Testing the Waters: M.O.D.E. in Face-to-Face Discussion

In introducing M.O.D.E. to students in class yesterday, we experimented with the model by conducting a face-to-face discussion using the M.O.D.E. principles. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to experiment at great length, but even the small test we did gave a good flavor, I think, for what M.O.D.E. can do for both broadening and deepening discussion.

First I gave students the "rules of engagement" for our discussion. After having introduced the four MODEs, I told them that we were going to progress through four stages of discussion, one in each MODE. In each stage, every student would provide one response in the style of the current MODE. In round robin format, we would go around the room, each providing a "think" response, then each providing a "talk" response, etc. Between each round I would provide a re-directing or facilitative prompt.

I asked students to consider this question: "Do we need to be concerned about global warming?" I gave them a couple of minutes to think about what their first response would be--a "think" response in which they should share a fact, opinion, idea, resource or a reflective question.

I wish now that I'd written the responses down, but it was quite interesting to hear the responses. We only ended up having time for the "think" and "talk" modes, but what was interesting to me was that by making everyone get an idea out before people started responding to one another, I think more perspectives were shared before discussion was launched into than might have otherwise happened.

One student noted that it felt very manufactured. I suppose this is a risk with this type of model, and even though it was interesting as an experiment I'm not sure how wise it is to try and conduct face-to-face discussion this way. But I do think something a little more "manufactured" (or more structured) is necessary in many online discussions. While a lot of great things tend to get posted in discussions, I find discussions often going off on tangents and even my best facilitation can't reel them back in.

In any case, I hope to experiment a little more at some point with face-to-face versions of M.O.D.E. For now, I'm pleased that the structure did seem to have some benefits.