Collective Guidelines for Participation: Establishing or inviting students into collaboration to develop guidelines for participation--sometimes called ground rules--helps everyone be more prepared for exploring challenging content, navigating difficult discussions, or working together more respectfully. You can give the class the task of generating guidelines or ground rules. One possible format is to have students prior to class think about a course in which they learned a great deal, and to identify in writing what they, their peers, and the instructor were doing that created conditions for learning. After students submit their responses in Canvas, the instructor in class (or in a discussion post for online classes) can pose another prompting question that leads the class to creating community agreements, such as “What are up to three beliefs or actions that seem helpful for creating a classroom where we can learn together, be curious, and voice and engage different perspectives with respect?" Students can reflect on this individually and then share ideas in small breakout groups or in a discussion forum, generating a collective list to then share with the rest of the class. The class can then review the ideas and, through facilitated discussion, clarify meaning, note any patterns, consider what is missing, and explore questions or concerns. The list can then be posted to Canvas for a final period of review and refinement before debriefing at the next class. Once agreement is in place, refer to the guidelines often and call up the various skills in them--the "conversation moves that matter”--as things to practice and debrief regularly. Also remember that guidelines apply to instructors, too. Note that in larger classes, it may be more feasible logistically for instructors to post guidelines and have students review them, offering possible revisions and additions. You can see example guidelines in TEP's Strategies for Engaging with Difficult Topics, Strong Emotions, and Challenging Moments in the Classroom packet.
Protocols for Specific Situations: Protocols are formal steps that a group has agreed to take in the event of specific situations, for example if the group has strayed from their participation guidelines, something offensive has been said, or things get overly heated. One way to establish protocols - and be ready for difficult discussions and heated moments--is to ask students to work in small groups to identify action steps in response to specific prompts such as "What do we do when...we want to disagree, we think different perspectives should be in the room, we think we have strayed from our guidelines, we find ourselves in a hot moment, we feel something offensive or hurtful has been said, etc.?" Such protocols provide a way forward in tough situations that might arise. Moreover, by naming specific situations and discussing action steps to address them, students bolster their capacity to respond with respect and care, and with productive aims in mind. See also for ideas the suggested tools for heated moments below.
Clear Outcomes & Prompts for Discussions and Activities: It is helpful for students to know what they are working to accomplish when interacting together as part of discussions or other activities. Knowing what is expected helps them focus their time and energy, keep track of their process and progress, and keep each other accountable. Even if the purpose of a discussion is to “explore” a reading or “consider” some aspect of it, be transparent about what this means by having students generate something specific they can reflect back to the class, such as providing a summary, identifying three key points, coming up with a question, etc. It is also helpful to provide a clear prompt to kickstart interaction, for example use of sentence starters when writing discussion posts.
Inquiry Roles: Another helpful way to structure student interaction is to have students adopt inquiry roles in their group discussions or projects. Inquiry roles call up important skills and can help students learn the “moves that matter” in expert thinking or scholarly method in your discipline. Such roles also help students practice the skills you might assess in their graded work, such as reasoning, forms of argumentation, types of questioning, or major steps in a process or project. Basic examples of inquiry roles include summarizer, example-giver, proponent, critic, questioner, connector, etc. Additional examples can be found in this set of handouts.
Assess Dynamics of Interaction: Take time periodically to participate in student discussion boards and other group work, even if this simply means being an interested observer. For large classes, you can randomize when you visit and try to engage each group at least once during the term. Moreover, as a class, revisit guidelines or protocols to ensure they are still working; this can be done via student survey, as part of a discussion board or, in smaller classes or sections or labs, as part of a facilitated discussion in Zoom. In addition, have students reflect regularly on their class interactions and identify where they have felt most engaged, challenged, distanced, affirmed, confused, etc. and describe some of the characteristics of their exchanges (you can adapt this handout). For example, if you are using discussion boards, have the class look at certain exchanges and note why the exchange engaged their learning; this provides an opportunity for peer appreciation and community-building, in addition to calling up what about the activity, prompt or "conversation move" was helpful.
