Five teleconferences were held at 6-week intervals following a train-the-trainer workshop for continuing medical education facilitators. Participants felt more prepared to facilitate due to participation in the teleconferences. Teleconferences were an effective way to provide follow-up and reinforcement for workshop participants at a distance.…

Content analysis of faculty discussions at Emory University regarding the university's effort to improve teaching revealed 11 themes: improving teaching evaluation, making teaching a priority, supporting faculty development, improving physical infrastructure, providing effective rewards, understanding student responsibility, implementing change at…

Explores the apparently disparate link between successfully hosting a talk show and successfully teaching a college class and describes methods this professor has used to foster class discussion and student interest. (EV)

Presents four Dutch teachers' experiences with concept mapping, identifying features of the concept mapping task that helps it provoke and support a productive student discourse and explaining that the design of the task can affect the quality of student interaction. The paper describes the concept mapping task, student articulation of feelings,…

Discusses how students need independent word-learning strategies that they can transfer across a wide variety of school and personal texts. Suggests that what appears to work best in word learning is direct instruction in new vocabulary, typically offered prior to reading, through a combination of activities that engage students in discussion and…

Compares the assumptions, strengths, and weaknesses of seven approaches frequently used in the public sector to involve large numbers of people in planning and implementing change. The approaches are real-time strategic change, search conferences, future searches, strategic options development and analysis, strategic choice, technology of…

Modeling faculty meetings after the "rugtime" format used in primary classrooms has helped the faculty and principal at an Illinois elementary school regain their sense of smallness and concentrate on single-topic reflections and discussion. The emerging quality of conversation defines and extends the faculty community. (MLH)

Describes a study of undergraduate students that assessed the effects of synchronous (Internet chat) and asynchronous (Internet discussion board) computer-mediated communication on subsequent face-to-face discussions. Results showed that face-to-face discussions preceded by computer-mediated communication were perceived to be more enjoyable.…

Describes how political and ethical positioning in classroom discussions can be intertwined with productive conversations about the subject matter. Follows a sociocultural approach to literacy, exploring how teachers and students borrow ethical positions from the larger social world and adopt these positions through classroom discussions of…

Explores what happens in senior medical student group sessions when students bring their own cases to the groups for discussion. Suggests that most groups run on a case-presentation and discussion format and that students want tutors to act as expert resources and be flexible in allowing students to direct the discussion. (Author/MM)

Academics have a range of learning activities and tools they can incorporate to enable students to achieve the objectives of their courses. Strategies such as role-play have been used with learners in face-to-face settings to allow students to experience learning using a range of learner identities. Yet, with the exception of role-plays,…

Within a synchronous computer-mediated discussion, teachers used a prescriptive framework of Socratic interventions together with dialogue moves which challenged students to justify their opinions or which presented a devil's advocate line of counter-argument. This paper examines the effectiveness of different teacher strategies and presents…

Geography is not generally viewed as a 'source' discipline for political violence studies, but this paper begins with the presumption that geography is well disposed to teach courses on the subject. The key purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that engaging issues of political violence is useful for our pedagogy. In particular, teaching about…

The study circle is described as a democratic and emancipatory method for learning that can be summarized in three words: learning by sharing. This method offers opportunities and possibilities for all participants to contribute their previous knowledge and experiences through open and democratic dialogue. As a method for "liberal adult…

A mathematical problem is presented. Teachers are advised to spend time discussing the problem with their students, but they should avoid giving them too much guidance.