The Discussion Project aims to strengthen our campus-wide capacity to create welcoming, engaging, and academically rigorous classroom environments in which students experience productive classroom discussions on important issues and topics.
Mission
Engaging discussions are one of the most rewarding and memorable activities that students and faculty alike can experience in the classroom. Recent research shows that classroom discussion deepens learning, creates community, and helps students form an academic identity.
At the same time, classroom discussion is a challenging pedagogical undertaking. It requires the instructor to orchestrate learning among a group of students who likely do not know each other, come from a diversity of backgrounds, possess a range of political commitments, arrive with varying levels of familiarity with the course material, and have different levels of comfort speaking in class.
Inviting student discussion also comes with some risk, because we don’t know what they are going to say. That unknown means that the instructor will have to be ready to follow one student’s interesting and unexpected line of thought, correct another’s misunderstanding about the material, and also be prepared to respond to any number of possibly off-topic, inappropriate, hostile, or naïve comments.
To address these promises and challenges, the School of Education has designed a professional development program for UW–Madison faculty and teaching staff. The program will be offered in both the 2018-19 fall and spring semesters.
Program Basics
- Participants will meet for two full-day sessions and one half-day session around mid-semester. See the course outline for specific dates, times, and locations.
- Participants receive $500 of flex funding for completing all sessions, evaluations, and student questionnaires.
- Participants will have the option to receive feedback and coaching on their classroom practice.
The Discussion Project draws upon the most recent research on classroom discussions in higher education to identify effective facilitation strategies. We have designed the program around these practices and scaffolded the learning so the participants move from basic, low-risk strategies to more complex strategies.
Learn More
The Discussion Project Website
Visit The Discussion Project Website for details about applying, upcoming dates and deadlines, staff, and resources.
Contact
If you are interested in hearing more about the project, we are happy to present at your faculty meetings or other meetings of potential participants. Please email us to set up a time.
If you have questions about the Discussion Project, please contact us via email at discussion-project@education.wisc.edu or reach us by phone at 608.263.6677.