Zing Technologies - Introduction

Introduction

A facilitator uses Zing to keep time and follow the agenda. A Zing facilitator often asks the group to follow a pre-determined meeting etiquette of four steps; Talk, Type, Read and Review. Participants are asked to first talk about the question or agenda item currently in focus on the screen. They do this as a group or split into pairs or groups of three. They are then invited to type their responses into the system. When everyone has finished typing, or the allotted time has expired, the group reads the responses and conclude the activity by reviewing what's been recorded, looking for key themes, common patterns or stand-out entries.

The system includes a range of tools for brainstorming, sorting and voting. The system is also used for learning activities. Thinking methods such as Edward De Bono's Six Thinking Hats have been used to structure Zing meetings. The number of participants in a group can vary from as few as four to as many as four hundred if people share keyboards or laptops and work in sub groups.

A number of independent academics are using Zing in their research for meetings, e-learning and gathering qualitative data.

• Alison Elliot, Australian Council for Educational Research
• Brian Caldwell, Professorial Fellow in the Department of Education Policy and Management of the University of Melbourne
• Jim Callan, a lecturer in marketing, Central Queensland University
• Robert Fitzgerald, Associate Dean Research, Faculty of Education at the University of Canberra
• Linda Newman, a senior lecturer of the School of Education of the University of Western Sydney
• Greg Whymark, an Associate Professor in Information Systems, Central Queensland University