Build Your Worries

• Create a safe space for participants to express themselves.

• Engage participants creativity in analysing and sharing their thoughts and feelings about Gen AI.

• Allow participants to identify commonalities between their own experiences and others.

What you need

Setting it up

• We recommend either providing enough Lego in a variety of shapes, colours, and sizes for each participant to build something or enough play dough for each person to build a model in 2 or more colours.

How long does it take?

We suggest 5 minutes to introduce the activity, 10 minutes individual game play and 10-15 minutes discussing and categorising their creations thematically.

How it works

1. Introduce the activity, for Lego Serious Play one good technique is to give everyone 2 minutes to build a duck with no more than 3 Lego pieces. Use two creations to demonstrate that both are ducks because that is what their creator says they are. 

2. Lay down the basic principle that viewers should not interpret what a creation is, they should listen to what the person who created them says about it.

3. Provide participants with prompts and ask them to make their response using the Lego or play dough. Prompts could include

•  Build a representation of Higher Education before Gen AI (in one colour if using play dough) and then ask them to add to and change their model (in a different colour if using play dough) to reflect a post-Gen AI .

• Build one model representing the opportunies Gen AI offers and another representing the challenges Gen AI poses.

• Build a model representing the impact Gen AI could have on your work.

• Build a model representing the impact Gen AI could have on students work.

• Build a model showing one ethical or environmental concern you have about Gen AI.

• Build a model demonstrating what you think the use of Gen AI will look like in Higher Education in 5 years.

4. After each prompt, ask participants to explain their builds to each other in pairs or threes.

5. Keep to a maximum of 3 prompts unless you have allocated an hour or more to this activity.

Suggested follow-up

1. Choose your final prompt carefully, ask participants to come together with their creation, talk to each other and organise them thematically.

2. After giving everyone an opportunity to photograph their own and (with permission) each other's creations, encourage them to therapeutically smash their models apart.

Where it works well

• With groups who have expressed nervousness or concerns about using Gen AI and their impact.

• With groups where there is a tendency to equate positivity about new technology with "forward thinking" and negativity with being "backwards".

• As a counterpoint within a series of activities largely designed to engage people with Gen AI in a positive way.

What to watch out for

• You can use different creative materials for this activity: colouring pens and paper; collaging with old magazines and newspapers; play doughs and, of course, Lego. To a greater or lesser extent, some participants will get hung up on their artistic ability even when you are clear that artistic merit is not important. We've found participants are less preoccupied with this when using Lego.

• Some learners will get too distracted playing with the Lego to complete the task. Gently try and get them on track and warn them that they'll have to think on their feet when they explain to others what their creation represents later in the session.

Authorship