Click here to view the video transcript
We’ve addressed some of the challenges that are related to classroom norms concerning student participation in discussion in the college classroom. How do we get students to move from merely paying civil attention, to actually paying attention and being engaged in the classroom through discussion?
We’ve also talked about how, if we let things evolve as the typical norms dictate, discussion will be dominated by five to eight students who will do almost all the talking on behalf of the class. But we also need to make sure that students are prepared to effectively engage in discussion. And that comes down to student reading compliance.
You assign the reading ahead of class. You assume students will be completing the reading assignments, but the research shows us that in most classes 20, to maybe if you’re lucky, 30% of students will actually complete the reading ahead of class time, unless you change the circumstances. And this is true even in highly selective institutions of higher education. If you get 25% of the students completing the reading ahead of class time, that’s pretty typical. It’s hard to get the other 75% to engage. So how do you do that? How do you make sure that students are doing the reading ahead of time?
Well, there are a variety of strategies you can use. One is a online quiz through the course learning management system that students have to complete ahead of time. It may be something very simple. Say, a two question quiz. One is some little piece of information, a factoid from the reading that if they’re doing the reading, they’re going to bump into the right answer. But it’s good to have a second short answer sort of question, which basically asks what is the author’s thesis? What is the argument that they are making? And what is the evidence in support of that argument? It forces students to take a step back and think broadly about the reading. What is the point the author is making? What is the argument they are providing evidence for? And that helps students be ready to engage in discussion.
Another strategy I’ve seen faculty members use, is sometimes referred to as a ticket to ride. Students have to come to class with a written response to the reading. Maybe it’s simply, you know, any topic they want to address that was in the reading, or maybe the instructor provides a very specific sort of question for students to think about in response to the reading. So to get into the door of the classroom, the student has to have their ticket to ride. They’ve got to have a page, maybe a paragraph to a page in response to the reading, which shows they had to do the reading to get into the door, to be ready to engage in classroom discussion. So a ticket to ride is another strategy.
I do think it’s often a good idea to let students know what are the questions you’re going to be asking them in response to the reading. So if you assign, say, two different selections to be read prior to the start of class, maybe for each of those selected readings you’ve got two or three questions that you’re giving to students prior to class. So they know what are the questions that they’re going to be asked to respond to.
So as they’re doing the readings, they can take notes and say, all right, well question number two, here’s a thought I wanna write this down so I’ll remember to bring it up during class discussion, whether it’s a whole class discussion, whether it’s a Think-Pair-Share, whether it’s small groups in semester long teams. But coming up with strategies to encourage students, maybe compel students even, to complete the reading assignments ahead of class is important for having an effective, productive class discussion where students are learning and developing their critical thinking skills.
We’ve talked about two of the common challenges in the preceding steps: tackling civil attention and tackling dominant talkers. But there are a few more pitfalls to watch out for when preparing your classroom discussions.
One key challenge is ensuring students are prepared to discuss by completing reading assignments prior to class. Possible options include short written responses to discussion questions associated with the readings or Just-in-Time quizzes through a learning management system. In the video, we discuss other techniques for improving student reading compliance including making use of short answer quizzes and prompting students with topics on which you will be testing them.
Another is the size of classes, as we alluded to previously. In large enrolment courses, semester-long small groups or teams can be utilised to break up lecture-based presentations of material for brief discussions.
Finally, there is the challenge that some students may be unable to discern the structure, flow, or key ideas during a discussion. In response, instructors can signal verbally or by writing on the board when key concepts and ideas are introduced.
Discussions
Are there other challenges that you have encountered in creating good discussions, and how have you attempted to address them?
Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments section below.