Part 3 – Dialogic pedagogies

CONTINUING last week's close look at communal learning, we described how, in a doctoral class, students turn in a written discourse a week after a class session where each had their respective presentation of their responses to several PowerPoint slides of their choice. The instructor prepares such slides. Each student would present his/her choice of several consecutive slides that deal with a topic. Today, we continue discussing this communal learning involving students as the more active participants in class sessions, whether face-to-face or virtual. Since graduate students are in various professions, this century's classrooms call for moving away from being purely 'instructor-centered.' We turn to these 'dialogic pedagogies,' 'classroom-based discussions' [which] have long caught the interest of educators, policymakers and researchers (Hiebert & Grouws, 2007).