Salient Situations

In practicum seminar, each student will present salient situations.  This is a cooperative adult learning process in which students share a pressing situation they are encountering.  Then, the student and their peers engage in a process of reflecting and brainstorming solutions to assist the student in addressing the situation.  The six steps of the salient situation process are:

Step 1: Describe the problem.

• Who: Presenter
• Describe the situation or challenge and what you think and feel about it.

Step 2: Analyze the problem.

• Who: Group asks and presenter answers
• Ask open-ended questions to:
  • Gather more information about the problem or perception of the presenter.
  • Clarify facts—who, what, where, when, and how.
• Avoid yes/no questions, advice-giving tags, and solutions.

Step 3: Brainstorm ideas for addressing or resolving the problem.

• Who: Group
• Identify someone as recorder of all suggestions.
• Offer ideas and suggestions for solutions or course of action; presenter does not respond.
• Avoid evaluation of the solutions as they are presented.

Step 4: Prioritize and evaluate the suggestions in terms of what might work to resolve the problem.

• Who: Group
• Prioritize suggestions (e.g., by long- and short-term solutions).
• Articulate the criteria on which solutions are being evaluated (e.g., fair, economical, doable, ethical, etc.).
• Discuss one or more of the alternatives that might work to resolve the problem.

Step 5: Make a decision and implement the suggestion.

• Who: Presenter
• Presenter choose a strategy/solution and begins implementation as soon as possible.

Step 6: Report back to the group about the outcome of the solution.

• Who: Presenter
• Presenter reports back to the group about the outcome of the solution at a later date.