Short Description
A gallery walk is a silent, interactive exercise followed by small- or whole-group discussion. You can use this exercise to introduce students to new material, to review previously-introduced material, or to assess teaching and/or learning.
Learning Outcomes
Long-term outcome: Begin to develop a critical understanding of the information environment. Supporting outcomes: I can describe peer-reviewed sources in terms of both the review process and the scholarly conversation. I can identify peer review's affordances and limitations. I can reflect on whose/which voices are not represented within the community of scholars.
Information Literacy Concepts
Discipline
Participation Type
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips
Space is key for a successful gallery walk! If your classroom is too small or if you don't have enough wall space, consider using a quiet hallway. I've found that I get better student response when I use more visual poster content. Big blocks of text create traffic jams and put unnecessary pressure on students to read and comprehend text quickly and in front of their peers.
Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated):
This exercise was implemented in a first-year seminar course after the 20 students had engaged in activities and discussion about the information cycle and scholarly sources (peer review, scholarly conversation, "the literature"). It was followed by a unit on "information privilege" and finally by a group research project.
