Week 3 - Activity 3: Debate
Week 3 - Activity 3: Debate
Welcome to our Week 3 debate! In this activity, you will be drawing from your own experiences as well as what you have learned through your readings and video-watching to conduct a class debate. This activity was inspired by one of our readings from the
week, Rules
of Engagement; or, How to Build Better Online Discussion.
In this activity, each of you will be assigned a specific role. No matter what your role, you are encouraged to support your statements with evidence from the readings! We are not setting word limits on your posts, but encourage you to be concise so as not to place extra demand on your colleagues in terms of workload for the week. Videos and images are, as usual, encouraged. 😊
|
Role |
Description |
Participants |
|---|---|---|
|
First responders |
Your role is to “seed” the discussion with an initial response to the prompt. Feel free to take either stance (for or against the debate prompt). |
[FLO facilitators will update this field with information provided by peer facilitation team] |
|
Arguers |
Your role is to respond to the first responders’ posts with alternative points of view. You can also challenge radical thinkers. Be sure that your posts are collegial and respectful! |
[FLO facilitators will update this field with information provided by peer facilitation team] |
|
Consensus builders / Summarizers |
Your role is to take a “big picture” view of the debate to find the common points of agreement between the first responders and the arguers. Also, your role is to summarize the discussion as it unfolds and at the end of the debate. You won’t need to wait until the end of the activity to do this – summaries can be effective at any time to distill the ideas of several people’s posts into a concise quick-read for all. |
[FLO facilitators will update this field with information provided by peer facilitation team] |
|
Radical thinkers |
Your role is to
challenge that the debate is about the "wrong" question. You will
provide an alternative question about the use of discussion forums and explain
why you think this question is a better one to debate. You do not have to wait for first responders to post. |
[FLO facilitators will update this field with information provided by peer facilitation team] |
Let the debate begin
Now that you know what your role is in the debate, you are invited to take up your role and begin.
Debate prompt: Online discussion forums are an invaluable component of the online learning experience. Agree or disagree?