9 Ways to Use Class Discussion to Promote Transformation

A Vehicle for Active Learning

Promoting Critical Thinking Through Both Constructive Controversy and Collaborative Dialogue

From our national discourse to our workplace conversations, it seems the need for engaged and constructive dialogue has never been stronger.

However, effective communication–even in the face of disagreement–is seldom modeled today.

Learn how to teach this valuable skill with 9 Ways to Use Class Discussion to Promote Transformation, a 60 minute Magna Online Seminar on CD.

Roben Torosyan, Ph.D., an authority on faculty development, will share techniques to enhance classroom discussion and make it a vehicle for active learning and intellectual development.

Learn How to Structure Discussion to Promote Cooperative Learning

Classroom discussions give students an opportunity to both delve into their course material and develop their learning skills. But initiating discussion, facilitating participation by everyone and getting students to build on each other’s contributions takes work. In this seminar you’ll learn how to encourage your students to:

Listen to and understand opposing viewpoints
Learn from their mistakes
Recognize errors in their thinking
Become effective team players and leaders.

Explore Proven Practices

Drawing on his extensive experience in the scholarship of teaching and learning, and his own background as an educator and consultant, Dr. Torosyan emphasizes an innovative and practical approach. In 9 Ways to Use Class Discussion to Promote Transformation, this is some of what you’ll learn:

How to have students set and follow ground rules for classroom discussion
How to use short, ungraded writing assignments to deepen thinking and discussion
How to slow the flow of classroom discussion, and probe deeper
How to hear from (nearly) everyone
How to make tangents a gift
How to keep discussion on track or re-frame it
How to break up cliques in the classroom
How to use structured controversy to deal with differences productively
How to use comments to make the group responsible for its own dynamics
How to summarize what was learned
How to infuse variety into classroom discussions

Who Will Benefit From This Seminar

Adjunct and distance education faculty
College and university professors
Academic affairs administrators seeking to boost the benefits of meetings
Graduate student instructors
Teaching assistants
Faculty developers and trainers
Student affairs leaders and staff.

About the Presenter

Roben Torosyan, Ph.D., is associate director of the Center for Academic Excellence and assistant professor of curriculum and instruction at Fairfield University. A frequent speaker on faculty development, he has given presentations for many national organizations and institutions, including the Faculty Learning Community Facilitators’ Conference, the Teaching Professor, the POD Network, Harvard, Columbia and NYU. He has a Ph.D. in cultural studies in philosophy and education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a B.A. and M.A. from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University.

Video & So Much More

You’ll get additional materials to enrich your teaching after viewing the seminar, including:

Questions for further discussion
Sample documents, including an example of an email sent to students who over or under participate
Dos and don’ts
An article of Torosyan’s on improving classroom discussion.

The Discussion Guide for Facilitators

The Discussion Guide for Facilitators is offered free of charge to participants in Magna online seminars. The Discussion Guide features strategies and techniques designed to get your whole campus involved in using classroom discussion to promote transformation. You’ll find tools to put your seminar learning to work, share best practices and keep the conversation going.

TO ORDER: 9 Ways to Use Class Discussion to Promote Transformation