The aim of this professional development series is to strengthen our campus-wide capacity to create welcoming, engaging, and academically rigorous classroom environments in which students experience productive classroom discussions on important issues and topics.
Our Mission
Engaging discussions are one of the most rewarding and memorable activities that students and faculty alike can experience in the classroom. Recent research shows that classroom discussion deepens learning, creates community, and helps students form an academic identity.
At the same time, classroom discussion is a challenging pedagogical undertaking. It requires the instructor to orchestrate learning among a group of students who likely do not know each other, come from a diversity of backgrounds, possess a range of political commitments, arrive with varying levels of familiarity with the course material, and have different levels of comfort speaking in class.
Inviting students to discuss also comes with some risk because we don’t know what students are going to say. That unknown means that the instructor will have to be ready to follow one student’s interesting and unexpected line of thought, correct another’s misunderstanding about the material, and also be prepared to respond to any number of possibly off-topic, inappropriate, hostile, or naïve comments.
To address these promises and challenges, the School of Education has designed a professional development program for UW faculty and teaching staff. See the Program Overview page for more details.
I was fortunate to take part in your training last month. I am not exaggerating when I say it has changed my life. I am teaching a 15-person and a 50-person undergraduate course this term, and I am using the skills you taught me each class session. It has made me think differently about my teaching and I am quite sure the students’ experience is all the better for it.
Thank you! You all are providing a fantastic service.
-Professor Kathy Cramer, Political Science, UW-Madison
The Discussion Project (in-person) APPLY HERE
Invitation to Instructors
We are inviting you to participate in the Discussion Project Measures Study for the 2022–23 academic year. The Discussion Project is research study and a three-day professional learning opportunity for UW–Madison instructors, focused on developing skills in leading high-quality small- and large-group discussion in undergraduate and graduate classrooms. Click here for more information.
Course dates (8:30am-4:30pm)
-August 22, 23, 24 or August 25, 26, 29
-January 12, 13, 17 or January 18, 19, 20
Who should apply to the Discussion Project In-Person course?
- We accept applications from any university instructor (faculty, academic staff, graduate student).
- The course is most applicable to those teaching face-to-face classes with fewer than 40 students.
- In order to be eligible, applicants must be available to attend all full-day sessions and be teaching an in-person course fall and spring semesters of 2022-23.
If you are not affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and would like to take the Discussion Project course, please visit this website where individuals and institutions may register for a course series.
The Discussion Project Virtual (online): APPLY HERE
The Discussion Project Virtual is not currently part of a research study.
Dates for fall 2022
2022.09A: Tuesdays, 9am-11am: 9/13, 9/20, 9/27, 10/4, 10/11, 10/18, 10/25
2022.09B: Fridays, 10am-12pm: 9/16, 9/23, 9/30, 10/7, 10/14, 10/21, 10/ 28
Participants will meet online in seven 2-hour synchronous sessions on Zoom. Each session is preceded by one hour of asynchronous preparatory work in Canvas.
Who should apply to the Discussion Project Virtual online course?
- We accept applications from any university instructor (faculty, academic staff, TA).
- The course is most applicable to those teaching online classes with fewer than 40 students.
- In order to be eligible, applicants must be available to attend all synchronous sessions.
- The focus of the course is online synchronous video conference discussion (eg., via Zoom). Skills learned are also relevant to in-person teaching.
If you are not affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and would like to take the Discussion Project course, please visit this website where individuals and institutions may register for a course series.
Discussion Project Alumni Receive Distinguished Teaching Awards
Congratulations to the following Discussion Project alumni for receiving a Distinguished Teaching Award! For more information about Distinguished Teaching Awards, visit the Office of the Secretary of the Faculty’s website.
Michael Thornton | Majid Sarmadi | Nancy Marshall | Catalina Toma | Rosemary Russ | Judith Houck |
Sara McKinnon | Kate Vieira | Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen | Juan Egea | Joshua Calhoun | Jerome Camal |
Ajay Sethi | Mitra Sharafi | Jeremy Morris | Yoshiko Herrera | Kassem Fawaz | Lori Lopez |
Affiliation of Participants: 117 Departments and Programs
Accounting and Information Systems | Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences | Civil and Environmental Engineering | Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis | Geoscience | Library and Information Studies | Nutritional Sciences | Radiology |
Aerospace Studies (Air Force ROTC) | Bacteriology | Civil Society and Community Studies | Educational Policy Studies | German, Nordic, and Slavic | Life Sciences Communication | Occupational Therapy |
Real Estate and Urban Land Economics
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African Cultural Studies | Biochemistry | Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies | Educational Psychology | History | Management and Human Resources | Operations and Information Management |
Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education
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African Studies Program | Biocore | Communication Arts | Electrical and Computer Engineering | Horticulture | Marketing | Pathobiological Sciences |
Religious Studies
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Afro-American Studies | Biological Systems Engineering | Communication Sciences and Disorders | Engineering Physics | Human Development and Family Studies | Materials Science and Engineering | Pediatrics |
Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs
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Agricultural and Applied Economics | Biology | Community and Environmental Sociology | English | Integrated Liberal Studies | Mathematics | Pharmacy | Social Work |
Agroecology | Biomedical Engineering | Computer Sciences | Entomology | Integrative Biology | Mechanical Engineering | Philosophy | Sociology |
American Indian Studies | Biostatistics and Medical Informatics | Consumer Science | Family Medicine | Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies | Medical History and Bioethics | Physical Therapy | Soil Science |
Animal Sciences | Botany | Continuing Studies | Finance, Investment and Banking | International Studies | Medical Physics | Physics |
Spanish and Portuguese
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Anthropology | Business | Counseling Psychology | Food Science | Jewish Studies | Medicine | Planning and Landscape Architecture |
Special Education
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Art | Cell and Regenerative Biology | Curriculum and Instruction | Forest and Wildlife Ecology | Journalism and Mass Communication | Military Science (Army ROTC) | Plant Pathology | Statistics |
Art Department | Center for Asian Studies—South Asian Studies | Dairy Science | French and Italian | Kinesiology | Music | Political Science |
Wisconsin Institute for Science Education and Community Engagement
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Art History | Chemical and Biological Engineering | Dance | Gender and Women’s Studies | Language Sciences | Naval Science (Naval ROTC) |
Population Health Sciences
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Asian Languages and Cultures | Chemistry | Design Studies | Genetics | Law | Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies | Psychology | |
Astronomy | Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies | Economics | Geography | Legal Studies | Nursing | Public Affairs |