‘Thinking and discourse are the same thing, except that what we call thinking is, precisely, the inward dialogue carried on by the mind itself without a spoken sound’ (Plato, Sophist, #268)
Welcome to week one of the course! All of the content, activities and tasks for week one are included on this page. Scroll down to review each section. If you haven’t done so already, you should fill out the registration form and self-audit prior to engaging in the materials, and sign up for the discussion forum and post an introduction on the introductions channel.
In this initial session, we focus on understanding the distinction between educational dialogue and classroom talk as well as the relationship of dialogue to thinking and learning. We also look at how dialogue differs from oracy and the relationship between the two. We provide an overview of terminology and outline the development of dialogic educational theories and practices.
Watch
Watch the following video for an overview of the week’s theme:
This week’s readings and resources for you to review are as follows:
Core reading: Knight, Simon (2014). Creating a supportive environment for classroom dialogue. In: Hennessy, Sara; Warwick, Paul; Brown, Lloyd; Rawlins, Diane and Neale, Caroline eds. Developing Interactive Teaching and Learning Using the IWB. Open University Press. http://oro.open.ac.uk/36484/
Optional further reading: CEDiR Group (2018). A Dialogue about Educational Dialogue: Reflections on the Field and the Work of the Cambridge Educational Dialogue Research (CEDiR) Group. Faculty of Education Working Paper. 2018/04, University of Cambridge. Openly accessible on research gate here.
Explore the edudialogue.org website, particularly the ‘What is Dialogue’ and ‘Resources’ sections as linked above. Then watch the short videos in Collection 1.
Having explored the website resources, think about how your own thinking works and start making some notes for your reflective journal. Can you see any dialogic dimension to how you think? For example, do you bounce ideas off other people to clarify your own thoughts? Think about how you thought through a problem recently. What mental steps did you take? Can you identify any dialogue in these steps? What can you learn from this exercise? Now think about the learners in your classroom, in what ways do they think? Do they use any dialogic processes in their thinking?
Now make some notes on the following questions. What roles do language and dialogue play in teaching and learning in your classroom? How far does your teaching follow the IRE/F (Initiation, Response, Evaluation / Feedback) model? In what ways does your classroom already have some of the features of educational dialogue described on the Edudialogue.org website? Which of these features are not so evident in your classroom?
To begin your learning journal for this course, turn your notes into a 300-500 word reflective piece of writing on your initial ideas about thinking, learning and dialogue as related concepts, and how far your existing classroom practice is dialogic?
Discuss
If you have not yet already registered on the discussion forum, you will need to do this first here. Take a look at the MOOC user guide for more instructions on how to do this.
If you have not already written an introduction in the introduction channel on the forum, please do this first. Instructions are included at the top of the channel.
Discussion forum tasks for this week:
In the week one channel on the forum, write a post to address at least one of the following questions:
What makes educational dialogue a distinct concept for teaching and learning?
What characteristics might help us identify quality educational dialogue?
In what ways does educational dialogue differ from classroom talk?
Now, read through others’ responses to these questions and reply with your ideas to at least one person. Remember that the discussion forum is your ‘space’ to reflect with others so feel free to engage with the other channels as well!