Linked resource: Facilitating Inclusive Critique Sessions
Imagine you’re facilitating a class discussion and each time you ask the group to chime in, the same three students raise their hands.
Of course, nearly all professors have dealt with this scenario. Though this is a common problem, the stakes are even higher when the students who remain quiet are minorities in the room or in society at large. Many film and media professors also know the unfortunate ways this dynamic extends beyond the classroom into group projects, hiring practices in the American film industry, and more. So what might seem a minor dynamic in a large-group setting is actually an important place to make small changes with lasting impacts.
I recently pursued this topic at the University Film and Video Association Conference with fellow colleagues from EDIT Media. In a panel designed to discuss and find solutions for common issues in building inclusive environments, I presented a specific situation that I have encountered multiple times in my Foundations of Digital Media course for our MA students at Florida State University.
Our Communication Masters programs attract many students from China, so this Foundations course has included anywhere from 10-50% international students from Asia using English as a second or third language. My query for the audience, and the small group that volunteered to workshop my topic, was how to encourage participation in large-group discussions from these students who often remain silent. We decided to use a common large-group scenario – the peer feedback session for video work – as a specific instance on which to focus our efforts.
The group that came together decided one thing we can do in all of our classes is reframe participation. For example, we must recognize that different cultures, even within the US, have different norms around how students should behave in the classroom. As explained in the book Teaching for Inclusion produced by University of North Carolina’s Center for Teaching and Learning,
“The international students’ most common reaction to classes here is the surprise that teachers expect active participation in discussion, and even make it part of the grade. Most international students come from educational backgrounds that value lecture-style presentations over class discussion, and it may take these students a number of weeks at the beginning of their stay in the US to find the courage to speak in class” (74).
We should consider participation when we design our syllabi: perhaps we grade it based on small-group discussion only or we make it only a very small portion of the overall grade. Or perhaps we don’t grade it at all. As Teaching for Inclusion notes in its chapter on international students, if we do intend to grade participation we must be very clear about our expectations.
In our focus on the specific scenario of peer responses to video work, our group also recognized that we need to reframe and define what we mean by “feedback.” We can model how feedback should be given, discuss the value of learning good skills in giving and receiving feedback, and provide reading and handouts in class to help all students have a better understanding of what is expected of them and why. The larger outcome, too, is that these kinds of clarifications not only benefit international students, but they can benefit all students in the classroom.
Finally, we brainstormed concrete techniques to ensure that all students are prepared to participate in peer feedback sessions. Some suggested assigning it as an online homework so that ESL students have more time to watch and rewatch their classmates’ videos, while others had found that giving time for students to reflect and write their responses led to more oral participation. We also discussed assigning specific elements of the film (i.e., cinematography, editing, or audio) to sections of the class so that each student has a role and might feel less anxious about what to say.
Our group’s complete guide to Facilitating Inclusive Critique Sessions can be found on the EDIT Media website. I recently tested some of these approaches in my Foundations course and I am pleased to report that for the first time, every single student in the room volunteered to respond to their peers’ work. I look forward to seeing the effects on their group work as the semester unfolds.
Malia Bruker is a documentary filmmaker and Assistant Professor of Digital Media Production in the School of Communication at Florida State University. See her work at www.maliabruker.com.
