Discussion

There are no right or wrong answers about equity and justice issues in computer science and computer science teaching: just lots of nuance, context, values, and complexity and often many tensions between these the different ways that people view them. Therefore, discussion is a central tool to help build awareness about these diverse, complex phenomena, for both teachers and students.

Why am I having you facilitate discussions, then? Two reasons:

• To prepare for a discussion requires a much deeper engagement with a topic, in order to anticipate and prepare for the many directions a discussion might go. Having you teach the topic will deepen your knowledge.
• Discussion is a powerful critical pedagogy for developing students' critical consciousness of computing. By having you facilitate discussions, you will get more practice at facilitation.

Therefore, most discussions will be led by you or a classmate, not by me. They should be no more than 20 minutes. (Though I will lead the first discussion and any topics not assigned to students).

Here's a strategy you might follow to prepare to facilitate:

1. Read the chapter. Whatever you're assigned, read it well in advance of the discussion (at least 1 week), so that you have time to prepare.
2. Reflect on the chapter. What do you want to learn more about? Find resources online and learn about it. Resources might include news, research papers, videos, Wikipedia, or other sources. Try to deepen your content knowledge beyond the depth of most of your peers, so that you're likely to be prepared for any topics they raise.
3. Devise scope for discussion. There is no right way for a discussion to unfold, and so it's not necessarily appropriate to develop uniform learning objectives. But it can be helpful to scope a discussion to certain topics. You might develop guiding questions, list topics that are out of bounds (either because of limits to your knowledge or because they might carry toxic ideas you don't want to engage).
4. Select discussion pedagogy. There are many ways to facilitate discussion. Consider the many methods available Links to an external site. and select one appropriate for your goals. 
5. Decide whether to set the stage. Sometimes it can be helpful to prime a discussion by providing some brief direct instruction on a certain concept, a scenario, or sharing content, such a video, music, story, or poem that immerses students in a subject. If this makes sense for your goals, figure out how you might start the discussion.
6. Decide how you'll track time. I use the timer on my watch to make sure I don't go over time. Maybe you'll use an alarm on your phone or some other reminder.
7. Decide how to end the discussion. Will you try to synthesize the ideas in real time? Will you end with further questions to ponder?
8. Come prepared. Come to class with everything above prepared in whatever form is helpful to you.

I will be quiet during the discussion and let it unfold as if it were just you and your peers. However, after the discussion is over, we'll return the course to me and I'll facilitate a 10 minute critique of the discussion. We'll discuss:

• What you learned from the discussion
• What you wish you'd learned from the discussion
• What worked well
• What needed improvement
• What you noticed about the facilitator's preparation

A satisfactory discussion:

• Is sufficiently prepared
• Demonstrates your knowledge and its limits
• Constructively includes everyone
• Advances student learning

We'll hold some vulnerable space after each discussion to reflect on these facets.

As noted on the syllabus, if you're not happy with your discussion, you can try again in a later session.