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Incentivize contributing to in-class discussion to reduce the stigma or fear of making in class contributions.

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Action:

  • Encourage students to participate in class discussion by giving those who participate with a piece of candy or other treat, participation points or extra credit, or verbal affirmation.

Reason:

  • This can help alter students’ interpretation of their peers’ motivation for participating and thereby reduce potential stigma. Moreover it provides a counter motivation to the fear of participating.

Explain why participating in discussion is important to focus students’ attention on its many benefits and thereby motivate them to increase their participation.

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Action:

  • Explain that you use in-class discussion to help students:

    • Learn from each other
    • Practice articulating their ideas about the topic
    • Identify and address misconceptions about the topic within the class
    • Extend their knowledge beyond the ideas in the readings or class materials

Reason:

  • Help students understand that discussion during class is designed to accomplish specific learning goals.

Create a safe classroom environment where you can call on students in a random order to ensure everyone has the opportunity to contribute equally.

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Action:

  • Write student names on notecards to allow you to call on students randomly during class.
  • To avoid your bias about students influencing what questions they get asked, it is best to ask the question first before picking a student to answer. This also encourages all students to listen to and think about the question.
  • This strategy only works if students feel safe making mistakes. Otherwise this can make students feel threatened and ultimately not able to focus on the course content. To create this safe environment you can celebrate confusion and allow students to pass. If a student passes on a question, it can be helpful to return to them to make sure they can later answer the question.
    • Harvey Mudd College faculty member Melissa O’Neill has co-authored a paper with a description of this technique.

Reason:

  • This ensures an even distribution of opportunities to participate.

Ask students to track and report whether or not they have participated to ensure all students participate.

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Action:

  • There are three typical ways to have students track and report their participation:

    • Midway through class, ask students “who hasn’t yet contributed?”
    • Give students a card to keep on their desk that is face up before they have contributed and face down once they contribute. You can use the cards to identify who hasn’t had the opportunity to contribute.
    • Give students a quarter sheet of paper and ask them to write their name, whether or not they made a contribution, and perhaps an insight that they’ll take away from the class. This practice is called an exit ticket and has many variations.

Reason:

  • This decreases the difficulty of keeping track of which students have participated in class and creates a climate of shared responsibility.
  • This communicates to students that you care about everyone’s ideas and also expect everyone to participate.
  • This can help students who participate frequently understand the goal of everyone having the opportunity to participate.

Use in-class writing tasks or small group discussion to prime students for discussion.

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Action:

  • At the beginning of class, or during a lull in conversation, ask students to do a short writing task or small group discussion.

Reason:

  • This ensures that everyone’s attention is focused on the issue at hand and has the opportunity to prepare a contribution for discussion.
  • Small group discussions can allow students to check their ideas with a peer and to share comments or ask questions that they would hesitate to ask in front of the whole class.

Post discussion questions online before class to allow shy and/or introverted students to prepare comments.

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Action:

  • Share discussion questions with students before class. Ask students to think about these questions and come prepared to discuss them.

Reason:

  • Providing discussion questions in advance can help students develop their ideas who might find it challenging to collect their thoughts and interject them within a quickly evolving discussion. If students have the opportunity to prepare statements in advance they might be better able to contribute. This can be particularly helpful for students who are shy, introverted, or are taking a class that is not taught in their native language.

Specify how students should indicate they want to speak to make it easier for quiet students to contribute to the discussion.

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Action:

  • Make it explicit how students should indicate that they want to be called on to speak. For example, you might ask students who want to make a new contribution to hold up a hand and students who want to build on a previous contribution to hold up a finger.
  • Prioritize students who are building upon other students’ contributions, if that is appropriate for where you are in the discussion.

Reason:

  • Not all strategies students us to try to gain access to the conversation are equally effective. Asking students to adopt a common method to enter the conversation gives you an opportunity to call on quiet students and make the conversation more coherent..

Post discussion questions online before class or assign reading responses or pre-class quizzes to ensure students come to class prepared and you learn what would be best to focus class discussion on.

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Action:

  • Along with reading assignments, ask students to look over discussion questions and/or complete reading responses or pre-class quizzes.
  • These pre-class assignments can have students develop clarifying questions that can help launch class discussions.
  • Look over these reading responses or quizzes to identify common questions or misunderstandings to address in class.
  • You can ask students who rarely contribute to class discussions to read out their pre-written question or answer to kick off the discussion.

Reason:

  • Some students contribute very little to classroom discussions because they are simply unprepared. Some students are confused by the reading or lectures but are too shy to ask their questions in class without being first called upon. Other students can find it challenging to develop their ideas or collect their thoughts within a quickly evolving discussion. In addition, pre-class assignments are helpful to students who are taking a class that is not taught in their native language..

Ask students to raise their hands rather than shouting out contributions to enable you to call on students who contribute less often.

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Action:

  • When establishing norms for classroom discussions on the first day of class, ask students to raise their hands rather than shouting contributions.
  • Tell students that you’ll wait to see at least a certain number of hands up before calling on anyone.
  • You can call on students who have volunteered, but who typically contribute less often.
  • Explain your reason for employing this technique to students.
  • If you sometimes want them to raise their hands and other times shout shout out the answer, make clear to them when each is appropriate.

Reason:

  • Faculty expectations for students vary and there is no way for students to know the norm unless it is explicit.
  • This can help ensure that all students have the opportunity to think through a problem you pose before someone says an answer.