The Official Home Of America's Top Faculty™

How to engage the students in discussion

My question is how to engage students discussions or feedbacks in class . I teach anatomy and is sometimes very hard to have student partecipate . Any feedback

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Janice Poston on February 3, 2011 at 2:22pm

Dr. Weicker--I am both faculty and a student at the university where I work. I know it is very frustrating to me when students won't make comments or ask questions. The silence can be deafening. I know from a student's perspective I sometimes am hesistant to ask questions or engage in a discussion in front of classmates as that can be intimidating. I also often have questions or comments after class. I prefer an online forum or discussion board. Many course management system, like Blackboard or Moodle, have discussion boards. Wikis and blogs also elicit comments. Somehow it is less intimidating to response to discussions online. Perhaps using these tools would at least get a discussion going even though the silence in class may remain. It would increase learning. Janice

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Srabasti on March 11, 2011 at 8:51am

Hi Dr. Weicker, Janice,

I have found that my giving some points for class-participation helps. Also, my directly asking each student a question and slowly going through all students in the class.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by M.Eva Weicker, M.D.,M.B.A. on March 11, 2011 at 1:56pm

Great suggestion I will use on BB a discussion with points to improve their grade.

Thank

Eva

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Janice Poston on March 11, 2011 at 3:04pm

Thanks to both of you who responded. Class participation is a wonderful incentive as is asking each student a question. Don't just call on students who raise their hands rather make it a point from the outset of class that you won't be calling on those with their hands raised. That way the same students do not answer every question.

On using discussion boards I recently ran across an article with a rubric for this purpose. It may be found at http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring51/edelstein51.html. I found it very helpful.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sarah Carrington Hannah Petras on November 3, 2011 at 9:34am

I have a set of 3X5 cards with the students' names (and some pertinent information) on one side. I use them to call roll, and place the cards for any absentees on a desk near the door, so anyone who comes a bit late to class can pick up the card and give it to me, thus avoiding being marked as just absent. Dates for absences and notes about who came late or left early are recorded on these cards. I shuffle the cards regularly and use them to call on students for answers to any questions I may pose, and anyone who answers, or volunteers to speak in class, will have a quick grade or comment noted on his/her card. At the end of the grading period, a glance at these cards tells me who missed how many classes, and the accumulated grades (checks for participation or actual grades quickly jotted down for correct/incorrect answers or even brief comments about students' performance) from class discussions tells me who participated well - or not so well. By drawing from the cards, I can be sure of calling on everyone in class sooner or later, and by shuffling the cards, no one can predict when he's going to be called on (so he can just prepare the answer to that one question).