General Advice

• Keep in mind the purpose of the discussion (in the case of this course, the purpose is most likely to answer students' questions and give students an opportunity to discuss new terms and concepts presented during the lecture)
• Plan how you will conduct each discussion session
• Use assignments to prepare students for discussion (could be to preview the lecture, try a few programming problems prior to lecture)
• Use a guide to aid the discussion (in this case, classroom assessment tools)
• Discuss expectations of students at the start of the term

Starting a Discussion

• Refer to study questions (classroom assessment tools)
• Ask for students' questions (in the context of TVI, getting students to ask questions is critical)
• Pair students to discuss assigned readings, the lecture video, and/or the classroom assessment tool
• Pose an opening question and give students time to write down their answer
• Ask students to pose the dumbest question they can think of (this will get students to start asking questions and the dumbest questions usually turn out to be useful)
• Make a list of key points from the lecture
• Ask students to elaborate on the points and discuss their importance
• Use storyboarding
• Divide a problem or concept into subtopics or questions and place these around the room.
• Have students working in groups circulate around the room to visit and discuss each problem.

Guiding the Discussion

• Take rough notes
• Use the notes for summarizing the discussion
• Keep discussion focused
• Keep a list of key points on the board and bring discussion back to these issues
• Clarify students' confusions (it is important to encourage students to answer each other's questions, but be sure to step in when students have incorrect ideas and answers)
• Bring closure to the discussion
• Frame next day's lecture
• Assign students to summarize the main points of the day's discussion