Yesterday our class embarked on a voyage into the 21st century with something called an EdCafe. For two classes beforehand we had been researching a World War II-related topic, and during our EdCafe we each led a small group discussion on our topic.
Well, that was the idea at least. In the end, each "discussion" was really just a presentation by the lead student on the topic they led. It was great to hear about some of the lesser-known figures and battles and whatnot, but I think the point was lost a little bit. There was a lot of talking and hearing, but not much speaking and listening.
I think this is kind of inevitable given the circumstances. The only place we really have discussions on anything is English class, and even then there's a topic that was chosen by the teacher and some times the teacher will gently nudge the class in a specific direction. Expecting students to discuss to lead discussions on anything might be a little optimistic.
I think there are two things that are necessary for making EdCafes work. The first is consistency. If we devoted one week in a month to an EdCafe, by November we'd all get the gist of it and I think EdCafes would be wildly successful. I also think if, before we started researching our topics, the fact that EdCafes are built around discussions was stressed a bit more we would've done much better. We were all looking for answers instead of questions.
EdCafes could be really neat. We just need to find a way to make discussions the focus instead of lectures.
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