According to The National University of Singapore’s Center for Development of Teaching and Learning, debates are used to “effectively increase student involvement and participation.” Specifically, by using the debate as a learning tool, students must “conduct comprehensive research into the topic, gather supporting evidence, engage in collaborative learning, delegate tasks, improve communication skills, and develop leadership and team-skills — all at one go.” But, how does one go about doing this in a hybrid setting?
Application
Before class…
Team Setup
The instructor will need to create teams and assign individual team members to said teams. If you tend to be low-tech, you might want to review your student roster and jot down team names on a piece of paper and then assign team members to those teams. For those more comfortable with technology, you may want to consider creating a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel or Google Spreadsheet. Alternatively, most learning management systems have tools built into them to help you set up teams. For Canvas, to learn how to do this, visit the Groups section of the Canvas Instructor Guide.
Although assigning students randomly to teams works fine, you may also want to consider placing them in affinity groups. Alternatively, you may want to assign members who have differing views on the same subject to the same team in order to spice things up and create some internal tension. How you design the teams really depends on what you, as the instructor, are trying to accomplish.
Please Note: For outside of classwork group work, it is important to consider geography when assigning teams. If your institution has multiple campuses or locations, you might also want to take those regional locations into consideration to give them the opportunity to meet in-person.
Defining the Topic
The instructor or course author must define the topics that will be debated. These topics should directly relate to the lesson content and tie directly back to the lesson’s learning objectives.
Setting up the Debate
Now that the teams are established and the topics defined, you need to notify your students on what team they are on; what topic they will be debating, and whether or not their team will be debating in favor, as the proposition, or against, as the opposition, of the assigned topic. Finally, if all the debates are not taking place within the same class period, you need to assign / schedule each group of teams to a specific date
Please Note: Do not have more than one set of teams debate the same topic. If you have the same topic debated by all teams, two problems may arise. First, the last team to debate has an advantage of seeing what has worked or not worked with other teams. Secondly, by the time the last set of teams debate, it is unlikely the rest of the class will be engaged.
Team Collaboration
Although allocating some in-class time to working on their debate is fine, as a hybrid course, the majority of the team’s work and collaboration should be done outside of the classroom. As such, it is important for the instructor to provide students options to collaborate together.
There are a variety of free tools that students can use to collaborate both synchronously and asynchronously including having students collaborate via text. Students might want to consider using online collaborative documents such as Google Docs or a mind/concept map such as Miro. Google Docs is approved for Penn State use; however, Miro you must request authorization through Courseware for your particular instance. both of which are Penn State approved for use. Finally, there are services students might have access to at their university (i.e. Zoom for meeting in real time).
Outside of the classroom, students should be allotted time to identify key points and arguments for their defense. They should conduct research (independently or as a group), collect evidence, and then collaborate as a team to synthesize their findings in order to build their case and argument. Finally, students should also practice their debate outside of class.
During Class…
The instructor should allocate the first five minutes of class towards preparation. During this time, the teams should get together to work out any last minute details. While the teams are collaborating, the instructor should take time to pass out grading rubrics to those students not on either team. Before the debate begins, it is important that the instructor establish ground rules on how to conduct a proper debate and remind students that points will be deducted for misconduct.
Debating Students
All team members should have an active role in the debate (i.e., all students must speak publicly).
Please Note: If certain team members are at a distance, they should be brought in via a synchronous technology such as Google Hangout; Zoom; Skype. If it is impossible for the student to be present during the synchronous session (i.e., military students serving abroad or outside conflict), their portion of the debate should be pre-recorded using an asynchronous technology (uploading a self-made video to YouTube or Kaltura, recording via Zoom or other university sanctioned video technologies, etc.).
Non-Debating Students
For those students not participating in the debate, you want to make sure that they are actively involved and paying attention. This can be accomplished in a number of ways. One example is using a grading rubric. As mentioned earlier, at the beginning of class, the instructor will pass out grading rubrics to students not involved in the next scheduled debate(s). Using the rubric, students are not only required to put their name to it, but they are required to assess each team’s performance. Alternatively, for those instructors more comfortable with technology, you can also ask students real-time questions during the debate that they must answer immediately using live audience participation software as outlined in the Polling Students section.
After class…
After the debate, students should review their rubric and/or the data compiled during the debate and be tasked with synthesizing what data they collected; reflecting upon the debate and this data, and providing a well thought out analysis on why they believe one side “won” the debate over the other. Alternatively, you can provide an assessment or quiz to test how well the students paid attention to the debate and what kind of notes they took throughout the debate by asking probing questions about what transpired in the debate.
Staging a Debate in a Video Conferencing Format
Debates involve students talking back and forth from one another so how does an instructor adapt a debate to fit the video conferencing format? The ideas presented below are merely suggestions. Each of these ideas should be considered based on your comfort level. If you start with a low-tech idea the first time you teach a course, perhaps you can build your strategies until you are comfortable with a higher tech one.
Low Tech Every classroom site and online groups of students are given a side or argument to deliberate and present. Classroom sites hold their own debates and share their experiences with the class while the online groups do this as well. |
High Tech
During Class Time: If laptops, computers, or other Internet-ready devices are available, students can research their arguments in the classroom and those 100% online can do so on the computer they are using to log into class. Students can create or find supporting media, such as videos, still pictures, or PowerPoint, to share and lead the presentation. If supporting media is not easily found, students can use the document camera or online whiteboarding to annotate their talking points, draw illustrations, or share pictures. To facilitate communication across sites, students can use text messaging, cell phones, IM chat, or such things as Zoom Chat, Microsoft Teams, or Skype (depending on availability of resources). Outline of Class Time: Utilize an online discussion board to have debates occur outside of the class time. Examples include Incorporate Online Debates to Stimulate Critical Thinking and Engagement along with Use Online Debates to Enhance Classroom Engagement. |
Low Engagement A round robin discussion can allow each individual to share and justify their argument. |
High Engagement Allow for communication across sites to first deliberate as groups before students share their arguments. Allot time after this first round of opening arguments for groups to reconvene to produce and share counterpoints. |
What Would You Do? (Self-Assessment)
In the following scenario, decide how best to conduct a debate in a video conferencing format.
Situation:
Your Media Ethics hybrid course will be debating on whether media (movies, television, music, and video games) or the home environment has more of an effect on a child’s development. You had already told your class to research an assigned side of the argument prior to the face-to-face class session. You would like to have groups deliberate and organize their thoughts for approximately 15 minutes, followed by a 10-minute presentation of each group’s argument. Then, after groups have presented their initial arguments, they will reconvene to discuss counterpoints that will be presented after 10 minutes.
Since this debate topic has two sides to argue, you must determine how to involve all participants at your three classroom sites and a fourth “site” of an online grouping of students. Site 1 has two students, Site 2 has three students, Site 3 has two students, and the online “site” which is students attending all remotely by themselves is a grouping of seven students.
Question:
How would you set up the debate so that all sites and those online are involved and actively participating? Think about possible solutions (there is NOT just one answer) before reading the possible answers below.
Possible Answers:
Option 1: Combine two of the sites into one side of the argument: we chose to combine the two smallest classrooms (Site 1 and Site 3). Chose a third site to be the other side of the argument: we chose Site 4 (the online grouping of students) with seven students. Make one site the judges for the debate: we chose Site 2 with three students. Now, all sites will have a chance to interact and practice applying the content. During the brainstorming session, Sites 2 and 4 would mute their speakers and microphones so that Sites 1 and 3 could discuss their speaking points and how they will present their arguments. Before they mute their speakers, you, the instructor, would need to set a time to unmute their speakers. You can also communicate with these sites by sharing the document camera and writing directions for them to view. If you are using Zoom, you can utilize the Zoom Breakout feature to place group in their own collaborative spaces. The following illustration depicts this option:
Option 2: This time, Sites 1, 2, and 3 are all working together for one side of the argument, and only Site 4 is muted.