The groups for the Reading Circles are the same than the groups for the Case Study work, and they thus stay the same during the entire course.

What are preparatory Reading Circles?

Preparatory Reading Circles consist of four phases: 

  1. Reading the given material independently, 
  2. Discussing the material with your group in actual Reading Circle, 
  3. Preparing a Reading Circle Summary from your discussions, and
  4. Participating in a related Contact Session.

Reading Circles thus enable you to learn some aspects of a given topic already before the Contact Session, preparing you for the Contact Session and its discussions. In this way the preparatory Reading Circles combine flipped learning with peer learning, and aim to enhance interaction as well as your learning. 

To prepare for the Reading Circle, you must read independently the Reading Material available in these pages before the Reading Circle. The Reading Material + related Guiding Questions will be available under each Contact Session around one week before. 

After, you will meet with your group in a preparatory Reading Circle that takes place on Tuesdays at 9.00-10.00 i.e. just before the related Contact Session. Each Reading Circle has a rotating Chair and Secretary (see below).

The aim of the Reading Circle is to provide you an opportunity to discuss and debate the given Reading Material and related Guiding Questions with your peers. Your group has a unique set of expertise, and we recommend you to make a good use of that during the Reading Circles. Hence, while you should use the Reading Material as a basis for your discussion, you are encouraged to extend it based on your own interests and expertise. You are also encouraged to find Additional Reading Material, and share those through Teams and/or MyCourses' Discussion Forum.


Chair & Secretary

During a preparatory Reading Circle, your group discusses the Reading Material that everyone has read beforehand. Use the related Guiding Questions to focus your discussion. 

The Reading Circle meeting is led by a Chair and documented by a Secretary: both positions rotate and each group member thus acts both as a Chair and as a Secretary. The group takes care of the rotation.

The Chair chairs the meeting and is responsible for agreeing the time and location for the meeting. The Chair provides a short (5 min) introduction to the theme and reading material. S/he ensures that the discussion follows (at least loosely) the Guiding Questions and that all group members have their say and no-one dominates the discussion.  

To facilitate the discussion, Chair should use open-ended questions such as: 

  • What were the most important findings from the Reading Material for you? Why? 
  • Are there some arguments in the material that you don't agree with? What and why?
  • Are there some parts or themes you didn't understand? 
  • Based on the Reading Material, what would be your answer to the Guiding Questions? 

The Secretary documents the discussion, with an emphasis on the discussion and debates (rather than list of things and themes discussed). The Secretary is also responsible for the submission of the Reading Circle Summary after it has been accepted by the entire group.  


Reading Circle Summary

The Reading Circle Summary summarises very briefly the main points of the discussion that took place during your Reading Circle: try to focus on those points that you discussed most and/or you feel you can provide additional contribution to. Accordingly, the RC summary is assessed based on following criteria: 

  1. Structured and concise synthesis of the given Reading Material, including Guiding Questions (50%)
  2. Providing broader context: own reflection and additional, complementary views towards the given material (50%)

The summary should include 3-4 key messages in bullet points, with max. 100 words per message. You can also include figures and diagrams if you find those helpful to make your case. 

Write into your Summary also:

  • Time of your Reading Circle,  
  • Who were present and who were absent from your group
  • Names of Chair and Secretary

While the Secretary is responsible for the submission of the Reading Circle Summary, the entire group has to agree with the summary before its submission. The deadline for the submission of Reading Circle Summary is one week after the related Contact Session. Submit the Reading Circle Summary as .doc/.pdf file into your group's Teams sub-channel's File tab. 

The Reading Circle Summary will be assessed, and their average grade forms 1/4 of the total grade given by the teachers. 

Please see Teams general channel for our feedback on the first summaries.

Last modified: Thursday, 28 January 2021, 2:02 PM