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Think of the best group
discussions you've ever been involved in. What things happened that made
these conversations so satisfying? Make a few notes on this by yourself.
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Think of the worst group
discussions you've ever been involved in. What things happened that made
these conversations so unsatisfactory? Make a few notes on this by yourself.
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Now form a group with 3 other
people. Take turns in talking about what made discussion groups work so well
for you. Listen for common themes, shared experiences and features of
conversation that a majority of you would like to see present in this
course.
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Take turns in talking about
what made discussion group work so awful for you. Listen for common themes,
shared experiences and features of group conversation that a majority of you
would like to see avoided in this course.
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For each of the
characteristics of good discussion you agree on, try and suggest three
things a group could do to ensure that these characteristics were present.
Be as specific and concrete as you can. For example, if you feel good
conversation is developmental, with later themes building on and referring
back to earlier ones, then you could propose a rule
that every new comment made by a participant is prefaced with an explanation
as to how it relates to an earlier comment.
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For each of the
characteristics of bad discussion you agree on, try and suggest three things
a group could do to ensure that these characteristics were avoided. Be as
specific and concrete as you can. For example, if you feel that bad
conversation happens when one person's voice dominates then you could
propose a rule whereby once someone has spoken they are not allowed to make
a second comment until at least three other people have spoken (unless
another group member explicitly invites the participant to say something
else).
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Try and finish this exercise
by drafting a charter for discussion that comprises the specific ground
rules you agree on. We will make each group's rules public and see if we can
develop a charter for discussion to guide us in the coming weeks.