TU-EV0004 - Institutions and How to Change Them, 07.06.2021-31.08.2021

Topic outline

• General group discussion instructions
  In the group discussion, you will discuss the articles in groups of 3 to 5 students and submit a written summary as a group discussion report. The groups are randomly assigned. The purpose of the group discussion is to promote learning. At the beginning of each meeting, assign the following roles. The chairperson assigns speaking turns and makes sure that everybody gets to share their views. The secretary makes notes of the meeting so that it will be easier to write the discussion report. Rotate the roles every meeting.

  People tend to retain information they discuss in conversation a lot better than of the information they read. This part of the course seeks to promote learning, exploration and development as opposed to performing and demonstrating already existing skills and knowledge. Thus, you get points for demonstrating effort, for exploring the unknown and uncertain, and for discussing issues you do not understand yet, as long as you elaborate on your thought processes. For example, “We did not understand what x meant or whether it would apply to y. Therefore, we discussed it from the perspectives a, b, and c. According to a, this would happen. […] We also wondered about how d works.”

  Guiding questions for the discussion (discuss some or all points):

  -   What are the key takeaways from the article(s)?

  -   What did you learn? How did you understanding of something change?

  -   What do you not understand?

  -   What questions do the articles raise?

  -   How would you apply the implications of an article to a practical context?

  -   How does the article apply or relate to a contemporary phenomenon?

  -   Are there claims or assumptions in the articles that you disagree with?

   

  General rules of constructive discussion apply. Listen to each other, be respectful, make sure everybody gets to share their views, build on top of each other’s comments, and give affirmative recognition when others make good points.

  The intended length of each discussion is 1,5 hours. The intended length of the report is 1 to 2 pages. With Calibri font, 12 pt, and 1.5 spaces between lines, 2 pages corresponds to about 800 words. Group reports are graded on a scale of 1 to 3.

   

  Points	Description
  0	No submission or very incomplete.
  1	Okay. Shows some effort, reflection, learning, or contemplation of different viewpoints.
  2	Good. Shows moderate effort, reflection, learning, and/or contemplation of different viewpoints.
  3	Excellent. Shows high effort, reflection, learning and contemplation of different viewpoints.

   

   

  The grading of the group discussion reports is anonymous. Therefore, state the names of the group members present in the discussion in another document that you upload separately. The discussion group report is graded equally for all participants of the discussion. To mitigate the risk of free-riding, group members will rate each other’s participation in the discussions at the end of the course.