Kerrie's Reading Notes #3

Throughout my undergraduate career, I sat through multiple classes where instructors attempted to get us to discuss important topics and we all sat there silently until they just gave us their own opinions on the topic. The content in the reading for this week explained tips for avoiding silence from students and holding effective discussions in the classroom. Discussion can be a very effective tool in education if it is productive discussion and not just instructor led.

I think Lang’s tip on using low-stakes writing as a way to start discussions is a great idea (pg. 90). It gives students time to prepare for the discussion so they feel more comfortable with the topic. Lang suggests giving students 10 minutes to write a response to the discussion question. I think five minutes would probably be long enough unless the question is more complex requiring more thought. A question that arises is would the writing prior to discussion be graded or should students be graded solely on the discussion. I feel students could be graded on both. Participation points could be given along with a few points for the writing assignment. My other question is how low-stakes writing assignments should be graded. Should points be deducted for grammar and spelling errors? Or should it simply be graded on the content and not how it is written?

Lang also discusses using forced debate as a discussion technique (pg. 95). Forced debate is a way for students to express their opinions and hear opposing views. I like Lang’s suggestion to divide students into two groups but also leave a space in the middle for students who are undecided of their stance. As the students who are undecided listen to the viewpoints of their classmates, it may help them form their own opinion. While developing a topic for debate for students, are there certain topics that should be avoided? Certain topics such as politics and culture may offend some students. Should these topics be avoided or should the instructor just explain being respectful during a debate? I would like to discuss this further in class.

Davis’s chapter on online discussions provided good examples and advice. She suggests controlling the size of online discussion groups for larger classes (pg. 113). Davis recommends groups of 4 to 12 students and no more than 20 for an online discussion group. One of her tips is to list a set of discussion topics and let students choose which they would like to respond to. When discussion groups get too large, it makes it difficult to read everyone’s posts and to come up with a post that has not already been discussed. In class, I would like to discuss other methods for online discussions and whether or not they are effective.