Group Discussion

Nine Ways to Improve Class Discussions

Maryellen Weimer

Having note takers, being more focused and for less time, using the discussions, inviting students to suggest discussion topics, use better hooks to launch discussion, talk less or not at all, end with something definitive, discuss discussions and pause.

Weimer, M. (2015, September 30). Nine Ways to Improve Class Discussions [Web log post]. Retrieved June 20, 2016, from http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/nine-ways-to-improve-class-discussions/

Using Class Discussion to Meet Your Teaching Goals

Tips on how to guide discussion, encourage participation, assess learning and what prompts and exercises to use.

[Using Class Discussion to Meet Your Teaching Goals. (2005). Newsletter on Teaching15.]

Effective Classroom Discussions – 5 Guidelines

Guidelines for effective discussion, such as: clarify what students mean, give students time, appreciate students’ ideas, accept lack of closure and balanced classroom instruction.

Selma Wassermann, S. (2010, February). Effective Classroom Discussions. Meeting Students Where They Are, 67(5).

Managing Small Group Discussion

Talking about planning and structuring discussion sessions, how to structure the physical environment, how to take of group dynamics, and what discussion formats there are out there.

Kelly, M., & Stafford, K. (1993). Managing Small Group Discussion (9th ed., pp. 1-18, Publication). Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong.

Questions for Discussion Questions

Harvard Business School professor and preeminent teacher C. Roland Christensen considered the art of questioning so important that he once described case method teaching as “the art of asking the right question, of the right student, at the right time—and in the right way.”

Questions for Class Discussions. (2008). Retrieved June 20, 2016, from http://www.hbs.edu/teaching/docs/Questions_for_Class_Discussions_rev.pdf