Facilitation Guidelines

General Guidelines

·       Make sure that you have thoroughly read and understand all
of the material

·       Everyone is responsible for reading and facilitating all of the material - DO NOT simply assign each person an article to facilitate

·       Make sure that you order your presentation of the articles in a logical fashion (NOTE: the order on the syllabus is random)

·       Provide a brief synopsis prior to beginning the discussion of each article.

·       Make sure you give the operational definitions and examples for ambiguous concepts or variables (e.g. social identity)

Question Guidelines

·       You are not quizzing the class on how much they remember from the article, you are trying to help them develop a deeper understanding of the material. 

 

·       Group your facilitation questions by article and by theme.

 

·       Be sure to combine questions that deal with a common theme.

 

·       Make sure that the majority of your questions  focus on the central theme or main point of the readings

 

·       Restate or reword poorly phrased questions so that they are clear to the class

·       Make sure that you have concrete answers in mind for each question.  It is your job as facilitators to guide the class towards these answers and ideas.

·       Have built in follow-up questions ready to use during discussion.

·       Have in mind the main points of the article and try to get the class to emphasize these issues

·       Don’t rush through the questions.  Give the class time to fully discuss each question.  

·       Don’t be afraid to wait or allow them time to refer back to the material.

·       Ask for different or opposing viewpoints. 

·       Play the devil’s advocate.  

·       If you pose a question to the class you should be ready to spend a significant amount of time developing an answer.

·       Make sure you reinforce the class when they make good points or suggestions.

·       Don’t worry if the discussion takes an unexpected turn, but don’t allow the class to stray too far from the topic or central point of the readings.

·       Try to provide a summary of the discussion at the end of the period.