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...Home > Resources > Inclusive Classroom > Methods Introduction > Class Discussions

Class Discussions

Developing skills to facilitate class discussions is critical for all instructors. The comments from International Students provide insights into their classroom experiences and suggestions for ways in which instructors can create better learning environments for all students. The web resources provide a wide range of suggestions on a variety of topics related to class discussions—from creating a conducive environment on the first day of class to what to do when discussions have become heated.

Comments from Panels of International Students (Winter, 2003)

• Encourage international students to talk. If we felt more comfortable we would talk more.
• If professors encourage international students to talk, they also need to protect them and their ideas. Do not encourage international students to present the “other side” of an issue and then let us get blasted by the rest of the class.
• I want to have critical discussions. When U.S. students run out of evidence, they seem to turn to God or they resort to telling me to go home.
• Encourage an exchange. It is a dual highway--two-way not just one-way. Instructors need to make international students feel welcomed. We should all walk together.
• When I gave my opinion in class, if it was very different from the U.S. students, I got looks and that made me not want to talk. The professors were willing to listen but not the students.
• Classes are vocal battlegrounds and not dialogues and talk.
• There were a lot of “bubble-argument” debates--focused on opinions and not on facts and critical thinking.
• Discussion classes have become “I feel” and “I think”.
• Being quiet does not mean that international students are not participating.

Web Resources (NOTE: The following links will open in a new browser window)

• Encouraging Student Participation in Discussion
  This chapter from Tools for Teaching by Barbara Gross Davis contains a number of specific strategies to use to increase student participation.
  
  
• Strategies for Inclusive Teaching
  Chapter Two from Teaching for Inclusion, written and published online by the staff of the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, contains a major section entitled Guidelines for Classroom Discussion.
  
  
• Managing Hot Moments in the Classroom
  Excellent article by Lee Warren from the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University. Contains specific suggestions for working through difficult conversations in the classroom.
  
  
• Tips for teachers: Teaching in racially diverse college classrooms
  This article contains a wide range of specific suggestions for making your class more inclusive, including a number of strategies to keep in mind during class discussions. From the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University.
  
  
• Guidance For Instructors Concerning Class Discussions About The War In Iraq
  Suggestions for planning a discussion on the war or what to do if the issue comes up unexpectedly in class.
  
  
• Tips for Using Questions in Large Classes (Daniel J. Klionsky, University of California-Davis)
  Excellent suggestion for using questions in a large class—a very daunting thing to do.
  This paper was published in The Teaching Professor (1999) 13: 1,3.

 

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