|
|
 |
Article by Joan Middendorf, Director
& Alan Kalish, Associate Director
Teaching Resources Center, Indiana University, 9/96 1.
How can I get a discussion going?
Discussions need to be carefully planned. Sometimes
we see instructors try to get a discussion going on the
spur of the moment, by asking a question they have just
thought up. These often fail to stir much student
response. Arguably, good discussions can take more
thought than a lecture might.
It is important to plan an activity that gets at the
most important issue in the class, as we discussed in the
workshop. Planning a discussion is easier said than done.
TRC staff frequently help faculty plan discussions until
they get the hang of planning one.
2. What mechanisms can I use to keep the discussion
going?
The problem to solve or question that the group
discusses has to be open-ended and complex enough that
they have something to chew on. As the facilitator, you
can think through how long the discussion is likely to
take, and then give them less time then that. You want to
stop them when they are cooking, rather than let the
discussion peter out or allow students time to drift into
talking about last night's party.
3. What can I do if a discussion falls apart? How
can I keep it from dying?
A good teacher always has plan B in mind. Planning
several follow-up questions helps to prevent the
discussion from coming to premature closure. Set the
question so they have to do more than only come up with
the easy answer. Have an alternative activity if the one
you try does not engage students as you anticipated.
This does not mean that if a discussion does not heat up
immediately you should ditch it and revert to lecture.
Students need to practice discussion activities a few
times before they become proficient at them. Hang in
there with them as they learn to discuss easily and well.
4. How can I best keep conversation flowing without
lapsing into long silences or a lecture?
In one study, instructors waited on average 0.9
seconds before calling on a student or answering their
own questions. Silence is an important factor to be in
control of in the classroom. Americans are uncomfortable
with silence and 10 seconds can seem like an hour. We
recommend that you count to yourself while you are
waiting for students to answer a question. Few students
can come up with any answer in 0.9 seconds, and in our
culture, white males are much more likely to be the ones
who do. To give women and minorities a chance, push
yourself to allow for some silence. At worst, if the
silence drags on for too long, some student is sure to
answer if only to come to your rescue. Being aware of the
value of what is known in the literature as "wait
time" can help you to allow your students the time
they need to come up with intelligent answers.
If all of your students are reluctant to speak up on a
regular basis, it may be that they are afraid of being
embarrassed by saying something "stupid." You
can give them a chance to try out their ideas more safely
by having them practice their answers in pairs or by
having them jot their ideas down before you call on them.
5. How can I promote discussion in a large class so
that more than just the vocal few are involved?
You can do anything with 300 that you can do with 30,
it just takes more planning.
In a class of 300, if you ask a question and one
student answers, you have one student actively engaged,
and 299 sitting as passively as they do when you lecture.
Perhaps even more so, because they seem to value what
fellow students have to say less than what the professor
says. Discussion in a large class works much better when
the students are divided into small groups and given
explicit tasks.
To be sure the groups stay on task, take advantage of
the power of randomness. Let them know that you will call
on some groups for an answer at the end of the specified
time, so they all feel the pressure to be prepared in
case they are the ones you call on.
It might help you to know that you cannot expect all
groups to perform equally well. It has been our
observation that in an average class, a few groups will
get more energized and work together better than some
other groups, and some groups will seem almost
dysfunctional.
6. How do you get everyone participating,
especially the quiet ones, without putting them on the
spot?
Create the expectation that everyone will
participate. You can do so by telling them this
explicitly, and by designing activities that require
different students to have different responsibilities
across the semester. Direct students to be sure and let
everyone speak. Again, randomness can help. For example,
when you tell students that the reporter for today's
discussion will be the person whose last name is closest
to the start of the alphabet, some quiet students will
end up reporting.
What if we never made students who did not want to
speak do so? Can you imagine letting someone get a
college education and never having them speak in class?
Should we also not make them take tests or write papers?
7. How do you handle "discussion
monopolizers"?
If the same people answer all the time, you might
say, "Let's hear from someone we haven't heard from
yet." And then don't call on the students you have
already heard from that day.
Do not allow one student to speak an inordinate amount
of class time. If one does, take that person aside and
ask him or her to limit their comments in class. If they
don't take the first warning (some students are
surprisingly unaware of how they come across to their
classmates), tell them an exact number of times they can
respond in class, and don't call on them any more once
they've reached that number on any day.
8. How can I evaluate discussions? "To grade
or not to grade, that is the question."
The Not-to-Grade Approach: Some faculty say
they don't grade in-class discussion directly because it
will inhibit students and add some pressure to the group.
Others don't grade discussions when it would account for
just a small portion of the grade, such as five or ten
percent; they say it's not worth the effort to grade.
One approach is to make participation the norm. For
example, one professor we know sets the expectation that
participation is the norm and is necessary from day one.
When she assigns something, everyone knows that they had
better read it because she expects them to be prepared to
discuss it. One day, she'll start at one side of the room
and ask students to discuss in turn the facts in the
case. On another day, she'll start in reverse order. If a
student does not participate, she talks to the student
individually. Day in and day out, that is the mode of
learning in her class, and students get used to it.
The Graded Approach: The benefits of grading
participation include encouraging even participation by
all and providing an alternative to standard tests or
paper evaluations. Here are some grading variations:
Teacher assigns grade:
- Write a note to each student twice a semester
telling each one their participation grade and
the basis for the grade.
- Require a written product from student group
activities and grade it. For example, a SPEA
professor has the students do six to eight
projects per semester. Students are assigned to a
different group for each project. Once teams have
been formed, they write their names on a card.
When their group presents or develops their
written product, the professor puts a grade on
their card and returns it to them so they all
know their grade. Over the semester, they get six
or eight of these grades from the different group
activities, which are a significant portion of
their grade.
- Put a tick mark next to student names each time
they speak to encourage quantity of responses.
Peers assign grade:
- To get around the complaint that, "Two of us
did all the work," require group members to
grade one another. For example, let each student
in the group distribute 100 points across the
group. Have each student briefly describe in
writing, the strengths and weaknesses of each
person in their group.
- Groups can be required to keep a log of their
activities; at the end of the project, each
student write a paragraph reporting who did what,
which is used to raise or lower the grade each
individual receives on the project.
Students self-evaluate:
- Professor passes around a copy of the class list
and students place a check, plus, or minus next
to their name. This helps students to monitor
their own participation in class discussions.
The Indirect Approach: Discussions can be
evaluated indirectly through exam questions and written
assignments. Whether one gives an explicit participation
grade or not, every faculty member wants to encourage
students to think. One of the best ways to do this is to
make exam questions or written assignments reflect class
discussions and activities. If you don't, these become
throw-away activities. For example, three questions on
your exam can be from a class discussion. Or, ask
students to evaluate a class discussion in writing or
tell where they stand on the issue. Grade them on this
writing. Again, even if you don't give an explicit
participation grade, you can make participatory
activities show up in student grades.
The Bottom line on Evaluating Discussion: If
you don't directly grade student participation in
discussion or a product of the discussions, you should at
the minimum include the content of discussions in your
normal evaluation of student learning (tests or written
assignments).
|
