Encouraging Student Interaction on the Internet

Delegator Routines

The delegator teacher aims to construct classroom encounters that provide transformative experiences for students.  Knowledge is supposed to be part of a humanizing process that makes people better individuals, not simply individuals with more content.  Because this approach assumes some  model about human potential, the routines used must do more than introduce content, they must facilitate a process of personal development.  Inevitably, this approach places more demands on continual exchanges between students and teacher.  A couple of routines are described below.

Routine 7: SHOWeD

Drawn from Freirean model the SHOWeD routine leads learners through a series of questions in response to an initial situation (codification).

Step 1: SEE
The first questions are descriptive in nature, they ask learners to describe what they SEE.

Step 2: HOW COME?
Following this, the questions focus on HOW COME people are behaving this way.  Considered the first level of analysis, this stage elicits learners initial interpretations.

Step 3: OUR LIVES
The facilitator next looks for personal occasions in OUR LIVES that compare with the situation and refines the initial analysis based on our own experience.

Step 4: WHY?
As the basic definition of the situation become clear, the facilitator pose the WHY question that moves the group in search of scholarly based hypotheses that can be used to interpret and diagnose the situation.  Comparison of competing theoretical orientations may provide room for discussion.

Step 5: DO
Finally, learners are asked to decide, based on this analysis, what actions they are willing to DO.

This routine allows a great deal of space for cross-disciplinary dialogue and connection to personal experience.  It provides a flexible, yet guiding process that works toward deeper levels of analysis.

Adaptations for the internet
The chat room environment may prove too rapid for some of this dialogue.  More reflective postings may work better, especially if contained within discussion group rather than large classroom listserves.  The assignments that lead students through these steps could be distributed via email from the teacher with discussion groups sending responses to their conversations to the teacher (who can distribute them to the whole class or publish them on a web site for common reflection).  Some sort of reflective process should be built in so that students can comment on their development (and any concerns about what is restricting it).

Routine 8: NIF Discussion

The National Issues Forums, developed by the Kettering Foundation, are designed to draw people together in public dialogue around controversial topics.  Their model of human potential is a civic one.  These discussions aim to educate people on the arts of democratic dialogue, helping people discover how to collaborate in critical and creative efforts to develop common ground.

Step 1: Orientation
Usually 3 positions are presented in pre-meeting readings.  The theme of the discussion is presented, the various positions are outlined (usually through a set of readings to be completed prior to other steps), and the rules of the dialogue are shared.

Step 2: Understanding
The initial phase of the discussion is to review each position in an effort to honestly understand and compare the strengths and weaknesses of all positions.  Participants are requested to not defend any particular position (although they do not have to deny their preference).   This is also a stage in higher education where disciplinary knowledge is incorporated to the dialogue.

Step 3: Common Ground
At the stage that all positions are well understood, the next phase begins.  Participants are now asked to find areas of common ground — ideas or positions that representatives from each area is likely to support.  The collection of these new sets of ideas become the framework for common action.  This routine is a nice one for engaging topics where considerable irresolvable difference of opinion is found.  Again, disciplinary knowledge should provide a basis for developing or evaluating the common ground ideas.

While not part of the NIF process, educators may consider a fourth step, one that devises action plans so that applications can test the validity of the new intellectual frameworks.

Adaptations for the internet
The initial phase may be delivered through traditional media.  An email contact to allow clarification on the process would be advisable.  The remaining steps would need to be conducted through a listserv or chat room using a conference style moderator.  Both steps 2 and 3 can involve a couple hours in actual dialogue.  Time must be allocated for participants to engage in the lengthy exchange of questions.  The instructor may use the public forum as well as private messaging to oversee the process and work with groups or individuals.

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Formal Authority Routines

Demonstrator Routines

Facilitator Routines