SW 8112

Guidelines for Discussion Facilitation Assignment:

Each student will sign up to facilitate class discussion of one of the reserve readings. In order for this activity to be successful, all students must come prepared to discuss the class reading for that day. This assignment accomplishes several purposes. It helps students to develop critical thinking, provides experience for “evidence-based practice” by drawing from research in the field and engages you in the learning process. This exercise also assists students in developing group facilitation skills for leading task groups. Students will use a modified version of the Learning Through Discussion (LTD) Method by following these steps: (Time limits are estimates only- the discussion will last approximately 50 minutes)

1. Checking in: Develop a written agenda and review it with the group. Verify that the reading has been done and that the discussion is ready to begin (2 minutes)

2. Vocabulary: Identify and define any terms that are new or difficult to understand in the reading and come to agreement about them (3 minutes)

3. Identification of Main Theme: Encourage the group to identify and discuss the main theme of the writing by describing it in their own words (10 minutes)

4. Identification of Sub Themes: Encourage the group to identify and discuss the meaning of each sub theme (10 minutes)

5. Application to other works: Connect the work to learning in some other context. How does the learning relate to other material or ideas the students are familiar with? (5 minutes)

6. Application to oneself: Encourage students to share how the article relates to them personally and professionally. (10 minutes)

7. Evaluation of the author’s presentation: Discuss feelings/ideas about the author’s work/ critique it (5 minutes)

8. Evaluation of the group’s efforts: Discuss how well the group worked together in discussing the articles, evaluate the group’s success in completing the task (5 minutes)

All students should develop an agenda and an informal evaluation tool. Group members can be asked to rate the session and/or provide comments to evaluate the session. The discussion facilitator should turn in the agenda and the evaluation sheets into the instructor.

Students will be awarded 10 points for completing this assignment. Points will be subtracted if some portion of the assignment is not completed or followed.