Teachers' Retreat, June 11, 2006

Improving Discussion Skills and Advanced Content-based and Skills-focused Classes (2nd discussion)

Participants: Greg Lamb, Mike Nix, Mary Jo Pichette, Ian Platt, Rob Russell, Zorana Vasiljevic, Michael Watson

Discussion centered on the problems students experience in conducting and presenting their research. An important point in discussion was the reasons why students are doing research. Mike N. suggested that one way to look at the research is to approach it as an opportunity for students to learn about the topics they are interested in. Other teachers seemed to support that view. Lecturing in content based classes was not found to be as effective as student initiated research. Greg mentioned that advanced students tend to have strong opinions about the issues and that sometimes has a negative effect on interaction within a group. To encourage students to interact more, Mary Jo suggested posters be produced by a whole group (eg group A) and then shared with other groups ( B&C).

Poster Making:                                                          A1 + A2 + A3

Discussion: A1 + B1 + C1

Ian also expects students to put their notes together and produce mind-maps.

Michael W. reported that in his class students are asked to research an issue and then present their opinion on the topic, while other students look for holes and inconsistencies in their argument.

To prepare students for studies abroad, Rob assigns research topics related to lectures they listen to in class as that is something students are often expected to do at British universities. 'Split listening' where students listen to different recordings was suggested as one way to improve both their listening and their class interaction. A possible solution to logistical problems would be to give all students a tape at the beginning of the course and then designate the sections they have to work on.

Zorana mentioned that students often experience problems with combining information from different sources. Rob pointed out that to overcome these difficulties students must work with simplified texts which would make integration of information easier. In order to expand the database of abridged articles, it was suggested that each instructor could simplify one text each year.

Finally, we discussed support for language development. Mike mentioned presentation skills and explicit teaching of discourse markers, but most vocabulary and grammar was considered to be built in the research and presentation work.

(Summarized by Zorana)