I’d also add that I actually found there to be little difference in quality between the discussions in my own graduate level classes and the ones I had as an undergrad. Sure, there was certainly more discussion in graduate school, as students all were trying to establish their own authority – but only when students were able to effectively draw upon their own area of expertise did I feel that such discussions were productive.

There is, of course, a question as to what it means for a discussion to be productive. For the speaker it might be useful to use class time to thrash about and get a grip on the ideas under discussion – but how useful is one student’s thrashing about for the rest who have to listen?

As I said above, I find it useful to have students provide structured oral presentations. I think this improves their skills, and often leads to interesting discussions. The danger here is that students can feel very vulnerable after doing such a presentation. I tend to not do any criticism of them then and there, or individually, but to wait until after a few people have gone and then try to discuss the presentations in general.

The more you take yourself “out of the way” the more room you give to the biggest bullshitters in the class. Sometimes you are lucky in that there are students who can themselves exert the kind of authority necessary to keep other students honest, but I find that is a rare thing. As a student I remember hating nothing more than classes where the teacher tried too hard not to exert authority, because I was so bored with what other students had to say. Sure they spoke more, but I didn’t learn anything from it.

I also find that teacher authority can actually help bring those silent students into the discussion in a more productive way. The real secret, in my experience, is simply riding out those uncomfortable silences which can follow a lecture. Sooner or later someone will speak up, and if you’ve said something interesting they will often have something interesting to say back. And the student evaulations tend to reflect the better discussions that follow.

One thing I’ve noticed, and am working hard to act on (and it is a struggle) is that discussion tends to flow when I take myself out of the way. Even a bad student presentation is likely to inspire more response than my best lectures. A question asked by a student, or a statement made by a student, are likely to inspire more response than either coming from me. My theory is that this stems from the perceived equality among the students — their statements are more amenable to challenge from other students than mine, because mine come with my professorial authority “baked in”. So the problem becomes how can I set up situations in which I can stand to one side? This is especially hard when things go off-track; my interjections, however tentative, are often perceived as the voice of authority offering the final word.

As I said, I think this is largely a function of the relative inexperience of my students in academia; I don’t seem to recall many graduate or upper-division courses where discussion didn’t flow fairly freely. While it’s tempting to blame the high schools — and I do — the question isn’t so much one of blame as it is how we “re-train” lower-division students to grasp their own freedom to make mistakes, to stand out, and to question our authority.

That is true, especially if it is something the instructor feels passionately about and can make the students react in the same way. BUT that can’t always fuel class discussion. So an incentive is always good, as students seem to participate more when they know there is a participation grade involved.

Depending on how large the class is, there may be those students who have something to add to the discussion but are too afraid to do so. Make sure it is a relaxed environment where students feel their input is important. Another incentive you could use, is giving students positive feedback when they contribute (ie. ‘that’s a really good point you made’) or offer them a counter-point to their arguement. There’s nothing worse than participating with the feeling that what you said may make you feel ‘dumb’.

On another note, it all starts with the syllabus. Think of the syllabus as being similar to the ‘first impression’ you want to make at an interview. If students take the time to do the readings, they’ll be even more interested in the lecture material.

Hope this helps.

There are, however, some web sites that offere more concrete advice and tips. I bookmarked them here, and plan to eventually give some of them a try now that I’ll be teaching full time.

“How do you encourage dialog in the classroom?”

I wish I knew what you answered. *g

謝謝！

可恩

Gongxi, Gongxi. Nide xin gongzuo tai hao le.

John