Professor Highlight | Kenneth Novak, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor | Philosophy | St. Ambrose University

Template: Student-led discussion planning guide

Video: Kenneth builds student agency with student-led discussions

Detailed Walkthrough

Kenneth uses Lucidspark discussions to build student agency within his class.  Lucidspark discussions shift students from a passive role to an active role in the learning process, allowing them to direct and take responsibility for their own learning.  In Kenneth’s class students don’t just participate in class discussions they plan, organize, and facilitate them.  

Students are divided into groups and each group is responsible for leading 3 Lucidspark discussions throughout the semester.  Kenneth gives each group the discussion board template with the main content to be discussed.  Students start by reviewing the instructions and recommendations for a successful discussion.

Then, the group reviews and familiarizes themselves with the content and starts planning for the discussion.  The template prompts the group to start by brainstorming how they can effectively work together.

• What makes for a successful 45 min discussion?
• What are the responsibilities for each member of the team?
• How do we work together to ensure participation during the discussion?

Once the team is confident they have a successful plan to work together effectively, the students discuss and plan out how they would like to lead the understand, cultivate curiosity, and synthesize portions of the discussion.  

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Now that students have completed planning for the discussion they will share the Lucidspark board with their peers and lead the discussion.  After their discussion they will reflect on how the discussion session went and tweak things to improve their discussions moving forward.

By shifting to a student-led discussion model, Kenneth has been able to better gauge student understanding and provide students with practical life skills essential to collaborative teaming in the future.