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I learned once from a fellow instructor a quick tip that I find is helpful when teaching technical classes.

When you ask a question wait 5 - 10 seconds before answering it yourself. If you really want some student participation you need to give people a little time to think through what you are asking them instead of immediately answering your own question.

Silence can be uncomfortable. I realize that, and I am not saying wait for five minutes before saying anything. The 5 - 10 second range is probably about right. When you are teaching that is a long time to just let there be silence.

I understand.  But it (almost) never fails that when I give people a chance to think for a few moments a hand pops up and someone tries to answer the question.

A quick tip that goes along with this is similar. When you ask, “Are there any questions?” Wait a little time before you say, “OK, next topic.” Give people time to formulate a question… give the shy ones a second to get up the nerve.  Often someone will ask a question that a lot of other people had as well.

Also, the question: “Are there any questions?” stinks.  Instead ask an open-ended question such as, “What questions do you have?” If there is a long period of silence after asking this I usually do some reviewing: “We covered a lot in this module, The Widget and the Widget Admin Console, the Widget Monitor.” Almost always someone raises a hand.

If you want to improve discussion in your classes these are a couple of simple tips.

Thanks,

Matt Dawdy

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