Missouri Senate lets teachers be Facebook friends with students

Since it just came up in class today...

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/missouri-senate-lets-teachers-be-facebook-friends-with-students/3687

Miwa's reading Notes #3

I am interested in two topics to discuss: how to change predictable process of discussion and effectively take advantage of products of discussion.

Breaking through Predictable Process of Discussion

I am suffering from monotonous patterns of my discussion questions. I have found that most of my questions consist of only few of levels and types of questions (Davis, p. 119). Three patterns include “what is X?” to define a term, “what does X mean?” to explain the concept, and “please give me some examples” to illustrate. It is very obvious that the questions can be just pulled from reading and it seems very monotonous process: boring for those who have done reading well and discourage those who have not done to join the discussion.

Also, I have some hesitation to handle students who actively participate in or are reluctant to participate in discussion. It may be a common challenge for many instructors and not only for myself, but

I believe I know some good ways to solve the problem, including the ones that I learned in reading (Lang, p. 123), but still applying knowledge to practice is a major challenge for me in terms of teaching.

My too much focus on basics also derives from my listening ability to students’ talk, which interrupts my good listening to students (Davis, p. 119) in discussion. It doesn’t necessary mean my English proficiency but their casual, fast speaking including many requires me to spare my extra attention to listening. I hesitate to ask them to repeat, speak slowly, or restate it as I am afraid it may affect my credibility as an instructor of an international student. The strategy to prompt students to clarify their questions looks very useful for me (Davis, p. 129 Lang.)

The Effective Use of Discussion Products

The issue of monotonous design of discussion questions also leads to my monotonous responses to students’ answers to them. I tend to handle students’ answers in very fixed ways: simply restate or summarize them. I am trying to come up with something else that can further motivate their participation in discussion and reinforce their understanding by giving appropriate examples, demonstrate good application, etc., though it is still very hard to do something impromptu Extemporaneousness is a major challenge for me to overcome, as I am feeling large pressure to fully practice basics at least and have no room to do something unplanned. (Davis, p. x)

In addition, the use of products of group/pair discussion is also fixed. Ask students to discuss question in groups or pairs, students present their answers, and I restate or summarize them. It is just a different size of discussion groups: class, group, or pair. I am trying to vary the pattern of discussion to attract their interest and attention, though it doesn’t look effective as I expect.

Wendi's Reading Notes #3

Redirecting positive inputs—What are some ways that we can channel further discussion or use specific points in other ways to benefit other students in the class?  For example, a student has some valid experiences or knowledge, but they don’t want to “hog the floor” talking about these points.  Are there other methods to share students’ knowledge with their classmates without that student always struggling to “have the floor.”  It could become a fulltime job just trying to use the great ideas or knowledge that all the students have or finding a way to still incorporate them into future lessons or discussions.  Each new topic brings about new input, knowledge, and experiences.

“Encouragement” for quiet students—What should you do when you are often asking the same quiet student(s) for their input and they still participate at a bare minimum?  Is there a point that the student may feel they are being harassed?  How do you reduce the chance of other students feeling like you are focusing most of your attention on the quiet students and basically ignoring the rest of the class or those who participate?  Should quiet students be penalized when participation is factored into a class grade?  I struggle with these questions as I’ve used them in the past in my own classrooms.  I have had students comment on the unfairness of participation points.

On-line discussions—How do you effectively utilize on-line discussions?  What do you do when there isn’t a set time to be on-line?  As an instructor, how do you manage your time trying to monitor and contribute to on-line discussions?  I find myself either forgetting to check the latest discussion points or constantly glued to my computer monitor just waiting for the next post.  How do you know your students are actually doing their own work with on-line courses?

Asking questions—How can we elicit students to ask more questions?  Have we become an age where students are so used to using technology that they do not bother to ask questions face-to-face or in class?  As an instructor, when and where do you draw the line on trying to pull questions out of students?  Why do some instructors shy away from asking controversial questions or including topics that may lead to controversial questions?  I believe that a lot of good can actually come out of quality discussions about controversial topics.  By quality I mean monitored (no raised or threatening voices or other actions), guided, fair participation, etc.

Responding to the questions—What is the proper wordage when you’ve answered the same question multiple times to the class and it’s all spelled out in the syllabus?  Students get offended when they are told to refer to their syllabus or when you type “per your syllabus.”

Effective use of pre-writing—Should you continue to use pre-writing activities if you have several students in your class who require more time than you have allotted for the activity?  How do you address the students who are becoming more frustrated with an activity like this, but you can see the positive effect (focusing, re-directing attention) it actually has on the student?  How often should you switch these activities around?

Ashley's Reading Notes #3

This week’s readings were very helpful in understanding the dynamics of leading discussions. I have had to do it for classes and I am always nervous because of all of the “what ifs”. Lang and Davis both point out that it is alright to have silence after a question to allow for thinking, but I always feel like my question was not phrased right or the class does not understand it. I am always concerned in classes about what is enough discussion. I like the idea of a sheet that allows for the students to see what their scores are (Lang, p. 98). Davis (p. 108) also points out the use of tokens or poker chips to cash in for discussion points. I think that is a neat idea, but would that be intimidating for shy students? What are some other ways to determine whether students have participated enough? There are always going to be shy students that are afraid to voice their opinion. If you have exhausted ways to get them to talk, what should you do as an instructor? Give them special assignments in order for them to receive their points?

I have noticed that in some of my classes they list points for discussion, but do not define how you can achieve these points. What are some good ways to list in your syllabus how the points will be distributed? How much emphasis should an instructor place on discussion credit in the syllabus? Lang mentions ways to start off a discussion (p. 92) by allowing for students to talk about key points from the last lecture or what they think is important. This is a great idea for not only starting off a discussion, but also a method of assessing what key points the students are taking from lecture. Another way of starting a discussion that Davis mentions (p. 100) is writing three questions on index cards. I like that idea as a new instructor because it can be intimidating to always have questions for the class. It also emphasizes the idea of letting the students have some control over what they are going to learn (progressivism).

Besides discussion, asking and receiving questions are always a bit scary when teaching a class. Davis (p. 125) mentions methods of correcting wrong answers without putting the student down. I think this is important to learn because you don’t want to discourage students from interacting. Her point of not asking “Any Questions?” is very true and I have seen it very often in classes. If students do not ask any questions, what are some good methods to get them engaged? Cold calling? Writing questions and submitting?

Reading Notes #3

Reading Notes #3 Comm 702 9/15/11 Margaret Brady

This week’s readings focused on getting your class into groups for discussions. For the subjects that I teach (Anatomy/Physiology, Biology, Pathology) and for some of my class sizes (over 90), this is difficult. However, when I’ve had smaller classes, say around 25 or so, I have had success in getting the class into groups of about 4 and the “discussion” method I have chosen is to have each team make up “Jeopardy” questions. In this scenario, the groups are each studying their notes and books and discussing ways to form questions from that material. This has them re-reading the material and talking about it amongst themselves. In the above mentioned subjects, there is a lot of new vocabulary for students and a lot of rote memorization as well. In playing Jeopardy, the groups are re-learning these terms and turning the definitions around in order to make questions. Each team then goes up to the board and puts up their 5 categories (they choose their own categories from the chapters that we have covered) and they have their index cards with their “answers” from 100 to 500 points each and a daily double as well (just like on the game show). It is interesting for me to hear each group discussing what they will put down for their “answers” because I hear them saying things like, “No way is that one worth 100, that’s a 400 pointer.” This is telling me that not only are they studying the material but that they are able to discern the more difficult concepts from the simpler ones.

Then we have one student from the audience choose the first category, say “respiration for 100.” The student at the board who has made the “answer” for that category then states that from their index card and then it is open for anyone in the class to raise their hand and then come up with the “question.” They are still in teams so right responses gain points for their teams. This is a tremendous amount of fun and it has really helped the students study their notes amongst each other and discuss and analyze what is in the material in a more in depth fashion than just sitting at home and memorizing anatomical parts or physiological processes.

At Minneapolis Community College, I taught a class for several years called “Biology of Women.” What was really fun about that class was that it was small and the material lent itself nicely to discussion. The course included sections on “body image and society,” “skin and cosmetics,” “anatomy/physiology: menstrual cycle, pregnancy, labor, delivery,” and “birth control, abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, etc.” and how all of these things affect women today in our society. I had each student keep a journal of what their thoughts were regarding the weekly readings and then we would discuss these topics in class. The personal subject matter lead to interesting discussion groups.

Mike's Reading Notes #3

Overall, I think the readings for this week were pretty helpful for leading and planning discussions. I always feel that discussion portions of class always seem to be the most difficult because of the challenges Lang talks about in the beginning of the chapter. Mostly that college aged kids likely (though not always) rolled out of bed 10 minutes before class, and are showing up on time for the sake of not being late, but aren’t quite prepared to learn. I think this is where Lang makes a great suggestion to hae students respond in writing for 10 minutes prior to the lecture beginning. Do you have students keep their responses to use in discussion? Or is this something you collect and grade? Also along those lines, Lang mentions that students will seek clarification with the pre-writing. Is there anyone who has given this mini-assignment and found that to be true?

Once the discussion begins, Davis immediately mentions that we as teachers should clarify our expectations for discussion at the beginning of the term. I feel this is great, because far too many times I receive a syllabus at the beginning of class that says there will be discussion and graded participation, but nowhere to be found is the expectations. Is this a good thing to put in the syllabus? Or should it just be discussed as a class?

Taking into account the questions Davis lists on page 121 in “Levels and Types of Questions”, what are some favorite questions the class likes to uses to engage students and drive discussion. I think that if we are going to grade discussion, it helps to give the students a few ideas for discussion. But when you are grading discussion, how do you grade that fairly? Even though Davis gives a few examples of grading, I feel that it is a very subjective and probably difficult to keep fair. Considering there are students who are positively terrified of talking in public, would this also be a good opportunity to require discussion outside of class in an online message board so those more reserved students can give input, but not feel pressured in class?

I also wanted to know if there were more strategies on presenting debate in class. I think having debate on a topic can be a good thing, especially when it involves issues that have two distinct sides, because it helps students understand the issue in a practical sense. But what are the most effective ways to do this while also maintaining control of the class during debate?

Ruoxu's Reading Note #3

Lang provided a very realistic and funny story at the beginning of the classroom discussion chapter, which describes a fully prepared instructor meet a bunch of students who are unwilling to respond to the killer starter question. I have to admit that this kind of situation happened to me a few times, but better than the instructor in the book, I always had one or two students answer the question.

Lang says “teaching the material requires that you engage it in a variety of ways, from reading and writing to speaking and listening to the responses of your students” (p.88). I agree on this and I am trying to explain one idea in a variety of ways. The hard thing is how to motivate the students to participate into the discussion?

Lang suggests of using the pre-writing method to help students turn their minds onto the course material, which also “ensures that they have time to think” (p.91). He defines this kind of writing as low-stakes writing. I find this method useful when I conduct a five minute pop quiz at the beginning of the class. After the quiz, the students seem to be more focus on the lecture and they tend to answer the question quickly than usual. Lang also says that when the students have written down the response, the instructor can feel more comfortable inviting everyone into the discussion (p.92). I did this on my speech class today and the overall effect is not so great but not so bad. At least everyone has something to say, the difference is just some students talk better, some don’t.

Another suggestion Lang makes is to ask the fact-based questions first and the killer question last. He says “once that material is available and visible to everyone, a more informed and participatory discussion should follow” (p.94). I haven’t prepared any killer questions yet, most of the questions I have asked are fact based so far. I will think about some in-depth question for the students to discuss in the future classes. My current situation is even when I throw out the fact based questions; the classroom still seems quiet sometimes. The only solution for me is to look at them and to create a few seconds’ silence and there is always someone who breaks the ice in the end. The question is how many silence should I create throughout the whole semester? When will the students finally be motivated and be willing to answer the question a little more quick?

Another interesting suggestion Lang makes is to “challenge students to a duel”, such as saying “I’ve said something interesting, now you say something interesting”; or inviting the students to “bring a dish to a feast”, such as saying “listen to all of these terrific ideas and comments; can we hear your thoughts as well?”(p. 97). I will consider using sentences like this to motivate my students.

Davis discusses mainly about how to use web 2.0 and how to assemble the students into groups to create a discussion in part V. I am particularly interested in knowing how to use social networking websites to make an interaction with the students. The book talks about some points we should pay attention. Like, keep the profile professional to maintain authority, respect the student’s privacy by avoiding spy on the students and be cautious about “friending”. I would like the class on Thursday to talk about the social networking topics, such as, will you accept the friending request from a student on Facebook?

Johnson divided the group work into three types: informal learning groups, formal learning groups, and study groups (p.191). Most of the in class activities at COMM110 class use informal learning groups. I randomly divide the students into several groups, usually 4 to 5 people a group. They will complete the in class activity together and turn in their final work if it needs to be graded. One thing that worries me is that the students are following the original group pattern, which is the one I divided at the first class activity. These informal groups have turned into long term groups. I would rather they cooperate with new people on each activity so that they don’t have to rely on one particular person every time. For example, if one student chooses to be the writing person, he or she will be the writing person forever. How should I tackle this problem? The book talks about rearranging the group members but it does not specify on this issue.

Adam - Reading Notes #3

TT

“To spark participation… call on students who express strong opinions. To calm a discussion… avoid calling on opinionated students.” (102) All students are not created equal, but manipulating their differences to facilitate discussion sounds a bit dangerous. I think such an approach could easily be mistaken for favoritism. It belies the kind of professional relationship that should exist between teacher and student.

“Assign students to conduct the summary.” (102) Good idea.

“Give quiet students special encouragement.” (109) Here is another instance of the book repeatedly advising teachers to focus on the outliers in their classes: participation, attendance, grades, ability, everywhere we pay special attention to the outliers. Is the purpose of education to pull everyone towards the middle? To make everyone average? Once everyone is average, no special attention is warranted, making teachers’ jobs easier.

“Do not be afraid of silence.” (122) Yes! It’s easier said than done; but, “Pausing lets students know that replies do not have to be formulated quickly.”

“Preempt the serial answerer/questioner.” (130) This section’s for Margo. In Lang’s opinion (100) “This is the most difficult problem you will encounter in discussion classes.”

OC

Forced Debate (95) sounds like a provocative idea. I need to watch for an opportunity to utilize it. Having students physically switch sides during the debate could be chaotic, and of course not all classrooms have extra seats to allow movement.

“Several weeks of listening to lectures will condition students into a passivity that will be harder and harder to break as the semester continues.” (96) I totally agree at the class level, but I think this is less true at the individual level. Shy students will still find moments to contribute if the class in general is lively and open. I don’t believe equality should be a goal of student participation: passive students may be learning as much or more by listening.

“If you’ve managed to engage twenty American teenagers in intellectual conversation, you’re doing at least half of your job as a college instructor.” (99) I’m not sure why American teenagers are singled out, but to the rest of it: absolutely. One of the best methods of getting students to pay attention in class is to let discussions go off on tangents for a while… then on the next quiz or test ask about that tangential topic, especially if it wasn’t covered elsewhere. This reinforces the importance of attendance and attentiveness, while also validating students’ input (just because it isn’t in the book, doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable enough to be tested on).

Nancy's Reading Notes #3

Upon reaching week four of my first semester teaching college undergraduates, I noticed that there has been a decline in participation from one of my Communication 110 (Intro to Public Speaking) sections. After some reflection, I believe that part of the reason may be because the class contains mostly sophomores and juniors, and meets early in the morning. Now that the semester is underway, these students may be feeling the workload from all of their courses. This leads me to consider implementing more classroom activities and discussions in order to regain attention and increase participation.

Davis explains a multitude of ways to increase student participation. The two ideas which I believe deserve to be discussed in class are “limiting instructor responses” and “dividing students into small groups” (p. 107). As a new instructor, I know that when I pose a question and all eyes are on the floor, I can either assume that the students are not prepared, they do not understand the question, or that they feel uncomfortable answering. When those few moments of “dead air” pass by, how long should I give students to answer before changing the question, or answering it myself? Conversely, when students do give responses, I feel I may be so grateful that a response was given that I tend to move on instead of probing the class to create a more in-depth conversation. Limiting instructor comments and placing students in small groups seem like great ways to encourage discussion among classmates.

Just as Davis mentions placing students in small groups to encourage participation by creating a less threatening environment, Lang discusses the idea of “Think-Pair-Share” (p. 93). I think this idea is important because not only does it help create a more comfortable atmosphere for students, but it tends to boost their confidence. This should be discussed in class as a great way to help shy/quiet students participate, and to allow the instructor to walk around and check in with these small groups. As the instructor checks in with these smaller groups, it helps offer more personalized attention since the instructor is not addressing the entire class. Shy or self-conscious students may feel uncomfortable asking questions in front of the entire class, and they may open up more to two or three other peers.

Aside from helping students work together to increase participation, Lang also discusses the idea of what to do when the discussion veers off topic. I think this is very important because when students begin to feel passionate about a topic and become very involved, I feel bad jumping into the discussion to redirect them because I do not want to ruin the momentum. What are the best ways to approach changing and redirecting a topic without making the students feel like they have done something wrong?

To address the lack of participation I am experiences with one of my classes, I almost wonder if I should adopt a grading procedure for participation in my future semesters. Currently, I do not grade participation; however, I believe it may encourage students to talk if it were required. Then again, would it “encourage” discussion, or would it make students feel as though they are being “forced” to talk?

Reading Notes #3

I very much enjoyed both readings on classroom discussion. Lange opens with the reasons why classroom discussion is so important followed by similar suggestions found in Davis on how to spark discussion. I feel engaging students to participate is one of the toughest areas, especially for new teachers. Looking back at my college classes it seems that most of my undergraduate classes were taught in lecture style whereas my graduate classes were much more centered on discussion. Is this an indication that some teachers believe that undergraduates are incapable of meaningful class discussion or is it a matter of class size?

Davis makes some great points in setting the context of the class early and teaching students how to participate in class. She also mentions to refer to study questions, homework, or readings to link assignments and new knowledge to class discussion. Her suggestions of assigning students to lead discussions have been often used in my graduate classes. I have noticed that it helps encourage others to participate as they know they will soon be in the same situation as their classroom peers in leading class. Davis also gave great suggestions on how to use positive reinforcement to recognize a student’s contributions. Positive comments, acknowledging contribution using students’ names, and praising positive answers were all suggestions in this reading that seem to encourage further participation by students. She also gave some excellent discussion suggestions for quiet students, dominating students, and incorrect answers. I particularly found the section on grading class participation helpful as I am struggling to figure out how I will give participation points in the class I took over teaching this semester.

Davis’ section on questions discussed the types of questions and explained how to categorize them according to Bloom’s classic hierarchy of cognitive skills (p.120). I found the section on effective question the most helpful (p.121). She discussed asking one simple question rather than something with multiple parts or complex. Avoiding yes or no questions I thought was also a great point as it does not spark further discussion. Additionally, both Davis and Lange mentioned waiting 10-15 seconds after asking a question ensuring eventually someone will answer. I will make sure to wait longer when I begin asking questions as I otherwise would probably only wait a few before answering the question myself. In my few brief classes where I have covered for my advisor, my fears were definitely realized the same as Lange describes in his opening paragraph. I feel with practice and using these suggestions my class I am teaching this semester will soon be sparked with lively class discussion. One thing this reading didn’t cover, however, is what to do when you have students that are all very comfortable with each other so much that they never quit discussing during class?

Charu's Reading Notes #3

I really liked this week readings particularly because I love to incorporate this kind of learning method in my COMM 110 class. I truly believe that an alternative to straight lecture is class discussion. Throughout the classes, which I have taken in my undergrad level, I have always been afraid of class discussions. But it seems strange to me that now I am in more favor to incorporate this teaching method in my own classes.

I think whole-group discussions are more interactive and effective than teacher simply telling the students the study material. This teaching technique has the advantage of involving students much more in the learning process.

After going through this week’s readings I noticed that I usually do the opposite of what Davis mentions on pg. 122, to wait 10-15 seconds after asking a questions for students to respond. What I usually do is I ask a question from students, then I just wait for about three seconds, and then I provide the answer, which I guess, totally contradicts with Davis suggestion. Whereas after reading Davis suggestion I think one of the most important skills in teacher’s arsenal is the ability to question effectively and that wait time is one of the most important components of effective questioning.

I really like the idea of post-it note or poker chips (Lang p. 100, Davis p. 108). Before reading this chapter I have already tried using this strategy in my COMM 110 class and it really worked well. I didn’t used poker chips or post-it note rather I awarded students with extra points using the different colors of cards. So if 1 student participated and answered my question then I gave him yellow card and if the same student answered it again then I gave him green card. I specified in the beginning of the discussion that yellow card meant 1 point and green card meant 2 points, and then emphasizing that every student can only get 2 points. I felt students seemed more attentive and interesting in the discussions. By using this strategy I was very well able to limit the number of students who usually dominate the discussions. 

Furthermore, Davis presents some great ways to increase student participation (pg. 107-108). I totally agree with Davis point that dividing students into smaller groups to get them talking, will at least get students more comfortable with speaking within a smaller group and then with the entire class. I have also got some positive feedback from students on incorporating this technique in my class and mainly because they get-to-know each other better. However, sometime I feel that I’ll have trouble getting students to participate especially in my 3:30 section where all of my students are already tired and exhausted from there busy class schedule. I really wanted to know some of the other additional successful techniques that other teachers have incorporated in order to overcome this type of problem.

Overall, I think both authors have presented some really helpful techniques to encourage classroom discussion. I’m looking forward to try some of the new ideas in my COMM 110 sections.