Mark Freeman, Fiona Skillen and Valerie Wright

Small-group teaching

Preparing for seminars

• Question 1• What are your main concerns about

undertaking small-group teaching?

• Question 2• How would you prepare for a small-group

seminar/tutorial?

What makes an effective seminar/tutorial?

• What methods have worked well for you – either as a tutor or as a student?

• And why have they worked well?

When things go wrong…..

• Why small-group sessions can go wrong:– tutor/students not being prepared

– goals/discussion unclear

– tutor turns into lecturer

• tutor asking question and then answering it

– talk is dominated by one or two students

– focus on memory rather than higher-level cognitive skills

– tutor is too critical of student responses

– questions are not asked clearly enough

– students do not participate

How to engage students….

• range of different tutorial/seminar types

– whole class discussion

– workshop – students divide into small groups and given tasks to complete and feed back on

– debate – students divide into two groups and take opposing positions

– student-led – students decide focus of discussion, and tutor is an observer

– buzz-groups/brain-storming – brief intensive discussions to identify main topics/questions, which are then returned to for deeper discussion

….continued

– mini-projects/presentations – can be used to ensure that everyone contributes – also an important transferable skill

– self-help group/action-learning set – students use the tutorial/seminar to discuss all aspects of the topic using tutor as resource

– problem-solving – students divide into small groups but focus on a particular aspect of the topic

– snowball – individuals, then pairs, then fours discuss together, building up a broad range of points

– role-play – students are given a particular point of view, and argue from it

Summary

• Check out the room and facilities beforehand!

• Make a rough ‘lesson plan’

– allocate time for housekeeping issues, ice-breaker (?), topic discussion, and general summary/question session at the end

– decide what outcomes you want to achieve and which questions/methods of discussion will aid that process