Read&Write Screenshot of a webpage highlighted
Accessibility, Best Practices, instructional technology

Improve your, and your students’, reading and writing confidence

Mendi Benigni

Did you know that the College has purchased a site license for Read&Write from TextHelp (thanks Disability Services). Read&Write is a toolbar for your computer or web browser that allows the users to increase their literacy.  This toolbar works in any application on your computer, allowing you to:

  • have the computer read digital documents to you
  • highlight any website or document to assist with summarizing and categorizing
  • suggest words as you type (prediction) to develop writing skills
  • convert inaccessible text, such as a screenshot, into accessible text
  • proofread your documents
  • and more…

Read&Write toolbar screenshot

I use Read&Write to read difficult or boring documents out loud while I read it.  It helps me stay focused especially if I’m not keen to read it to begin with.  It also has a Screen Masking tool which is another tool to help prevent loss of focus.

These are just a few of the things Read&Write can do without much, if any, instruction.  However, if you want to do more then you can use it to

  • give you word definitions.  There is even a picture dictionary which can be good for non-native speakers.
  • create audio files from typed text.
  • check verbs for agreement.
  • create a collection from your highlights.
  • create a vocabulary list.
  • add text facts to a web resource (such as notes, title, author, etc.).
  • export the notes you create to a Word document.
  • translate words
  • similar word checker

These tools can definitely help users with disabilities but it’s important to know that they can help EVERYONE become more literate.  We all have times where focus or vocabulary or writing is an issue and this is a tool that can help.

If you want to know more visit Read&Write Quick Start and Read&Write Getting Started.

Installation:

  1. Go to https://www.texthelp.com/en-us/products/read-write/read-write-for-education/
  2. Click Try Now choose your platform and follow the normal installation instructions for your platform
  3. Once it’s installed, open it up and accept the User Terms, click OK.
  4. IMPORTANT: When asked to sign in you MUST choose GOOGLE and use your CofC email and password.

If you have problems getting it installed or logged in, contact the CofC Service Desk at 843-953-DESK.

Instructor on Computer
Distance Ed, Teaching Advice

5 Great Sites to Help You Find Open Educational Resources (OER) for Your Course(s)

Chris Meshanko

What is OER?

“Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium–digital or otherwise–that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions” (UNESCO, 2002).

 

Who’s using OER?

According to a recent national survey of more than 4,000 faculty and department chairs, “for the first time, more faculty express a preference for digital material over print in the classroom” (Babson Survey Research Group, 2019). In fact, 46% of faculty surveyed reported some level of awareness of OER (+12% since 2015), with 13% requiring an OER in one or more of their courses—almost 3x the OER required in 2015 (Babson Survey Research Group, 2019).

 

Where can I find OER?

MERLOT

Multimedia Education Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
www.merlot.org | California State University System | ~160,000 Contributors | 84,000+ Learning Materials

MERLOT

 

OASIS

Openly Available Sources Integrated Search
https://oasis.geneseo.edu | SUNY Geneseo’s Milne Library | 88 Sources | 352,000+ Learning Materials

OASIS

 

OER COMMONS

Open Educational Resources Commons
www.oercommons.org | ISKME | 60,000+ Learning Materials

OER Commons

 

OPEN TEXTBOOK LIBRARY

https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks | University of Minnesota | 625 Peer-Reviewed Textbooks

Open Textbook Library

 

PIXABAY

https://pixabay.com | 1,000,000+ Images & Videos (No Attribution Required, But Encouraged!)

Pixabay

 

Small Teaching Tip 17: Crafting a Learner-Centered Syllabus
Best Practices, Small Teaching Tip, Teaching Advice

Small Teaching Tip #17: Crafting a Learner-Centered Syllabus

Jessica Smith

Historically, a syllabus has been defined as an outline of the topics to be covered during a course. But in the past twenty years, the functions of our syllabi have expanded greatly. Common functions faculty cite include serving as a contract, listing required textbooks, detailing policies and procedures, and describing the focus of the course.

One important but overlooked role a syllabus plays is that it’s the first point of interaction between you and your students. The words you choose provide a window into your beliefs about teaching, learning, and your discipline. Since the syllabus is the first point of contact between instructor and students, it sets the tone for the rest of the semester. And first impressions are very powerful.

If syllabi serve such important functions, why do we have to goad students into reading them?

In my experience, first as a student, then as a faculty member, and now as an instructional technologist, syllabi are usually not very engaging or welcoming. Their tone tends to be cold and sterile, like a legal contract. They resemble those Terms of Service agreements that no one actually reads. Not only are syllabi often unattractive, dictatorial, and cold, their format hasn’t changed much in the past twenty years to reflect the amazing technological advancements in graphic design, information transmission, and Web 2.0 applications.

So perhaps the answer to our question is that many students recoil from our syllabi because they’re so uninviting and inaccessible. Simply put, from a student perspective, a boring syllabus is the precursor to a boring class.

One solution is to make your syllabus more “learner-centered.” Through content, appearance, and tone, a learner-centered syllabus communicates to students that faculty care about their success, view learning as a collaboration, and make it clear that students will not be treated as passive receptacles for information. Instead, they will be treated as active, contributing participants. A learner-centered syllabus requires faculty to focus more on what will help student intellectual development as well as viewing the syllabus as a community builder.

We need more empirical research on this topic, but the studies we do have indicate that learner-centered syllabi tend to contribute to positive outcomes. Students who read learner-centered syllabi are more likely to believe the professor expects them to be successful. They are also less likely to drop the class, are more likely to approach the instructor for assistance, and more likely to believe the instructor cares about their learning.

So where do you begin?  Here are a few ideas for getting started creating a learner-centered syllabus:

Language

It’s important to be conscious of the words you choose because they are the most influential variable impacting student perceptions. Using warm, positive, and supportive language is an easy way to start building rapport. You don’t have to be bubbly or saccharine in order to communicate to students that you care about their learning. One of the simplest ways to make students feel like active contributors is to use more inclusive pronouns, such as “we,” “us,” and “our,” rather than relying only on “you” or stating “students will/students will not.”

Transparency

Another aspect of learner-centered syllabi is their transparency.  A colleague of mine calls the lack of transparency on many syllabi playing “find the cookie.” In this metaphor, the cookie equals the steps to success. So if you’re playing find the cookie, you are being too vague, confusing, or indirect.

It shouldn’t be a mystery how students will achieve the learning objectives, how they will be evaluated, and how they can be successful in your class.  Remember that students are still disciplinary novices. They may not pick up on or understand certain norms or expectations that we as experts recognize so easily.

There are often particular elements, topics, or assignments that students find more difficult than others. Consider giving students a heads-up about these components and providing advice about strategies that can help them succeed. You could also include a section about helpful resources students can turn to.  Perhaps this is where you include information about campus resources such as Disability Services, the Center for Student Learning, the Counseling Center, and the Library. Also consider adding outside resources, such as websites that provide practice tests or flashcard generators. Including this information is not simply useful, it also communicates to students that you care about their success.

Expectations

Syllabi typically focus on what instructors expect from students. We often spend pages and pages telling them what they should and should not do. Learner-centered syllabi include policies and procedures, but also outline what students can expect from their instructor.  This communicates that the course is a joint effort and a community. During the first week of classes, you could set aside time for students to discuss what teachers and professors have done in the past that has helped or hindered their learning. Students and instructors could then negotiate which ideas will become expectations of the instructor.

Shared decision making

A learner-centered syllabus could also mean allowing students to have some say in course policies and procedures. For example, depending on the course and the students, you could be flexible regarding assignment weights and options and consult the students on those decisions. You could also leave a class period open on the schedule and allow the students to vote on which topics will be covered that day. While first-year students might not have the maturity to make these types of decisions, juniors and seniors may thrive when given some choice in how they will demonstrate their learning.

Format

Most of us likely use black and white Word documents with 12-point font and maybe some bold or italics thrown in for good measure. If you were a 19 year old, would you want to read your syllabus?

We are members of a visual culture in which knowledge is increasingly conveyed in images and decreasingly conveyed in lengthy text. Raised on television, video games, and social media, our students are part of a generation that is leading this shift. We may grumble about this, but we can’t ignore the cultures our students are growing up in or what they perceive as normal.

Keep in mind, young people aren’t the only ones who appreciate visuals.  Our brains are image processors, as much of our sensory cortex is devoted to vision. And research has demonstrated that images are more likely to be noticed and remembered. Incorporating visual elements on your syllabus can make it more eye-catching and engaging.  

One way you can create more visual and interactive syllabi is to use digital tools like Google Docs, Populr, WordPress, Adobe InDesign, or Canva. One benefit of hosting your syllabus online is that the document comes alive.  By adding hyperlinks, even embedding video, you make your syllabus an interactive experience. This is not only more engaging, but it allows you to share significantly more information with students without making a 20-page syllabus because you can link to other websites. If that sounds too “techy” for you, there are many newsletter or magazine style templates that you can use in Microsoft Word to make your syllabus more aesthetically pleasing.

But please keep in mind that adding color, graphics, attractive fonts, and other visual elements does not guarantee a well-designed and engaging syllabus. It’s vital that clarity and readability are not negatively affected. Also, if you decide to include visuals, you must consider how accessible the document is. For example, screen reading software may not be able to read the image, chart, or table you’ve included in your syllabus. So I recommend keeping on hand the old version of your syllabus which is completely text-based in case you have a student who is visually impaired.

Your Turn

I encourage you to take a moment to look over one of your syllabi and consider how students might perceive you based on what they read. Through your choice of language and tone, what signals are you sending to students about your class, your discipline, and you as a professor?  Does the document encourage community-building or is it solely instructor-focused?

When examining your syllabi, adopt an open-minded and curious perspective.  Scan your syllabus for the norms it represents and the attitudes it communicates. Then determine one element you could change to make your syllabus more learner-centered.

Want to learn more?  If you are a graduate of the Distance Education Readiness Course, you can participate in the Distance Education Extension Program and access the “Crafting a Learner-Centered Syllabus” mini-course. If you haven’t taken the DE Readiness Course yet and want to know more, please visit http://blogs.charleston.edu/dereadiness/

Make It Stick Monday

Dr. Henry Roediger on Memory and Learning

Michael S. Overholt

Image result for henry roediger

Dr. Henry Roediger was on campus May 16th as the keynote speaker for TLTCon, speaking to us retrieval techniques as an aid to learning. He is an expert at in the area of “applying knowledge from cognitive psychology to the realm of education,” having authored over 175 articles. You may have seen his name in recent blog posts on the TLT website, where we have been promoting his book Make it Stick in preparation for TLTCon 2019.

You may have guessed that I would jump at the chance of podcasting a conversation about memory and learning. Initially, I thought a conversation about memory and learning would be especially important for foreign language instructors, and I was not disappointed. What I also found out was that Dr. Roediger and I have a shared admiration for Plato’s dialogue the Theaetetus. So, I will apologize for amount of time that you have to hear me prepping question 2. If, however, you have ever referred to a memory as an “impression” or “image,” or have described remembering and forgetfulness in terms of “recalling” or “misplacing” or “being clear” or “not clear,” you are participating in this conversation that Plato began two and a half millennia ago. I think it will be worth a listen. In the last third of this podcast, Dr. Roediger takes some time to discuss how his studies in memory have changed the way he teaches.

I hope you enjoy!

TLT

The Pixel Painter: Art making is accessible to everyone

wolfejg

The Pixel Painter from The Pixel Painter on Vimeo.

As an instructional technologist and digital artist, I’ve taught people of all ages how to be creative with computer software. I see no distinction between using a mouse, crayon or sculptor’s chisel to make something new. Technology need not replace older art making tools, and digital art has its own aesthetic that can be appreciated alongside traditional media like painting, sculpture and printmaking.

Computers and assistive devices can also make creation possible for those with physical impairments who might not otherwise be able to use handheld tools. Influential guitarist Jason Becker has had ALS for 30 years, yet he continues to compose music digitally and communicate via a custom eye-tracking system. He released his latest album Triumphant Hearts in 2018 to critical acclaim.

To illustrate the power of digital literacy and the idea that art should be accessible to everyone, I highly recommend watching The Pixel Painter. Below is a description of the artist depicted in the short film:

Pixel by Pixel. That’s how Hal Lasko made his masterpieces. Each one, tediously and lovingly crafted on Microsoft Paint, some taking hundreds of hours to complete. “Grandpa Hal”, as he was better known, did all of his work despite suffering from wet macular degeneration, an age-related, chronic eye disease which severely limited the center of his field of vision. It was a formidable handicap for anyone, but especially someone who’d made a living off his artist’s eye.

 

Long before age began to take its toll on Lasko, he’d enjoyed a successful career as an artist. He started out as a graphic designer, working in the military during World War II drafting maps and eventually retired from American Greetings in the 1970s. Throughout it all he would paint at home to satisfy his artistic urges, but the older Lasko got, the harder it became for him to paint. That all changed for Hal when his family gave him a computer as an 85th birthday present. His new PC came loaded with Microsoft Paint software, a program developed in the 1980’s. In today’s “Age of the iPad”, the program is more kitsch than cutting edge, but its easy interface and pixel precision allowed Lasko to journey down a new artistic path with a style many consider “retro cool”.

 

In his last year of life, Hal sold his first piece of artwork, had international gallery showings and was featured in Microsoft’s 2013 Super Bowl commercial. He passed away just shy of his 99th birthday in 2014, leaving us with a legacy that passion knows no age, and for Hal, the proof of that is surely in the pixels.

– Jack Wolfe, Instructional Technologist

Teaching team-based learning in large classrooms. TLThd Faculty Focus
Collaboration, Innovative Instruction, Pedagogy

Using Team-Based Learning in a Large, Fixed Seating Classroom

Mendi Benigni

Do you teach in a large, fixed-seating classroom and think you can’t do group work successfully? Well think again!

Team-based Learning, or TBL, is a teaching strategy that is an “evidence based collaborative learning … strategy designed around units of instruction, known as “modules,” that are taught in a three-step cycle: preparation, in-class readiness assurance testing, and application-focused exercise.” (1)  It shares many of the same structures you see in a flipped classroom, problem-based learning, and active learning but the process is what sets it apart from these other strategies.

Graphic depicting the three step process

The Process:

  1. Pre-class preparation designed to give the students the appropriate background and understanding of the concept
  2. In-class readiness assurance testing as an individual and then in their group. This ensures that the student not only did the pre-class prep but understands it as well. Competing the assessment as a group allows an additional opportunity for misunderstandings and knowledge gaps to be rectified prior to the group exercise
  3. In-class application focused exercise is designed to apply and extend the knowledge from the pre-class prep material. It’s normally case or problem-based and the team must arrive at consensus on the best solution. This then leads to a class discussion to explore the topic between groups.

While this strategy works in many different disciplines, it’s perfect for science, exercise science and public health classes.  The problem is these are usually some of our largest classes and faculty worry that they can’t successfully conduct this type of team work in a large, fixed seating classroom.  The folks at the Faculty Innovation Center at The University of Texas at Austin would disagree.  Watch this video on how they have been successful using TBL in large classrooms

Team-Based Learning from Faculty Innovation Center on Vimeo.

Want to know more about TBL?  Visit the resources below.

1 Team-based Learning Collaborative: http://www.teambasedlearning.org/definition/

2 Team-based learning in large enrollment classes by Jonathan D. Kibble, Christine Bellew, Abdo Asmar, and Lisa Barkley  03 OCT 2016 https://physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/advan.00095.2016

TLT

OAKS: Changes to the Navigation bar and Homepage

Laura Plotts

Please note the changes to your OAKS My Home navigation bar and home page.  This is ONLY for the MyHome page.  Individual Course Navigation bar and Homepages are not affected.

Navigation bar changes:

Added Self Registration – Allows any student to register for a how to use OAKS non-credit course.  This is the only course that uses Self Registration.
The self-registration tool for the Introduction to OAKS for Students course allows students to enroll themselves automatically into this course only (students will have to go through normal registration process to register for CofC courses). Once a student has filled out the self-registration form, they will then be added only to the “Introduction to OAKS for Students” course. This is a non-credit course, therefore, this course has been designed for students to learn and understand basic OAKS navigational functions and features.

Added Help – Links to the CofC HelpDesk, OAKS Help  (which you can use to request assistance  or to report a problem with OAKS),  Faculty and Student OAKS tutorials.

Added OAKS Monthly Updates – lists upcoming updates  and new features to OAKS.

Removed Resources  – “Library” link has been added to the Navigation bar now as it own link and “OAKS tutorials” has been moved under the new “Help” link on the navigation bar.

Removed – Links.  Tool was not being used.

Removed – Locker.  Tool was not being used. Tools that can be used for storing and sharing notes and files are part of Office 365 .  They are OneNote which is a a digital notebook that allows you to take notes anywhere, save and synchronize them, and collaborate with others. And OneDrive which is a file hosting service that allows users to sync files and access them from any web browser or mobile device. The storage limit for OneDrive is 1TB.

Homepage changes:

Added How to view your courses – this widget contains steps on how to view you course.  This widget and its information will remain visible throughout the semester.

Changed OAKS Request Forms – now contains only the name of the form.  To see a full description of a specific form/request, click on the form name. (this is only for Instructors and Staff)

Moved Online Help – now called “Help” and resides in the Navigation bar.  Help now contains links to the CofC HelpDesk, OAKS Help  (which you can use to request assistance  or to report a problem with OAKS),  Faculty and Student OAKS tutorials.

Removed – Updates.  OAKS updates can now be found under “OAKS Monthly updates” link on the Navigation bar.

Make It Stick Monday

On Minds and Water Puddles

Michael S. Overholt

TLTCon is just over two weeks away, and I want to draw your attention to an important concept that Roediger highlights in the last chapter of Make It Stick called “generation.” I’ve referred to it in conversations as the “generating effect.” I most recently discussed it in a writing workshop for faculty on the Pomodoro Technique. One of the tricks I suggest for staying focused is creating a triangular card with “Generate,” “Outline,” and “Edit” written on the individual sides. As silly as it seems, seeing “Generate” written on the prompter keeps me focused on simply getting thoughts out.

Pomodoro Technique aside, I have noticed there is a residual effect of this practice. I will be busy doing something else hours after trying to work through a textual problem in Plato, Epictetus, or Galen, and a potential solution surfaces. Think of it like a dolphin’s dorsal fin that you might see while relaxing at Isle of Palms: you’re not expecting it, but it’s suddenly visible.

Make It Stick validates my experience. They cite John McPhee who describes generation in this manner:

In short, you may actually be writing only two or three hours a day, but your mind, in one way or another, is working on it twenty four hours a day—yes, while you sleep—but only if some sort of draft or earlier version exists. Until it exists, writing has not really begun.

I remember the generating effect most clearly in February 2015. I had spent the hours of 4-6 am on my dissertation’s second chapter and struggled with reconciling Plato and Aristotle’s similar but unique descriptions of how our imagination works. I was befuddled. So, I headed out on a three-mile run that took me past Kinnick Stadium and the University of Iowa hospital to the Iowa River. Snow lay thick on the banks, and the temperature was below 0. Lights from the Iowa River Corridor glinted from a thousand icy boughs. It was chilly but mesmerizing. Somehow, between the onramp to the green bridge and the art building reading Vita brevis ars longa est, a solution emerged. Clearly. Quietly. Resolutely. Like a friend stepping out from a crowd.

It happens frequently enough for me to believe that the temperature and brilliance of that wintry morning were not the causes.

The writers of Make It Stick argue, however, that the generating effect also occurs with learning. The key, they insist, is that learning has to be understood as engagement (222). The process demands that we confront the issue head on, wrestling with the problem as an opponent, and then give the solution time to emerge. Here’s how they understand the generating effect:

Struggling with the puzzle stirs your creative juices, sets the mind to looking for parallels and metaphors from elsewhere in your experience, knowledge that can be transferred and applied here. It makes you hungry for the solution. And the solution, when you arrive at it, becomes more deeply embedded with your prior knowledge and abilities than anything pasted onto the surface of your brain by PowerPoint.

Thinking about learning in this manner makes me wonder if our minds aren’t more like water puddles. Figuring out problems means we step into the problem, stamp about in it, and stir up the bottom. The solution will come, but we may have to give the contents time to settle before we can see it clearly.

Professional Learning Clubs 2019-2020, What topics do you want?
TLT

It’s PLC Time!

Mendi Benigni
TLThd is seeking your topic ideas for next year’s Professional Learning Clubs (PLC).  A Professional Learning Club is a group of faculty that meets to collaboratively reflect on and improve their teaching practices.  It involves examining the relationship between teaching practices and student outcomes and then evaluating those practices using the students’ work.  These learning clubs will consist of 4-6 faculty who will take the year to explore, implement, and reflect on specific, empirically-grounded instructional strategies.  For more information or to see last year’s topics, visit the PLC website.
If you have an idea for a potential PLC email them to Mendi Benigni at benignim@cofc.edu NO LATER THAN May 15.
Image of students sitting around a table talking with the words Structured In-Class Discussion Formats Small Teaching Tip #16
Best Practices, discussion, Pedagogy, Small Teaching Tip, Teaching Advice

Small Teaching Tip #16: Structured Discussion Formats

Jessica Smith

“I’m tired of looking out at a sea of blank faces.”

“There’s nothing but crickets when I try to get a discussion going.”

“It’s like talking to a brick wall!”

How many times have you lamented the quality of discussions in your classes? Facilitating engaging conversations is one of the most challenging aspects of teaching.  Even the most brilliant lecturer can be stymied by an unresponsive class.

Often, class discussions fall flat because we fail to remember that students are academic novices. They are not subject matter experts and they are unfamiliar with academic discourse. When it comes to in-class discussions, students benefit from clearly stated instructions, explicit expectations, and structure. Here are a few popular structured discussion formats to try:

Think-pair-share
After lecturing, ask students to jot down their responses to a prompt you provide on scrap pieces of paper or in a Google Doc. After a few minutes, ask them to turn to their neighbors and share their ideas. Finally, bring the entire class together and have the pairs report what they discussed and use what arises as a jumping off point for an entire class discussion. This simple exercise gives students the chance to think and talk through their ideas before being put “on the spot” in front of the entire group. This is essential for students who struggle to participate in discussions because of introversion, social anxiety, or learning disabilities.

Fishbowl
In this exercise, instructors seat students in two concentric circles. The inner group of students discuss a topic while the outer group listens and take notes. Then, the groups switch roles and the outer group summarizes the inner group’s ideas and builds on them. This discussion format helps students practice active listening and argumentation. Another version of the fishbowl is problem-based, in which the central group is charged with solving a problem and the outer group listens and acts as researchers and advisors.

Gallery walk
Place large sheets of paper around the room each with a different prompt (e.g. question, problem, brainstorming task). Assign a few students to each sheet of paper.  Give the groups 5 minutes to respond to the prompt. The groups then rotate to a new sheet and build upon the previous group’s comments. After all the groups visit each sheet, everyone walks around the “gallery” to read all the responses. This can then serve as a springboard for a larger class discussion about conclusions and questions that arose.

Stand where you stand
This exercise works for discussions about questions that don’t have a single answer and, thus, can be debated. Assign a different theoretical or analytical perspective to each corner of the classroom. Ask students to stand in the corner of the room that represents their position on the issue.  As a small group, they should formulate evidence-based arguments to support their position that they think will convince others to agree with them. Each group then presents their arguments and students are given the opportunity to move to a different corner if they were convinced to change their mind. Students can articulate why the arguments did or did not change their opinion on the topic, which can lead to a discussion of effective argumentation and persuasion.

Jigsaw
This exercise is a great use of peer teaching. In preparation for class, each member of a small group completes a different reading on a particular topic (that they find themselves or that the instructor assigns). In class, each student shares a summary of their reading and his/her analysis with their team. During this “reporting out” and subsequent discussion, students become budding “experts” on a specific topic. After a period of time, each student then moves to a new group to teach their speciality to their classmates.

Instructors can also incorporate other sources of knowledge, such as student’s own experiences. For example, students could analyze how a recent experience aligns with or deviates from the theoretical perspective they examined or the results of the research they read.  Students could also complete a “webquest” by seeking examples online (e.g. memes, cartoons, quotes, video clips) and using them to supplement their small group discussion.

Collaborative autoethnography
Based on the qualitative research method designed by Heewon Chang, this exercise privileges students’ lived experiences and encourages significant self-reflection. Students use both their own stories and scholarly sources to analyze a larger societal context. This exercise could take multiple class periods, or could even become the overarching structure of a course. It involves 6 stages:

  1. Students collectively explore a particular phenomenon, problem, or question as a small research team. Based on research and their personal stories related to the phenomenon, students generate an initial set of questions to explore further.
  2. Students then individually reflect on these questions and write their own responses.
  3. They then share their reflections with their team, which collectively identifies commonalities, differences, and remaining questions.
  4. Those themes and questions are discussed in class, benefiting from the insights of classmates and instructor. What arises from those conversations becomes the next set of prompts for further research by the team.  
  5. This cycle of researching, reflecting, and sharing is repeated until no new discoveries occur (or the time allotted for the exercise runs out)
  6. The team then writes about their overall findings, often building models to explain the phenomenon explored.

These ideas are great for face-to-face classes and, with the help of technology and some creative thinking, a few could also be adapted for online courses. I also recommend the book Creating Engaging Discussions: Strategies for Avoiding Crickets in Any Size Classroom and Online by Jennifer Herman and Linda Nilson. And for more help improving discussions, check out these posts:

Do you have other suggestions for facilitating engaging class discussions?  Please share!