“LOLA” is the acronym for Live Online Learning Activity. It is an interactive exercise that is incorporated in an online training session. Different types of LOLAs work in different contexts to achieve different training purposes.
The following activity is an audio LOLA. This activity exploits the musical talent among your participants. People remember songs and music more easily and for a longer period of time than they remember typical training presentations. Even if you are musically talented, it is much more effective to involve your participants to create their own songs and music.
Synopsis
Ask the participants to listen to a 5-minute audio recording of a presentation on listening goals. Ask teams of participants to write a song summarizing the key points of the presentation and set it to the music of some popular tune. Ask the teams to present their songs and discuss the key point related to goals for listening.
Purpose
To listen differently to achieve the goals of understanding, strengthening the relationship, enjoying the conversation, and critically evaluating the content.
Participants
Minimum: 2
Maximum: Any number
Best: 12 to 30
Time
20 to 40, depending on the number of teams
Supplies
Paper and pencils for taking notes
Audio Recording
Listening Goals, a 5-minute audio recording
Technical Requirements
Mic
Camera
File Sharing
Smart Phones with recording function
Preparation
Make an audio recording. Use the script (or a modified version of it) found at the end of this article.
Flow
Brief the participants. Explain that you are going to explore different goals for listening. Alert them to listen carefully to a recorded presentation and take notes.
Play the audio recording. Remind the participants to take notes.
Form teams. Divide the participants into teams of 3 to 7 members each. Send each team to a separate breakout room.
Write a song and set it to music. Ask the members of each team to write a song to summarize the key points from the presentation. Instruct the teams to set this song to the music of some popular folk song, children’s song, or rap music.
Sing the song. Bring the teams back to the main room and ask one or more members of each team to sing its song. Encourage the members of the other teams to listen to the different songs.
Debrief the activity by discussing the main points incorporated in different songs.
Variations
Use the karaoke approach. Before sending the teams to breakout rooms, play a karaoke music video from which the original vocals have been electronically eliminated. Tell the teams to set their melodic summary to this karaoke team.
Reuse this LOLA
Listening Goals is based on a LOLA template called Melodic Summary. You can use this template to create your own LOLAs that incorporate audio presentations and requires the participants to set the summary of the key points to a catchy tune. We have used this template to explore several different training topics.
Handout
Listening Goals
This presentation explores a piece of practical advice for effective listening.
Here’s the advice: Be clear about your listening goal: to understand, to learn, to strengthen the relationship, to enjoy the conversation, or to critically evaluate. Adjust your listening behaviors to achieve your primary goal.
This piece of advice identifies alternative goals for listening. It does not present a complete list of all the goals. You may a different goal for your listening session. Also, you may have more than one goal for listening.
Let’s briefly explore each goal
Listening to understand. If you are in a training session in which the trainer presents new principles and procedures, your primary listening goal is to understand. You take notes during the presentation and, if you don’t understand some terms or ideas, you ask questions. Even if you are not in a classroom, your primary listening goal could still be to understand when you are talking to customers or conversing with people from other cultures. In these situations, you ask questions and seek clarification to understand the other people’s assumptions, beliefs, or points of view.
Listening to strengthen your relationship. The best way to make another person feel appreciated is to listen--really listen. You can encourage the speaker by asking open questions that require self-disclosure responses. To strengthen your relationship, you need to not only listen attentively but also signal that you are listening attentively. You can do this by maintaining eye contact, leaning forward, making appreciative sounds, and letting your facial expressions indicate that you empathize with what the other person is saying.
Listening to enjoy the conversation. When you are at a party, you just want to enjoy the conversational give and take. When you are listening to a child, you want to relish her excitement and imagination. When your friend is sharing the plans for his future, you want to cheer him on. In all these situations, you set aside your need to talk or to change the topic. Instead, you listen actively and without interruption.
Listening to critically evaluate. Nowadays, a lot of people are trying to catch your attention and present their message. Their goal is to sell you something, to persuade you to take their side on a political debate, to accept their religious belief, or to agree with their views on global warming. To prevent the others from manipulating you, try to discover the other person’s hidden agenda. Listen carefully to separate statements of opinions from facts. Check out the logic of the presentation. Watch out for hidden appeals to feelings and emotions.
My goal for recording this segment is to entice intelligent listeners like you to think about different listening goals.
What was your listening goal? Did you achieve it? Did you understand the main points I was making? Did my credibility increase in your estimation? Did you find the presentation intellectually stimulating? Did you critically evaluate the statements I made about different listening goals and behaviors?
Thank you for taking the time to listen. I appreciate your attention.