Some other methods i use to get students involved in class is to use them in demos or to help me show how things work in a human chain.
I have included real life cenerios and individual students interests to engage and start the discussion process.
Hi Heather, I am not sure what survey you are referencing??? Susan
Susan Polick
I need to complete the survey in order to get my certification for the class I took awhile back. Can you advise me on this?
Thank you!
Heather Kraabel
Hi Emilie, Thanks for sharing a good "step-by-step" approach to effective questioning! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
When I teach medical coding we have to sequence codes correctly. I like to read the example to the class and ask what will be the primary code and why, then what is the secondary and so on. I can easily tell if the students do not comprehend the information by this and then I can break it down and ask more specific questions to get them to the correct answer.
Hi John, Thanks for your post to the forum. The questioning strategy that you shared is great for all sorts of learners! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
I would have a piece or part that i could send around class or have at there table. They then could look and see how it. then i would start asking each student what they thought it was or how it worked. I would then start to expand on this as i went to other tables of students. This in whole seems to get the class involved and also gets them learning about the part or piece.
Hi Cynthia, Thanks for sharing some excellent questioning methods and also great techniques to use in the online environment. I am glad that you liked this module!
Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
I agree, Danielle, too. I like open ended questions better than fill in the blank or yes/no questions. I use a variety of questioning techniques, but prefer open-ended. I want to encourage deeper critical thinking (analysis, evaluation, synthesis, and problem solving).
The most common question I pose to students is "Can you elaborate on that point?). I remind them to think of the who, what, why, where, when, and how questions related to the topics they are researching in order to have research questions to guide their own research. Part of this process is learning to ask their own open-ended questions.
Cynthia
Hi Betram,
I also like to use open ended questions like "What do you think about this issue, students? Sometimes, I'll ask what are the pros and cons, and then, create a pro/con chart with their "brainstormed" list of pros and cons during a live chat or response to a discussion forum thread.
I tell them there are no wrong answers, and that this is just some preliminary brainstorming on the issue. Later, students can examine the pros and cons, and then, their answer to the question "What do you think?" becomes more informed as a result of the open discussion and weighing pros and cons.
Cynthia Armes
I teach argument and research (Composition I), so I use open ended questions a lot in our classroom discussion to encourage engagement in discussion of topics and debates over argument claims (What pros and/or cons have not been considered? What are some alternative solutions? What are some opposing viewpoints?). I also use the Socratic method to encourage deeper analysis and problem solving (Can you elaborate on that point? Can you explain how the point relates to the problem? Why is this important? What evidence supports your point?
Discussion board facilitation is the key way I engage with students in an online course, and since discussions are the primary way they interact with me and other students, it provides a good opportunity for them to think critically about issues, raise good questions, and engage in dialogue with me and their peers as they research and work toward synthesis of ideas to solve problems.
I do have a bank of questions I use for different discussion focuses (planning a topic, researching a topic, using sources, responding to arguments, and so on). This helps me manage the discussion more effectively, but not with so much rigor, that the questions cannot be changed or adjusted when necessary.
In addition, to topic discussions in forums, live chats provide an opportunity for students to ask questions about writing and research. It also enables me to test their understanding and decide what areas to focus on in a specific chat(How would you cite this specific type of source? What are 3 ways to integrate a source? What is the difference between a peer reviewed journal and a popular magazine publication?)
I enjoyed this module!
Cynthia
Role playing. Have students assume the role of various actors within the criminal justice system.
Hi Shawn, Excellent example of an activity to get discussions moving - thanks for sharing! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
Hi Tracey, Thanks for sharing some good techniques to get students involved in questioning. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
I am a big fan of redirecting questions back to the class to answer. I find this approach gets the class much more involved and allows the students to gain a better understanding as it comes from their peers. If the answer is wrong I correct and redirect again.
One of my favorite ways to get students involved is have them read an opinion from a news article, academic article, or a blog. In order to make certain topics relevant as part of our culture, I will prepare a sample of questions to answer with an article or blog/article that I supply. We barely get through the first four questions before our group discussion is on a roll. After that, I am moderating and leading, rather than instructing and lecturing!
I found this section very helpful for various questions to ask when incorporating quiet students.
At this point my students know what to expect from my lectures. They are allowed to ask questions at any time and if I do not know the answer I will let them work with the person they are sitting beside and we take the time to find the answer in the book as long as it is on topic. I also loke to break my students into groups sometimes and I will throw critical thinking questions into a bag and they will randomly dra a question and answer as a group. This helpps with shy students too
Hi Charles, Great idea to get more student participation! Susan
Susan Polick
I direct students to participate by posing real life scnearios to them and ask them to work as a group to respond. Each student is resonsible for one portion of the answer.
