by Julie Schell, Jan 20, 2021
How prepared are you to engage students in a discussion on controversial topics?
Open the virtual door to a college classroom anywhere now or 500 years ago, and you are likely to happen upon a conversation or discussion. Also known as “conversational learning,” discussion is designed to help students gain knowledge and skill through interacting in dialogue with their peers, instructors, and guests or visiting experts.
However, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, when you open those classroom doors, you are unlikely to observe discussion covering difficult or controversial topics. Indeed, surveys of higher education faculty indicate that despite the prevalence of discussion-based pedagogy, instructors often find themselves underprepared to engage students in controversial conversations in the classroom.
The following 10 tips are drawn from educational research and learning science* and designed to help you facilitate discussion-based pedagogy on complex or difficult topics. I have organized these tips within into two overarching points of advice: first, ensure you have a pedagogical purpose for engaging in controversial topics and second, build a conversational learning community to help promote scholarly discourse. Continue Reading 10 Tips for Engaging Students in Discussion on Controversial Topics
