to prevent meetings from becoming a waste of time is by creating an action plan after the meeting. This action plan should then serve as the basis for your various follow-up activities, making clear what was decided in the meeting, what needs to be done, who needs to do it, when it needs to be done, and why.
It is critical that people leave meetings with a sense that something has been decided or achieved and that there is a plan for what comes next. If people are unsure, the action plan can help everybody to focus.
For your follow-up process to work, you need to be clear about who is responsible for it. In many cases, this will be simple, as the follow up will be the responsibility of the person who organized and called the meeting, but this is not always the case, especially when the follow-up work is going to be extensive.
Think carefully about what needs to be done to follow up with attendees and then allocate specific tasks to people if necessary. Otherwise, if you are taking full responsibility yourself, make sure other key decision-makers know this and understand that they do not need to carry out follow-up activities themselves.
This step may seem obvious, but a surprising number of meetings do not receive the follow-up they deserve because people are unclear about who is meant to be doing the follow-up work.
It is important to understand that following up after a meeting should not consist of a single activity – at least in most cases. The majority of productive and useful meetings will require several different follow-up activities, and while these will depend on the nature of the meeting, they may include the following actions:
Sending a simple meeting recap via email can be a good starting point because it reminds people of what happened, the information that was covered, and the agreed deadlines for any actions. The other forms of follow-up need to be more carefully targeted as not all of these will be relevant for everyone who was in attendance.
Within sales-based organizations, there is a common statistic, which is that 80 percent of non-routine sales occur only after the business has followed up with a prospect at least five times. The reason this is so widely shared is that studies also indicate that most sales follow-up attempts end after only one or two follow-ups.
This is relevant to businesses following up after a meeting that was intended to generate sales, but the same basic principle applies to other follow-up activities too. Do not be afraid to follow up more than once.
People may not respond to your first follow up attempt for any number of reasons, and even if they see and acknowledge it, they may become distracted by other things going on at work. If you do not get the response you are looking for, consider reaching out again because the key to productive meetings is ensuring they facilitate action.
A focus on better meetings can form a key part of most attempts to improve productivity in the workplace. One of the most effective ways to do this and avoid common complaints about time-wasting is to enhance your follow-up.
It can be useful to create an action plan after your meetings, and to send various follow up content to different people, depending on what is needed of them. Beyond this, you need to be clear on who is responsible for the specific follow-up tasks that are required, and you must be willing to follow-up more than once.
Having clear follow-up plans can definitely lead to a more effective meeting, but you have to also ensure that clearer communication and cultivate productivity-forward practices. Technology can help support these aims by offering seamless collaboration tools and interactive surfaces. You can learn about designing the right meeting space from our guide. Or take a look at ViewSonic’s meeting devices and solutions for your collaboration needs.
For many businesses, the topic of how to run effective meetings is incredibly important. After all, meetings play a useful role and happen frequently, but they also have the potential to become a negative drain on resources. Productivity in meetings needs to be a focus area, with steps being taken to ensure they actually deliver on what they are intended to achieve.
Read on to learn about four practices that can assist you in improving productivity in meetings. Or check out ViewSonic’s meetings solutions and devices to help enhance productivity in collaborations.
The question of how to run effective meetings is extremely important given the widespread unhappiness with how many meetings go. For instance, according to the findings of the Harvard Business Review, only 17 percent of senior executives currently believe their meetings make effective use of individual and company time.
Almost two-thirds (65 percent) claimed that meetings prevent them from doing their own work, but the more positive news was that several organizations reported improvements in attitude once they made changes to their approach. This suggests that meetings are not the fundamental issue – the effectiveness of those meetings is the problem.
In this article, we explore four practices that can help you to boost productivity in meetings at your workplace.
One of the single biggest things to focus on when looking into how to run effective meetings is the planning process. After all, some meetings are unproductive simply because there is no real plan to speak of, or because time is wasted handing out material that could have been sent to attendees in advance.
In a previous ViewSonic article, How to Run an Effective Meeting – The Complete Rundown, some of the possible issues highlighted included meetings not having a clear purpose and meetings deviating too far from the topic at hand. With that being said, both issues have simple solutions based on planning.
Essentially, you need to have a clear idea of what the aim of the meeting is and what topics need to be covered. You also need to be willing to intervene in the discussion if it deviates too far off-course or starts to focus on things that are not relevant to the aim of the meeting. This will then help to ensure the meeting achieves what it was meant to.
Another key contributor to improving productivity in meetings is an investment in the right technology. In particular, you want to make sure you are using reliable video conferencing software, along with top-of-the-range display technology, such as an interactive whiteboard with the latest features and solutions
Crucially, technology has a role to play in both boosting productivity and hindering it. As an example, it is estimated that around 8.7 minutes are wasted, on average, per one-hour meeting just on getting the meeting started. This is often the result of meeting room tech problems, such as connecting to display technology that badly needs an upgrade.
Yet, at the same time, findings from The Muse state that 92 percent of people admit to multitasking during meetings, with 69 percent admitting to checking emails. Therefore, the balance here is upgrading necessary meeting technology and potentially limiting unnecessary technology within the meeting to avoid distractions.
An overlooked aspect of poor productivity within meetings is the fact that many meetings are simply unnecessary. Therefore, another best practice would be to consider every meeting arranged by your business carefully and decide whether or not it is really necessary and who the required attendees are.
To do this, think about the purpose of the meeting and the outcome you are expecting. Could the same outcomes be achieved by sending an email or distributing material in another way? Do people need to be dragged away from their work, or could they be given the flexibility to take in the information at a more opportune time?
Some meetings are vital, regardless of any disruption caused, but a large number could be avoided or at least kept short. Progress update meetings are one of the main offenders because the information could often be made available through other means, which take up far less time and cause far less disruption to work activities.
The last best practice is emphasizing discussions over more lecture-style meetings when it is reasonable to do so. There may be times when someone needs to stand and deliver a presentation, but meetings are more productive when they are focused and inclusive, with everyone taking a more active role in the conversation.
Avoiding the lecture-style approach, whenever possible, can be especially important when meetings are being held remotely because it can be even easier for listeners to become distracted by their surroundings. For this reason, you should try to ask questions and bring people into the discussion as much as you can.
Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, has gone even further, suggesting businesses should eliminate all large meetings, “unless you’re certain they are providing value to the whole audience.” When you focus on smaller meetings, containing only those concerned, conversations are easier and more useful, while participants feel more included.
The issue of how to run effective meetings is a vital concern for any business looking to optimize overall performance. Productivity in meetings is a key concern, with many organizations finding that their current approach causes unnecessary disruption and results in inefficient meetings where people are not engaged.
To address this, you need to adopt best practices, such as planning meetings properly ahead of time and intervening if they go off course. Using the right technology can also minimize start-up times, while conversations, rather than lectures, can keep people engaged. Beyond this, you also need to think carefully about whether meetings are necessary at all. Cut out the unnecessary meetings and avoid including people in meetings when they do not need to be there.
If your current meetings seem like a waste of time, find out how you can avoid them and reduce inefficiency. To improve productivity in meetings, it is important to update technology in your meetings spaces. Explore ViewSonic’s collaboration devices and solutions for better meetings.
Meetings are a big part of day-to-day operations in a huge number of workplaces, but there is a major difference between meetings worth having and those that add little value. Therefore, it is important for organizations to identify the best meeting types to focus on and make these the priority.
Read on to learn more about how to upgrade to better meetings, with a focus on five main types. You can also explore ViewSonic’s range of collaboration solutions to suit your meeting needs.
For most businesses, meetings are a necessary part of daily communications. They help create plans of action, provide clarity on the path forward, generate new ideas, review completed projects, and bring new members into the team. But while many are meetings worth having, others are inefficient drains on company resources.
To optimize business outcomes, companies need to focus on the types of meetings that deliver real value. At the same time, it is also important to cut out the types of meetings that waste time or do not produce the desired results. In this article, we explore meeting types in more depth and explain the best types to focus on.
Before looking at the five meeting types to focus on, it is worth taking the time to think about different meeting sizes, as well as methods for carrying them out. According to the Harvard Business Review, most business meetings can be separated into three main size categories, which can be broadly described as follows:
One-to-one meetings and small daily huddles can also play a valuable role in certain situations.
Additionally, there are now two basic ways to conduct meetings. The first is the traditional in-person meeting, where all of those taking part gather in the same physical space. However, modern technology also allows for another approach, which is remote meetings, carried out using video conferencing technology like Microsoft Teams or Zoom.
The main thing to focus on when trying to create meetings worth having is the type of meeting you arrange. There are certain meeting types, such as progress report-style meetings, which should be kept to an absolute minimum in most circumstances, as they can end up wasting time and reducing productivity.
In many cases, these meetings could be just as easily replaced by a progress report sent via email.
By contrast, certain meeting types can be extremely valuable, helping businesses to innovate, learn valuable lessons, or improve operations. In the sections below, we offer information about five of the most important meeting types to focus on, complete with explanations for why they are so useful or important.
The purpose of a kick-off or launch meeting is to mark the start of a new project or initiative or to kickstart a new plan of action. This can be especially important for projects where many people are needed to carry out the work, with each of them requiring key details and background information.
Nevertheless, it is important to understand that not all projects or initiatives require a kick-off meeting. Instead, these meetings should be reserved for instances where clarity is needed before work can be carried out, or where there is an obvious need to obtain buy-in from the team who will be carrying out the work.
Kick-off or launch meetings are often designed to provide critical information, but they should also aim to build enthusiasm for the work that lies ahead and explain why the project is needed. It is also usually a good idea to convey the long-term goals of the initiative so that everyone pulls in the same direction
All businesses need good ideas, and many are reliant on innovation to remain competitive. While inspiration can strike at any time and ideas can be shared in a huge number of ways, there can be real value in bringing a team together to be creative, bounce ideas off of one another, or come up with a new product or service together.
Ideas can be formulated in several ways, with brainstorming being one popular example. A growing number of businesses are also embracing the concept of design thinking, where people are encouraged to think outside the box, share ideas without judgment, develop working prototypes, test them, and make changes based on the results.
Regardless of the exact approach adopted for idea generation, innovation meetings can be crucial for avoiding stagnation. These discussions can solve problems or form the basis for entirely new approaches and offerings. People should feel free to share their thoughts, but leadership will be needed to identify the best ideas.
There will be crucial times throughout your business operations where decisions need to be made, and a decision-making meeting can be one of the best ways to agree on a planned course of action or a solution to a problem. The decisions could be anything from financial goals, to deciding on a new marketing strategy, to agreeing on a new logo.
These meetings are about arriving at a formal agreement with regards to whatever decision needs to be made. They will typically include leaders or senior staff, but they may sometimes be broader and involve whole teams. To get the most from a meeting of this kind, there needs to be a clear structure and a focus on arriving at a decision.
First, the situation needs to be sufficiently explained. Next, the available options need to be presented, and a discussion needs to be had about the pros and cons of each option. This will allow decision-makers to voice their own opinions and hear the opinions of others while also understanding why the final decision was eventually taken.
Another meeting type that can be extremely useful for businesses involves analysis or follow-up after a project has been completed. A meeting of this kind may involve a core presentation, where key findings are discussed, but there could also be more of a committee approach, where people can make their own contributions.
In cases where a project failed or did not live up to expectations, there may be a need for a post-mortem of sorts, where the meeting analyzes what went wrong, why it went wrong, and what lessons need to be learned. In cases where a project went well, the successes need to be identified, and the reasons for that success need to be understood.
The crucial reason why analysis or follow-up meetings are so valuable is that they provide an opportunity to draw a line under the project, giving the project team an element of closure. The lessons learned can then be carried forward into new projects, and the key contributors can be thanked for their efforts too.
Finally, team building and onboarding meetings can also be essential for the successful management of a business. In the case of team building, the idea is usually to allow team members to get to know each other better and develop the kind of healthy working relationship that can be so important in delivering high-quality work.
On the other hand, onboarding meetings are focused on helping new recruits get to know their new colleagues and bed-in with the company culture. If a team of new hires is all starting at the same time, an onboarding meeting may also place a strong emphasis on training and induction-type activities.
With these meeting types, there can be a greater amount of experimentation involved. For example, why limit your meeting to the usual boardroom setting when you could go out for a meal or meet in a more unusual location? The focus of these meetings should be facilitating communication between staff and boosting team morale.
Meetings are a vital part of work-life in many businesses, but it is important to separate the meetings worth having from the meetings that waste time, hinder productivity and cause unnecessary disruption. The five meeting types outlined all have value, but it is still important to identify the right moments for each meeting type.
In hand with establishing these meeting types for better productivity, technology can also help support better meetings. Discover ViewSonic’s range of meeting solutions for the workplace or learn about how to set your meeting spaces up for success.
Product certification is an essential process that helps ensure products, solutions, and services comply with safety regulations and quality criteria based on international standards. Businesses must routinely verify their products are fit for use and such certification is usually performed by third-party accreditation organizations.
Continue reading to find out why TÜV certification is important for products and services, and what benefits it can bring to your company. You can also learn more about ViewSonic’s partnership with TÜV SÜD on our ColorPro™ monitors.
Most countries are represented by a single accreditation body, which will administer the certification program to meet existing regulations. Some standard-setting bodies include CSA in Canada, CE in the European Union, FCC in the United States, and TÜV in Germany. Although its origin is from Germany, the TÜV is internationally recognized as a seal of utmost quality and is a mark that many companies strive to achieve.
TÜV is short for Technischer Überwachungsverein in German, which means Technical Inspection Association. These associations are independent companies that test, inspect, and certify technologies, products, and systems to ensure potential hazards and prevent damages.
During the Industrial Revolution in Germany, the idea of an independent technical review was established after an accident of a steam boiler. As more machines were introduced into the workforce in those times, there was a need to ensure the equipment and systems were safe for workers and consumers alike. The TÜV was then created to test, review, and regulate products and technologies to prevent accidents and eliminate defects.
Probably most known for automobile safety inspections in Europe, TÜV companies also overlook several key industries such as energy, infrastructure, medical, manufacturing, technology, and consumer products. Major organizations include TÜV SÜD, TÜV Rheinland, TÜV Nord, TÜV Saarland, TÜV Hessen, and TÜV Thüringen.
Highly recognized worldwide as a trademark of trust and quality, a TÜV certification ensures that a product, service, or process has been tested for safety and that it complies with the requirements of national, regional, and international regulations. It assures consumers that the product has been checked thoroughly for any defects or potentially dangerous materials.
The entire process to achieve TÜV certification is a comprehensive journey that involves multiple steps. It always involves the identification of statutory regulations, assessment of qualified trainers, selection of methodology and examination approach, and development of examinations with expert examiners in their fields.
Depending on what is needed, the TÜV organization works with companies in the following steps:
With international and statutory regulations in mind, the TÜV will look at the most suitable methodology to approach the certification. They will also assess if the content is sufficient or if the trainers need to be qualified for the exercise.
After the scope has been decided on, the TÜV will develop ideas on the examination and its process, its target qualifications of test subjects, the questions to be asked, assessment criteria, and the required examination committee.
Next, the TÜV will plan the logistics of the examination, including dates and locations, and set clear regulations for the test. Test subjects will also be verified to ensure that they fit the examination’s scope.
Lastly, the examinations will be carried out and supervised by the TÜV and their selected committee. Once the tests are completed, the results will be assessed and certified that they have met the standards laid out in the beginning.
For example, in the case of ViewSonic’s cutting-edge Color Blindness feature in monitors, the technology was to enable users with color vision deficiency (CVD) to identify and visualize color more accurately. TÜV SÜD identified CVD test subjects using the Munsell 100 Hue Test, and they then tested the monitor and color blindness software to ensure that the technology was reliable and safe.
When the product or solution goes through a series of rigorous tests, examiners will ascertain reliability, evaluate product characteristics including safety and quality, and discover faults and any potential health hazards. They also make sure that the latest environmental standards such as banned chemicals and optimal energy conservation are met.
Achieving a TÜV certification is a long and laborious process. Despite so, many companies and organizations are willing to take the time and effort to undergo it as it brings them a whole host of benefits.
TÜV might have originated from Germany, but its brand mark is globally recognized as proof of competence and reliability. As an independent association, they are an unbiased and credible authority when it comes to testing and certifying.
Achieving a TÜV certification means your company’s products have attained the requirements of safety, quality, and sustainability. This gives resellers and partners the confidence to work with you and consumers the peace of mind to use your products.
Working with a TÜV organization offers you access to a global network and database of knowledge and technology. With their shared expertise, your products can be regulated with protocols based on safety and quality requirements worldwide. This reduces the effort and time needed for approvals in different countries, giving you the edge over your competitors when you enter brand new markets.
Every TÜV certification has its unique identification number. Any individual, whether a corporate entity or a consumer, can go online to the specific TÜV approving organization, whether it’s TÜV Rheinland or TÜV SÜD, and key in the relevant certificate number, product module, or license holder to view and verify test reports, certification marks, and validation period. The certification is routinely audited once a year or two to ensure that the product or solution remains safe and good for usage.
Consumers are becoming more well-read about trends, technology, and market practices, and prefer buying from companies that are transparent about their processes and what goes into their products. It is essential to gain and maintain that trust between your company and your target market. In that sense, TÜV certification is an important way to garner that mark of quality, distinction, and reliability.
When your product is certified by a TÜV organization, it reflects well on your company as industry partners and consumers will recognize your pursuit of innovation and safety. It serves as proof of competence and responsibility, giving buyers assurance of quality. A TÜV partnership also offers your employees expertise and training, improves the overall quality of your products and services, and delivers insights on industry and sustainability trends.
The TÜV certification is an important recognition for your company to gain trust from consumers and partners across different markets. It puts you at the forefront of technology, making sure your products deliver features that are inclusive, safe, and relevant. Discover our ColorPro™ monitors engineered with TÜV SÜD-certified Color Blindness Mode.
Getting the right esports club setup can be crucial to the long-term success of your team. Having the right hardware and equipment can be a major determining factor in whether or not an esports club is competitive with other schools. However, as esports is still a relatively new phenomenon in academic settings, many educators are unsure about what is needed and where to begin.
Keep reading for a deep dive on hardware and devices required for esports success.
While success in esports competition is largely down to individual skill, teamwork, and strategy, it is also essential to have the right esports club setup. After all, an esports team using poor quality devices or accessories may experience fundamental performance issues that put gamers at a disadvantage.
In this sense, esports is not very much different from many more traditional sporting activities. Schools generally acknowledge the need to invest in high-quality sporting equipment and facilities and this same approach should also be taken to facilitate success within esports competitions too.
Here, we take a closer look at the equipment needed to set up an esports club in your school. If you’re interested to explore ViewSonic ELITE’s gaming equipment, hop on to this link to find out more.
The first step to the best possible esports club setup is to invest in high-quality gaming computers. The computers you opt for need to be powerful enough to run the most up-to-date games without experiencing performance issues. This will usually require a good graphics card from either Nvidia or AMD, with the precise option depending on your budget.
For most purposes, it is best to opt for a PC with the Windows operating system. Not only will this offer excellent compatibility with games, but it is also the most popular operating system in the world and the one that students are most likely to be familiar with. You will also need to decide between desktop and laptop computers. Desktops are generally better for gaming purposes, but there are portability benefits to consider with laptops too.
Another major factor to consider when choosing an esports PC is the available RAM. For competitive gaming, 16GB is the recommended starting point and 32GB may be a better option for providing a level of futureproofing. RAM can be upgraded easily enough at a later stage, if necessary.
Good gaming monitors are an area where it is relatively common for an esports club setup to fall short. Yet, if you are going to invest the necessary money in a quality gaming computer, you are going to want a similarly powerful display.
A good gaming monitor will have a high refresh rate and a fast response time. While a standard 60Hz monitor will be sufficient for less demanding games, it is better to invest in a monitor with at least a 120Hz refresh rate and sync technology, as this will be able to display more demanding games without any lag, stutter, or tear.
You should consider the monitor’s resolution too. Screens with at least a full high-definition (FHD) 1080p resolution are the standard for esports. They offer brilliant image quality without affecting the smoothness of the gameplay. Color is also an essential feature to look out for. Your monitor should also have at least 99% sRGB color gamut for a more immersive viewing experience. Some gaming monitors offer ergonomic features to alleviate posture-related strains and adapt to each player’s preferred playing style.
The ViewSonic VX2758-2KP-MHD Gaming Monitor is a good example here, as it offers a 144Hz refresh rate, ultra-fast 1ms (MPRT) response time, a resolution of 1440p and has been specifically designed with gaming in mind.
In all team sports and activities, discussing strategy and tactics is key to winning tournaments and competitions. Likewise, esports benefit from having the tools to present and analyze game plans, competitor gameplays, and future battle approaches. Devices such as large interactive displays or wireless presentation displays help expand and enhance strategy talk.
An interactive display acts as a digital whiteboard with elevated collaboration and productivity tools. Some large-format screens deliver intuitive touch capabilities, allowing gamers to maneuver maps around, take note of game statistics, and even scribble gameplay strategies at the tips of their fingers. The materials on the interactive display can be shared via wireless casting technology, so all students can view the same strategies and offer suggestions in real-time from the comfort of their own homes. In that sense, club activities can continue even in a hybrid or remote setting.
For schools working on a leaner budget but would still like the collaborative elements of a large screen, a wireless presentation display would be an ideal device in their esports clubroom. While they lack the interactivity of a touchscreen, these displays offer seamless connectivity, easy WiFi casting, and content mirroring across multiple devices. This allows for the coach to share time schedules, training agendas, and gaming tutorials instantly with a click.
Next, you need to think about the various gaming accessories that are going to be used by the club. To some extent, your esports club setup may depend on the types of games the participants are interested in playing. However, as a starting point, you are going to need a good keyboard, mouse, and a gaming controller or joystick.
A mechanical keyboard will offer superior performance in terms of registering tactile button presses, while some dedicated gaming keyboards will include extra keys, which can then be easily assigned to in-game functions. Game controllers are widely available and most popular console controllers are fully compatible with PCs and PC games too.
There are a lot of different considerations when choosing an esports mouse and our guide offers some useful insights. Many esports games also require communication between players and this makes it worthwhile to invest in quality gaming headsets, where sound and microphone clarity are a top priority.
The other major aspects to consider for any esports club in an academic setting include desks, chairs, and lighting. With these different elements, the importance of ergonomics comes into play, as you need to make sure club members are comfortable and using equipment that does not cause any negative long-term health issues.
Ensuring gamers sit at the right viewing distance is a crucial consideration, while you need to invest in chairs that offer an appropriate level of back and neck support. When sitting at their gaming station, players should have their wrists flat and their elbows at a ninety-degree angle to minimize any risk of strains.
The room being used needs to be appropriately lit, but the lighting needs to be arranged in such a way as to prevent glare on screens. These elements can help to contribute to overall comfort, which can help to enhance performance.
Having the right esports club setup in place is an important part of establishing esports within schools and other educational settings, in much the same way that providing good equipment and facilities is considered essential for more traditional sports like football, basketball, tennis, hockey, and soccer.
To do this, you need to consider obvious hardware, such as gaming computers, monitors, and digital displays, but also some less obvious elements too, such as lighting, chairs, desks, and accessories. Without the right equipment, students may find themselves at a competitive disadvantage and this can then hinder both enjoyment and engagement with the club.
After decking out your esports club with the gaming equipment required, you might want to set out a curriculum to ensure success. If you are still unsure which equipment to invest in, check out ViewSonic ELITE’s range of professional gaming monitors.