It is hard to overstate the value of well-designed class discussion. Research indicates that whether discussion happens in the physical classroom or in a digital learning environment, it can:
- Increase engagement and deepen learning by moving students beyond spectating and motivating them to think critically
- Introduce students to a variety of perspectives, prompting them to learn from each other
- Foster community-building habits among learners, preparing them to communicate and participate in diverse environments
Research also suggests that well-designed asynchronous discussions have the added benefits of providing students with more time to reflect before responding. They also foster more equitable participation by making space for all students to contribute.
Designing effective discussions
Intentionally planning discussions can foster broader engagement and help focus students on key concepts. Consider the following when considering discussion activities:
- Determine whether a discussion aligns with your learning outcomes. If you are primarily interested in determining whether students did an assigned reading or understand a particular concept, then a quiz might be more appropriate. Use discussions when your learning goals include critical thinking, engaging multiple perspectives, or collaboration.
- Consider your teaching context. When choosing a discussion technique, consider your teaching context – Are you teaching in a physical classroom or digital space? If your course is in-person, is there room for students to move around the classroom? What amount of time do you have to work with? Visit the section below for examples of techniques that work well in various class sizes.
- Craft effective questions. The most effective questions invite students to make connections between your learning goals, their experiences, course concepts, and particular course materials. Overly narrow questions (e.g., yes/no questions, or questions with only one correct answer) leave little room for conversation and exploration. Questions that are too broad or vague can overwhelm or confuse students.
- Set clear expectations. Emphasize that the purpose of discussion is not consensus, but expanded thinking. Consider developing community agreements at the beginning of the quarter to provide students with a blueprint for their interactions.
- Provide multiple ways to engage in the discussion. For example, you can direct them to:
- Build on a peer’s comment
- Clarify or elaborate on an idea
- Disagree with a comment and explain why
- Summarize and offer a new perspective
- Create space for reflection. Give students time to reflect on a question before beginning a discussion. At the end of a discussion, you can also ask students to share their take-aways.
Strategies that work well in large classes
As the examples below indicate, even if you teach a 700-person course in an auditorium-like setting, discussion is possible. The techniques below can work equally well in large and small in-person classes. By using breakout rooms, they can also work in synchronous online settings.
- Ask students to think and/or write for a minute about a question.
- After a minute, have them pair up and spend 3-5 minutes (longer for more complex questions) to discuss their answers. Instruct the pairs to be prepared to share out to the whole class.
- Then call on a few pairs to share out (e.g., “the pair in the back corner to my left/your right”).
- Ask students to think and/or write for a minute about a question
- After a minute, have them pair up and spend 3-5 minutes (longer for more complex questions) to discuss their answers with each other.
- Pairs then form groups of four to compare, refine, and deepen their suggestions, noting patterns or differences.
- To conclude, each small group shares one important idea with the whole room.
- Have students form small groups of 4-5 with students sitting next to them.
- After briefly introducing themselves, each group member should assume a specific role (e.g., timekeeper (keeps group on task), notetaker (records key points), facilitator (manages participation), or reporter (shares out with the full class).
- Then, ask the groups to discuss a prompt for 7-8 minutes (longer for more complex questions).
- Debrief the discussion by calling on a few groups to share out (e.g., “the group in the back corner to my left/your right”).
- After reading a short text, students choose one sentence that they found meaningful. On the front of the piece of paper, students write down that sentence. On the back, they describe why they chose it.
- After organizing into groups of three, one student shares their quotation (front of the page) and the other two spend 3 minutes discussing its significance.
- After this discussion, the original student offers the “last word” by reading the explanation on the back of their paper.
- The process repeats until each student has shared their quotation.
In this technique, a small subset of the class actively discusses a prompt, while the rest of the class observes their discussion. Ideally, both groups of students should receive some instructions.
- Students in the “fishbowl” (those actively discussing) should be given an opportunity to prepare for the discussion prior to class (e.g., have the prompt in advance).
- Students outside the fishbowl (those observing) should be given some questions to guide their observation (e.g., What evidence did the discussants use to support their claims? How did the tone discussants used impact their effectiveness?).
- Afterward, debrief as a class by reflecting on what students learned, how the conversation felt, and how to improve future discussions.
Strategies that work better in smaller, in-person classes
In addition to the techniques listed above, these strategies can also work well in smaller, in-person classes.
In this activity, students could write responses on either post-its or directly on the classroom whiteboard.
- Give each student a set of post-it notes or markers.
- Write 1-3 prompts or on the whiteboard, leaving plenty of space below each prompt.
- Ask students to respond individually to each prompt by writing directly on the whiteboard or on their post-it (and sticking the post-it under the relevant prompt).
- Ask students to go around and read all of the responses silently, looking for key themes.
- Have students “break the silence” by sharing out about what they observed in the responses.
- Use large chart paper or sections of whiteboards to post 2-4 different prompts around the room.
- Working in small groups, students respond to one of the prompts in writing.
- Groups then rotate to the next prompt. They read the prompt and what the previous group(s) have written, and build on the previous group(s)’ ideas by adding comments, questions, and connections.
- Groups continue rotating until they have addressed all prompts.
- To close, groups return their original prompt and read through the responses left by other groups. Then, they can identify themes and discuss how their thinking has shifted.
- Have groups share out in a class discussion.
- Develop a prompt and provide students with 4 possible responses/choices. These could be Likert scale-type agreement/disagreement responses or options (e.g., solar, wind, hydro, or nuclear).
- Create a label for each possible response/choice and place one label in each corner of the room.
- Read the prompt aloud and ask students to move to the corner that best reflects their view. Once in their corner, students can discuss with each other why they selected this corner.
- Ask volunteers from each corner to share their responses with the class.
- As groups share, invite students to move to a different corner if their positions shift.
- To continue their thinking, students can reflect in their journals or discuss as a whole group how their thoughts evolved and what they took away from the larger experience.
Strategies for asynchronous discussions
Online discussion forums can be important sites of learner-to-learner interaction, regardless of course modality. Even if you teach an in-person class, offering some discussions online can give learners time and space to think and craft responses.
Although commonly used, rigid requirements to require all students to “submit 1 post and respond to 2 peers” can actually stifle conversation. Instead, consider asking students to do at least one the following:
- Reflect on the discussion prompt
- Expand on someone else’s contribution
- Suggest ways to refine an idea or argument
- Ask a question or ask for clarification
- Identify a theme emerging in the discussion board
- Connect someone’s ideas to your own thoughts or experiences
Offering this sort of flexibility in how students engage in discussion can also be useful in synchronous and in-person discussions, too.
Assessing discussions
In some instances, instructors might simply want to grade whether or not students participated in the discussion. At other times, it might make sense to grade the quality of students’ contributions to discussion. Here are some criteria you might use to inform how you assess students’ participation in discussion:
- Quality. Because the point of discussion is to learn, consider assessing students’ contributions for quality rather than quantity. Be sure to articulate what constitutes a quality contribution (e.g., contributions that demonstrate content knowledge, tie ideas together, or build on an idea).
- Constructive dialogue. Ideally, discussion is an exchange of ideas. Talk with students about what effective engagement with peers looks like (e.g. active listening, building on others’ comments).
- Critical thinking and analysis. Help students understand that to learn from discussion, participants need to go beyond just liking or affirming the comments of others. Encourage students to analyze and synthesize information, evaluate arguments, and make their points using evidence.