Think of the last time you had a fantastic conversation. What made it good? Most likely, there was an interchange of open-ended questions and answers. Perhaps you learned something that prompted you to think in a different way or try something new. Maybe you walked away feeling seen or heard, like your perspective mattered.
Discussions are a central educational practice, allowing students to share their ideas, learn from each other, critically think, and feel included and accountable. How can professors facilitate meaningful student discussion in a large group? Consider these strategies to prepare for productive and inclusive student conversation in any modality of instruction: live online, in-person, and asynchronously online.
Consider the best format for discussion based on teaching modality. Research emphasizes the importance of individual and collaborative processing for active learning (Kotnik, Rolands, & Bogataj, 2024). If you’re teaching live on Zoom, for example, set expectations for your students to participate in the chat or unmute themselves to share aloud at least once or twice in the class to the discussion prompt you pose, or you might utilize breakout rooms for small-group conversation. If you’re teaching live in a classroom, you might assign students a specific role to play. If you’re teaching in an online asynchronous course, you might provide an open-ended prompt in a discussion board and have students respond to each other. Offering discussion opportunities in smaller and larger group settings, such as a fishbowl, student-led discussions, and reflect-pair-shares can take place online or in-person to engage all learners.
Create a culture of learning through discussion. By acknowledging potential “fear of getting it wrong,” you normalize this common concern and encourage a welcoming learning space. It can be helpful to set guidelines and norms for students for how to interact, such as I statements, assuming the best, and asking one another to clarify (Sedlovskaya, A., 2024). This also supports differences across student cultures, where conversation might not be common in everyone’s prior educational experiences.
Prepare open-ended questions. It’s easy to pause now and then during a lecture to ask, “Any questions?” More than likely, you’ll receive little to no response from students whether in a lecture hall or on Zoom. Closed questions that require a yes/no answer can stifle conversation before it has begun. Open-ended questions encourage students to share ideas and elaborate. A simple starting place for open-ended questions is to start them with “who, what, where, when, why, or how.”
Refine your questions to foster critical thinking with generative AI. Generative AI can assist with crafting meaningful questions and prompts that enhance student learning. Use generative AI to rephrase a question to promote deeper analysis. For example, ChatGPT* might help rephrase “What did you think about the assigned reading?” as “Do you agree with the author’s conclusions in the assigned reading? Use evidence to support your answer.” The revised question generated by ChatGPT fosters critical thinking by requiring students to justify their position with evidence.
If you’re met with silence when asking for student input, consider rephrasing the question or reformatting the discussion. Whether you’re teaching in person or online, if you’re finding that students are hesitant to respond, it might be that the question is unclear or students are simply nervous. Providing partner conversation or written reflection before a whole-group share can help students warm up.
Planning effective discussion can be the key to transform teaching into student-centered learning.
References
Kotnik, P. Rolands, B. & Bogataj, Š. (2024). Prolonged theoretical classes impact students’ perceptions: an observational study. Frontiers in Psychology, 21(15). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1278396
Sedlovskaya, A. (2024). Setting the stage for challenging conversations: Use the Four Cs Model to set norms and build trust with students. Harvard Business Publishing Education Must-Reads: Strategies for Inviting Open, Respectful Dialogue Among Students, 4-11.
“Student-Facilitated Discussions.” Retrieved on January 22, 2025 from: https://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/teaching/learning-experiences/activities/student-facilitated-discussions
Taxonomies of Learning. (2025, January 7). The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard. Retrieved from: https://bokcenter.harvard.edu/taxonomies-learning#:~:text=In%20the%201950s%2C%20Benjamin%20Bloom,the%20specifics%20of%20these%20taxonomies.%27
*Text generated by ChatGPT, January 22, 2024, OpenAI: https://chat.openai.com.
Image credit: New York University
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