The Discussions are the Exams!The Pedagogy of the Student Led Discussion

Professor William Pelz

Herkimer County Community College

Student Led Discussions

1. What is a student led discussion (SLD)?

2. Getting students ready

3. Basic requirements of a SLD

4. The pedagogy of the discussion response

5. Rating individual discussion responses

6. Evaluating discussions

Student Led Discussions

Q. “What is a student led discussion?”

A. Students ask questions – and then lead the class discussions to answer them!

The student led discussions are the exams! Each discussion post is graded as if it was

an essay exam answer.

Preparing to lead discussions There are two assignments in the Icebreaker Activities Module

that help students achieve excellence in the student led discussions:

1. Students read and discuss the web article “The Role of Questions in Thinking, Teaching and Learning”

2. A three-part assignment on How to Facilitate a Discussion:

a. Students read and discuss a web article on how to facilitate a discussion,

b. then they locate, review, and facilitate a discussion on another web article on the same topic,

c. finally, they participate in additional discussions on the same issue, based on web articles located by other students.

The “Basic Requirements” of student led discussions

There are three requirements for a successful student led discussions:

1. Post questions early – as soon as the module is open. Early posts usually get the best responses from other participants.

2. Participate frequently is all discussions – at least six (6) different times in each discussion.

3. Respond back to every student who replies to you – in the discussions you lead as well as in the other student led discussions you participate in.

The “TWO CARDINAL RULES” for creating a discussion response

1. A "Cardinal Rule" is a rule that is so important that, if you break it, there are dire (...evil in great degree; dreadful; dismal; horrible; terrible) consequences. Students who do not follow these 2 rules will probably not pass this course!

2. Before an acceptable discussion response can be submitted, there are two “editable fields” which must be completed: the Subject field and the Comment field. One Cardinal Rule applies to each of these fields.

Cardinal Rule #1The comment must introduce new and relevant formation.

The comment field should provide new information which is relevant to the issue being discussed.

The major criteria for discussion comments are:1. Is the comment accurate?

2. Is the comment original? If content is copied or paraphrased, the source must be cited.

3. Is the comment relevant to the issue under discussion?

4. Does the comment teach anything new? (Most important!)

5. Is the comment written in an academically appropriate fashion? (With no ‘chat’ lingo, no spelling or grammar errors.)

Cardinal Rule #2The subject field must convey the essence, or main

point, of the comment.

The Subject for the discussion response must convey the main point of the comment. It is not enough to use a "keyword" or "key phrase" as the subject. A short (no more than about 10 words) summary of the main point made in the comment field is required.

This requirement serves two important purposes:1. It requires the author (student as teacher) to think about and clearly

state the main point of his/her comment. To do this, the author must have a clear understanding of the material, and this aids in learning and memory.

2. It provides the reader (student as learner) with some advance information which is helpful in organizing and learning the content of the comment. The reader should be able to determine the essence of your comment just by reading the Subject.

Best Practice…

When creating a discussion response:

1. Create the Comment field first. Remember: an excellent comment is accurate, original, relevant, teaches something new, and is well written.

2. Create the Subject field last. Remember: the subject must convey the main point of the comment.

Rating discussion responses

1. A “0 – 4” point system is used to evaluate how well each discussion response satisfies the Two Cardinal Rules. These ratings can be reviewed by the student who posted the response.

0 points – the response is not acceptable (F)1 point – the response is minimal (D)2 points – the response is average (C)3 points – the response is good (B)4 points – the response is excellent (A)

2. Both the Subject and the Comment are graded.

3. Ratings of discussion responses are not negotiable.

Determining discussion grades

Each discussion in the course is graded using the same scale.

Each module includes two or more chapter discussions as well as a website review / discussion.

The Internet Research Paper pre- and post-discussions are also graded using this scale.

Points Received

Discussion Grade

31+ A

25 – 30 B

12 – 24 C

6 – 11 D

0 – 5 F

Summary & Recommendations

Successful students…

• …post early and participate often in the student led discussions.

• … follow the Two Cardinal Rules.

• …treat the discussions as exams.

• … keep track of how many points they have earned in each discussion