Finds that rates of student participation in online discourse and the nature of that participation related to the nature of in-class lecture and discussion, to the ways in which the instructor framed and managed the uses of computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies, to the structure of the course, and to students' perceptions of the…

Suggests five activities for the college classroom to stimulate discussion when students report results of small- group discussions to the class as a whole. The activities "newsprint dialogue," rotating small-group stations, "snowballing,""cocktail party," and "jigsaw" stress maximum student participation, interaction, and intellectual engagement.…

Describes "assigned conversations," a technique for inducing focused study of reading assignments outside of class by using them to structure cooperative learning in class. Individual students take responsibility for leading a class conversation about a portion of text. Application with both large and small classes indicated the method increases…

More universities are offering online instruction for students though we know little about effective online learning. Some have found online instruction increases student participation while others have reported that students prefer the traditional face-to-face format. This study of gifted education graduate students follows the expectation that…

In this article, the authors describe how they collaborated to learn how children in their classroom make sense of a mathematical idea. One discusses their new knowledge from the perspective of a large-group discussion, and the other discusses it from the perspective of her small-group investigation. They also discuss how this collaboration has…

We integrate available and new technologies to strongly enhance student engagement in upper division undergraduate courses on human evolution and history. First, we use peer-mentored discussion groups through the Blackboard system--appropriately scaled, constructed, and incentivized. These allow day-to-day monitoring of student understanding.…

The purpose of this pilot study was to determine if instructors' use of mini audio presentations (MAPs) in online discussions serves as an effective facilitation method, particularly when the content contains specific facilitation markers including reinforcement, recognition, and reward (three Rs). Instructors posted MAPs as audio file attachments…

In an evaluation study employing a pretest-posttest control group design, 13 elementary schools were paired based on characteristics of their student bodies, faculties, principals, and special programs. One school from each pair was randomly assigned to experimental and control conditions. Third grade teachers in the experimental schools were…

Describes the use of value analysis exercises to promote small group and class discussion. (MM)

For one freshman composition instructor, the method that has brought more students out of their shells in her classes over the past three years is group conferencing. Adapted from compositionist Donald Murray's method of conferencing with individual students to discuss their papers, group conferencing gives students the opportunity to discuss…

A decision story is a brief scenario describing a health problem which might be faced in real life. Such topics as venereal disease, drug use, and nutrition can be explored by use of the decision-making model. The phases involved in processing the decision story strategy are described. (JN)

Cooperative learning can help teach children to write because (1) it raises consciousness and encourages decision making; (2) its accepting social environment helps students seek worthwhile experiences; and (3) mutual concern and discussion of differing viewpoints rely on dialogue to enhance personal and intellectual growth. (SM)

Describes a number of informal "turn-to-your-neighbor" approaches that create an active learning environment in college lecture settings. These include: launching class in discussion, breaking up the lecture for comprehension checks, closing class with small-group conversation, and debriefing exams. (DB)

Presents a case study of one classroom teacher's attempt to develop critical discourse in students, focusing particularly on the ability of language-minority students to participate in critical discussions. Suggests that allowing students to explore topics of personal relevance--as may occur in a critical literacy curriculum--is one way of…

Describes a study of a graduate level online course that investigated whether the systematic use of instructor-initiated audio emails, as a supplement to regular textual forms of communication, would increase students' participation in group discussion and result in more favorable student perceptions of student/faculty relationships and quality of…