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In an online executive education setting, online discussions are seen as a frequently used pedagogical tool that promotes higher level of learning and critical thinking. A teacher's role is seen more as a moderator or facilitator of learning than as a lecturer or preacher. This shift of roles enhances the online students’ opportunities to critically think and reflect; and encourages co-creation of knowledge by way of peer discussions. It is imperative that students apply their critical thinking as well as soft skills to effectively participate and contribute towards making the discussion forum as self-regulated. However, in reality it needs explicit planning and effort on the part of the teacher to motivate them towards this positional shift. This chapter presents the motivation and techniques for improving student engagement by way of assigning them the role of moderator in a predominantly asynchronous online course for management graduates. A qualitative analysis of the observations made based on the application of three techniques of student moderation on student cohorts is shared and implications are discussed.

To describe the use of digital video as a tool for preservice teachers to examine their own literacy learning (rather than teaching) practices in order to document the potential benefits of developing observation skills and metacognitive awareness.

During a literacy methods course, preservice teachers engaged in literature discussions. They then analyzed video of discussions to identify their processes, the effectiveness of their talk, and areas needing improvement. Content analysis was then performed on discussions, responses, and reflections about video as a learning tool.

The preservice teachers engaged in varied discussions, subsequently evaluating their practices in sophisticated, contextualized, and personally relevant ways. They articulated multiple benefits of video to enhance their roles as both learners and teachers. While examining their learning practices, they frequently shifted focus to teaching.

Digital video allows preservice teachers to reflect independently, generate theory about practice, and compare their practices to those of others, both peers and students. By analyzing their own learning, teachers can develop empathy toward students, discover the relative benefits of assignments, and model personal learning.

Teaching pre-service social studies students how to engage their future students in powerful classroom discussions is an important and challenging goal for teacher educators. This chapter presents a rationale for creating discussion-rich social studies courses, explains why it is so challenging for teacher education students to learn how to teach with discussion, and describes an approach involving videotaped discussions that helps meet those challenges.

With the increasing diversity, including international students, in US American colleges, it is inescapable for faculty to make long-term adjustments to maximize learning for every participant in their courses. Creating an inclusive environment means that faculty are attuned to the diverse needs of college students regarding each task written or oral. In this chapter, the author describes an applicable academic class discussion model, an equitable process that faculty can adapt in their classes and facilitate frequently, especially if that is an inevitable component of their courses. The author explains how comprehensive notes on texts, adequate information literacy skills, and transparent class norms will lead to learning-centered academic class discussions and meaningful engagement of international college students.

Increased access to flexible work arrangements has the prospect of enhancing work-family reconciliation. Under consideration is extent that managers assumed lead roles in initiating discussions, the overall volume of discussions that occurred, and the outcomes of these discussions.

A panel analysis of 950 managers over one and a half years examines factors predicting involvement in a change initiative designed to expand flexible work arrangement use in a company in the financial activities supersector.

The overall volume of discussions, and tendencies for managers to initiate discussions, is positively predicted by managers’ prior experiences with flexibility, training to promote flexibility, and supervisory responsibilities. Managers were more inclined to promote flexibility when they viewed it as a supervisory responsibility and when they believed that it offered career rewards. An experiment demonstrated that learning of professional standards demonstrated outside of one’s own unit increased promotion of flexible work options. Discussions of flexibility led to many more approvals than denials of use, and also increased the likelihood of subsequent discussions occurring, indicating that promoting discussions of flexible work arrangements can be a path toward expanding use.

The study identifies specific factors that can lead managers to support exploration of flexible work arrangement use.

To present a cross-case analysis of two pre-service teachers who studied their own teaching using video within a teacher inquiry project (TIP) – a teacher education pedagogy we are calling video-mediated teacher inquiry.

Activity theory is used to examine how inquiry groups collaboratively used video to mediate shifts in goals and tool use for the two pre-service teachers presented in the study. This chapter addresses the question of how video-mediated teacher inquiry supports the appropriation of teaching tools (i.e., classroom discussion) in a teacher education program.

The findings indicate that shifts in goals and tool use made during the TIP suggest greater appropriation of the pedagogical tool of classroom discussion. We also consider how these shifts may be bound by the inquiry project.

The use of video cases of teachers’ own teaching is an emergent pedagogy that combines elements of both case study methods and practitioner inquiry. We argue that this pedagogy supports tool appropriation among pre-service teachers in ways that may help them develop as reflective practitioners.

Discussion is a staple in an academic classroom and remains at the apex of importance regarding student learning. It offers students an opportunity to have discourse around course material, other scholarly material, life experiences, etc. Discussion can lead to a deeper understanding of the subject matter and provide students and faculty exposure to perspectives that may challenge, validate, or reframe existing perspectives. Such discourse can also shatter existing perspectives and create opportunities for the development of new ones. The central role of faculty is to develop topics to be discussed and facilitate said discussions. Topics perceived as controversial (e.g., politics, human sexuality, religion, etc.) tend to produce the most lively and valuable discussions. Unfortunately, fears of retribution for engaging in such topics have commonly caused faculty to shy away from having such difficult dialogues. These fears persist even though the 1940 ­Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure position is to allow professors the opportunity to discuss challenging topics in the classroom (AAUP, n.d.). The current chapter addresses the challenge of protecting faculty who need the support of academic freedom in their classroom discussions. The authors approach this problem by discussing factors that leave faculty hesitant to engage in provocative classroom discussions such as the institution’s culture, faculty characteristics, rights of the faculty, and student population. Finally, the authors conclude with practical implications for how faculty hesitancy has the consequence of not promoting the critical thinking skills of students, which are required for today’s students who will become and who are already working professionals.

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to understand how, if at all, backchanneling technology supported an early career English teacher’s facilitation of literary discussions in his 10th grade classroom. Although emerging findings from studies of backchanneling in teaching contexts have illustrated its potential power, little attention has been given to how teachers learn to use the tool or reimagine their pedagogical roles as they use backchanneling for instructional purposes.

Design/Methodology/Approach – Discourse analyses of 16 face-to-face (frontchannel) and online (backchannel) transcripts of discussions exposed how participants used these two venues to interact simultaneously around a literary text. Methods from Nystrand’s (2002) dialogic discourse analysis isolated each teacher interjection in the contexts of each discussion.

Findings – The teacher used the backchannel to probe for elaborated student responses and model dialogic discourse moves. The teacher’s behind-the-scenes support limited his participation during frontchannel discussions, allowing for open discussion among students without the teacher’s consistent interjection, which disrupted the initiation-response-evaluation discourse structure that is pervasive in US schools.

Practical Implications – Although backchanneling technology can be used to archive records of students’ participation that could be useful for assessment purposes, the teacher’s skillful capacity to negotiate two discussions at once reconstituted his role during the discussion from facilitator to a fellow reader with his students as they explored meaningful questions that literature provokes – a less obvious and potentially more powerful affordance of this digital tool for instructional purposes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how online discussion can be used in work‐integrated learning as a vehicle for students to demonstrate their learning in the workplace and to facilitate collaborative learning where face‐to‐face classes are not feasible.

The paper evaluates the use of assessable online discussion in facilitating collaborative learning and scaffolding reflection in work placement subjects. It reviews the literature regarding the use of online discussion, particularly for work placement subjects, and evaluates the use of an online discussion forum in a case study subject in the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) undergraduate law course.

The paper suggests that assessable online discussion forums are appropriate to facilitate student collaboration and collaborative learning in work placement subjects.

The paper is original in its examination of the assessment of online discussion in a work‐integrated learning context.