Blog prompt for Week 2: Discussion

Remember: Half the class is writing a blog entry this week and half the class is commenting on those blog entries. I will you let you know which group you are in when you email the link to your blog to me.

If you are blogging, your entry is due by 12 p.m. on Wednesday, September 1. If you are commenting, your comments are due by 12 p.m. on Thursday, September 2.

Directions for bloggers:

In a 400-500 word entry, please respond to the following questions:

• What was most interesting and/or useful to you in this week's reading? Why?

• How could you apply these principles of discussion to the classes taught in your field? (Provide concrete examples)

• After completing this reading, what questions do you have about discussion-based learning?

Directions for commenters:

Access the two (or three) blogs you've been assigned via the list to the right of this entry ("Our Teaching Blogs"). Leave feedback for the authors using the comment function on their blogs.

Good comments:

• Demonstrate that you have carefully read and understood the post.

• Contribute something useful to the conversation, rather than just echoing or affirming the author.

• Seek to answer at least one of the questions the author has posed.

You might, for example, compare/contrast the use of discussion in your field with what the author is telling you about their field, or offer a suggestion for implementation from your own experience with discussion in the classroom.

Each comment should be 100-150 words in length (total of 300-450 words across the 3 blogs).

Feel free to email, IM, or call if you have questions. I will also be in the Minard coffee shop for office hours from 4 to 5 p.m. on Monday.