Lecture - Attending the Process in Philosophical Discussion - Rudi Kotnik - 3rd Better World Conference

Lecture - Attending the Process in Philosophical Discussion - Rudi Kotnik - 3rd Better World Conference from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.

***Apologies for the lighting in this classroom.***

Attending the process in philosophical discussion, Rudi Kotnik, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Within teacher education focused on developing skills for guiding philosophical discussion student teachers usually have difficulties which can be overcome. The paper, therefore, explores two essential aspects of guiding philosophical discussion. One is related on the process of developing philosophical skills where in the context of experiential learning special attention is focused on the conceptualisation of the process of philosophical discussion, i.e. to develop student teacher’s ability to notice what is happening, to recognise philosophical potential and to find appropriate intervention. The other is related to the obstacles of this flow: how student teachers prevent themselves from learning. This is focused on the psychological aspects and helps students to recognise how they interrupt the contact. When they become aware of their process (what is happening with them when they have difficulties in noticing, recognising or intervening) they can restore the contact, the flow and thus enable their learning and the learning of students.

3rd International Conference on Argumentation, Rhetoric, Debate and the Pedagogy of Empowerment, October 2010, Maribor, Slovenia.
Further details can be found at the conference websites:
Basic information at debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​better/​Welcome.html
News blog at betterworldconference.blogspot.com/
The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor in Slovenia uni-mb.si/ , ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/Pro et contra, institute for culture of dialogue zainproti.com/ , and the World Debate Institute of the University of Vermont debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​wdi/​Welcome.html .
The organizers are grateful for the support of our sponsor QatarDebate qatardebate.org/ .
Thanks to organizers Boris Vezjak, Alfred Snider and Bojana Skrt. Special thanks to Peter Mesarec, Monica Sobocan and Aljoša Polšak.

Lecture - Critical Social and Political Thinking in Secondary Schools - Georgios Bikos - 3rd Better World Conference

Lecture - Critical Social and Political Thinking in Secondary Schools - Georgios Bikos - 3rd Better World Conference from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.

The critical social and political thinking and the methods of educating students in secondary level education, Georgios D Bikos, University of Athens, Greece

To begin with after pointing out the main characteristics of critical thinking, we then come to define the features of critical social and political thinking and the relation between general and social-political thinking and also between the social and political conception of the world.
The first part of this introduction is a brief presentation of the reasons that make it necessary to understand modern social and political life in a more critical way than before, as it is a very popular thesis about the end of ideology, together with the belief that politics has more to do with a public policy and a technocratic science mostly dealing with public affairs, rather than the “art of possible” which sets political courses and creates changes in the fields of polity, economy and society.

Then, we develop the teaching methods and ways through which this kind of thinking can grow into the minds of secondary education students. We present the teaching material, techniques and means which if included into the social and political subjects’ curricula, will provide teachers with the ability to develop their students’ critical minds towards the understanding and explanation of social and political status. One of the main methods we suggest is one that is based on the in-class conversations on controversial topics, on public affairs and on public policy issues, basically argumentative structured / debating like conversations.

3rd International Conference on Argumentation, Rhetoric, Debate and the Pedagogy of Empowerment, October 2010, Maribor, Slovenia.

Further details can be found at the conference websites:
Basic information at debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​better/​Welcome.html
News blog at betterworldconference.blogspot.com/

The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor in Slovenia uni-mb.si/ , ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/Pro et contra, institute for culture of dialogue zainproti.com/ , and the World Debate Institute of the University of Vermont debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​wdi/​Welcome.html .

The organizers are grateful for the support of our sponsor QatarDebate qatardebate.org/ .

Thanks to organizers Boris Vezjak, Alfred Snider and Bojana Skrt. Special thanks to Peter Mesarec, Monica Sobocan and Aljoša Polšak. 

Lecture - Debate as a Tool for Social Progress - Arlan Narvaez - 3rd Better World Conference 2010

Lecture - Debate as a Tool for Social Progress - Arlan Narvaez - 3rd Better World Conference 2010 from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.

Debate as a tool for social progress, Arlan A. Narvaez R., Universidad Central de Venezuela, Venezuela

For more than 25 years, aggravated during the last ones, the education in Public Sector Schools has many deficiencies and can be characterized as one of very poor quality; these and other problems related to the rough social conditions in many of the areas where they are located, particularly when they are in barrios (shanty towns) or low income neighborhoods, conspire together against both school attendance and the possibilities of a future better life or social progress.

Students from those schools find very little motivations for studying and learning, most of them fall into a sort of resignation that they will have no better opportunity in life and that they have to accept their fate as poor.

In this framework we have started a program for teaching and coaching Debate teams in Low Income Areas Public Sector Schools (LIAPSS), as part of our project to sow and develop Debate in Venezuela. LIAPSS is a social venture, totally free of charge for the participating students and also for the Schools.

The first move was to request permission from the Principal of the School in order to conduct the program; we started with two Schools, “Juan Bautista Castro” and “5th of July” (this one located in a very rough area) with two groups of about 15 students in each school. The students came voluntarily to a selection interview and they committed to have two sessions every week and to submit the homework punctually.

The instructors are university students, all of them debaters from 4 different Debate Clubs related to our organization, AUDAS.

3rd International Conference on Argumentation, Rhetoric, Debate and the Pedagogy of Empowerment, October 2010, Maribor, Slovenia.

Further details can be found at the conference websites:
Basic information at debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​better/​Welcome.html
News blog at betterworldconference.blogspot.com/

The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor in Slovenia uni-mb.si/ , ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/Pro et contra, institute for culture of dialogue zainproti.com/ , and the World Debate Institute of the University of Vermont debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​wdi/​Welcome.html .

The organizers are grateful for the support of our sponsor QatarDebate qatardebate.org/ .

Thanks to organizers Boris Vezjak, Alfred Snider and Bojana Skrt. Special thanks to Peter Mesarec, Monica Sobocan and Aljoša Polšak. 

Lecture - Debate as Agency - Allan Louden - 3rd Better World Conference 2010

Lecture - Debate as Agency - Allan Louden - 3rd Better World Conference 2010 from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.

Debate as agency: Preparing students for civic engagement, Allan Louden, Wake Forest University, USA
Debate is often thought educationally as a method of skill acquisition largely aimed toward future vocational applications. Critical thinking, research ability, public arena presence, social elasticity, among other capacities are said to be uniquely trained using debate.
Most involved in debate would agree with a recent commentary published at insidehighered.com that the activity’s characteristics are the “very building blocks of civility . . . The basic elements are the same across formats: Argument, evidence, forced reciprocity and dialogue, equal time, and mandatory listening” (Herbst 2009).
My project evaluates not the acquisition of skill sets for a distanced future but rather the use of debate as the means to accessing other civic enterprises. I draw upon five years of directing the Ben Franklin Transatlantic Fellows Institute, a month long State Department summer program hosted by Wake Forest University. Participants are students selected by US embassies from forty countries and US students.
Debate has been employed to more quickly equip students for entry into a variety of civic endeavors. Over the years we have experimented with using debate to prepare for projects of public deliberation, media access, governance, community service and civic engagement.
The advantage of debate training is it more quickly grounds understanding of application arenas, and does so in a way that enhances individual ownership. Entry into applied civic engagement is based on activity, leading to individual empowerment. The model of debate as precursor to civic activity is to value both to knowing about and more importantly knowing as personal responsibility.

3rd International Conference on Argumentation, Rhetoric, Debate and the Pedagogy of Empowerment, October 2010, Maribor, Slovenia.

Further details can be found at the conference websites:
Basic information at debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​better/​Welcome.html
News blog at betterworldconference.blogspot.com/

The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor in Slovenia uni-mb.si/ , ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/Pro et contra, institute for culture of dialogue zainproti.com/ , and the World Debate Institute of the University of Vermont debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​wdi/​Welcome.html .

The organizers are grateful for the support of our sponsor QatarDebate qatardebate.org/ .

Thanks to organizers Boris Vezjak, Alfred Snider and Bojana Skrt. Special thanks to Peter Mesarec, Monica Sobocan and Aljoša Polšak. 

Lecture - International Relations Theory in Debate - Samo Novak - 3rd Better World Conference 2010

Lecture - International Relations Theory in Debate - Samo Novak - 3rd Better World Conference 2010 from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.

Assessing the role and use of international relations theory in competitive debate, Samo Novak, University of Leiden, Netherlands

Theories of international relations (IR) represent an integral part of the academic study of world politics. They can be characterized as distinct, often mutually exclusive conceptual frameworks that allow researchers to systematically analyze events in the realm of international relations and give them a methodological tool for conducting relevant research. Different theories are used to help understand and explain events in fields of international relations, ranging from war, economy and international law, to the role of non-state actors such as NGOs and individuals in IR. The rationale for using international relations theory (IRT) as a preparation tool for debate lies in the fact that most international debate tournaments today include a variety of IR topics that are sometimes difficult to handle successfully even by political science students. This paper is an attempt to show that many if not all theories of IR have a direct role in the preparations for debate tournaments and an applicative value in the construction of individual debate cases. The first chapter addresses the value of IRT in social science in general and puts forward a short overview of the most commonly used theories in the field. The second chapter establishes a clear link between the purpose of IRT and competitive debate. It discusses its role in conducting research for debates, picking out the most appropriate pieces of evidence, and constructing cohesive arguments and consistent team lines. The final chapter illustrates the applicative value of IRT in competitive debate. Four major theories of international relations (Realism, Liberalism, Constructivism, and Marxism) are used to construct cases on four different topics from major international debate tournaments.

3rd International Conference on Argumentation, Rhetoric, Debate and the Pedagogy of Empowerment, October 2010, Maribor, Slovenia.

Further details can be found at the conference websites:
Basic information at debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​better/​Welcome.html
News blog at betterworldconference.blogspot.com/

The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor in Slovenia uni-mb.si/ , ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/Pro et contra, institute for culture of dialogue zainproti.com/ , and the World Debate Institute of the University of Vermont debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​wdi/​Welcome.html .

The organizers are grateful for the support of our sponsor QatarDebate qatardebate.org/ .

Thanks to organizers Boris Vezjak, Alfred Snider and Bojana Skrt. Special thanks to Peter Mesarec, Monica Sobocan and Aljoša Polšak. 

Lecture - Power Pairing at WSDC - Alfred Snider - 3rd Better World Conference 2010

Lecture - Power Pairing at WSDC - Alfred Snider - 3rd Better World Conference 2010 from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.

Power pairing for Worlds Schools Debate Championship, Alfred C Snider, University of Vermont

The World Schools Debate Championship is the most important international tournament at the high school level. Forty or more countries each enter a team of students for the competition. It is also one of the very few major tournaments in the world that does not use power pairing as a scheduling and pairing technique. Power pairings is a technique whereby after the pre-set rounds teams meet other teams with similar records. Reasons will be given as to why this would be a good practice, suggested problems will be addressed, and then several different methods for implementing this procedure will be discussed. This paper will form the basis of a proposal that will be made to the tournament's governance.

3rd International Conference on Argumentation, Rhetoric, Debate and the Pedagogy of Empowerment, October 2010, Maribor, Slovenia.

Further details can be found at the conference websites:
Basic information at debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​better/​Welcome.html
News blog at betterworldconference.blogspot.com/

The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor in Slovenia uni-mb.si/ , ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/Pro et contra, institute for culture of dialogue zainproti.com/ , and the World Debate Institute of the University of Vermont debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​wdi/​Welcome.html .

The organizers are grateful for the support of our sponsor QatarDebate qatardebate.org/ .

Thanks to organizers Boris Vezjak, Alfred Snider and Bojana Skrt. Special thanks to Peter Mesarec, Monica Sobocan and Aljoša Polšak. 

Lecture - Judging Paradigms - Andrej Schulcz - 3rd Better World Conference 2010

Lecture - Judging Paradigms - Andrej Schulcz - 3rd Better World Conference 2010 from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.

Judging paradigms, Andrej Schulcz, Slovak Debate Association

The paper will apply the concept of paradigms to the current practice of judging debates, with a special emphasis on Central and Eastern Europe. In general terms, paradigms are established ways of thinking about or dealing with certain situations. Paradigms of judging are an important, yet neglected, aspect of debate programs, because they have a significant impact on what debaters and coaches make of debating. Typically debate programs either do not have judging training developed to a level at which they would deal with conceptual issues, or they work within a single paradigm without being able to critically examine their approach to debating and compare it with the approaches of other debate programs. The concept of paradigms was introduced into debate judging training in Slovakia three years ago, and it has since proven to be a success. Perhaps if judges at international events approached differences among them through the prism of paradigms, there would be less confusion than what is nowadays characteristic of any larger tournament.

3rd International Conference on Argumentation, Rhetoric, Debate and the Pedagogy of Empowerment, October 2010, Maribor, Slovenia.

Further details can be found at the conference websites:
Basic information at debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​better/​Welcome.html
News blog at betterworldconference.blogspot.com/

The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor in Slovenia uni-mb.si/ , ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/Pro et contra, institute for culture of dialogue zainproti.com/ , and the World Debate Institute of the University of Vermont debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​wdi/​Welcome.html .

The organizers are grateful for the support of our sponsor QatarDebate qatardebate.org/ .

Thanks to organizers Boris Vezjak, Alfred Snider and Bojana Skrt. Special thanks to Peter Mesarec, Monica Sobocan and Aljoša Polšak. 

Lecture - Debate in Japan - Andrew Nishizaki - 3rd Better World Conference 2010

Lecture - Debate in Japan - Andrew Nishizaki - 3rd Better World Conference 2010 from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.

Debate in Japan, Andrew Nishizaki, Japan

I will review the situation concerning debating in Japan. I will do this by dealing with more general difficulties faced by those wishing to debate in Japan, especially in English, and then deal with more specific barriers. I will conclude with a discussion of my work to promote debating in Japan and how I deal with these barriers.

First, I will deal with the difficulties in mastering English in Japan based on the educational system and the cultural orientation towards English speaking. Second, I will deal with cultural barriers that might inhibit the free expression of disagreement, especially as applied to the young. Third, I will discuss the role of English in higher education and how it is undervalued as a skill that students should have, with its resulting de-emphasis on the part of students. Fourth, I will discuss the role of debating as a peripheral activity in Japanese universities, resulting in a lack of support for debating activities. Fifth, I will discuss my work in promoting debate in Japan and how I have attempted to overcome these very substantial barriers.

3rd International Conference on Argumentation, Rhetoric, Debate and the Pedagogy of Empowerment, October 2010, Maribor, Slovenia.

Further details can be found at the conference websites:
Basic information at debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​better/​Welcome.html
News blog at betterworldconference.blogspot.com/

The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor in Slovenia uni-mb.si/ , ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/Pro et contra, institute for culture of dialogue zainproti.com/ , and the World Debate Institute of the University of Vermont debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​wdi/​Welcome.html .

The organizers are grateful for the support of our sponsor QatarDebate qatardebate.org/ .

Thanks to organizers Boris Vezjak, Alfred Snider and Bojana Skrt. Special thanks to Peter Mesarec, Monica Sobocan and Aljoša Polšak. 

Lecture - Argument & Debate Textbook for Non-Debaters - Korry Harvey & Paul Bingham - 3rd Better World Conference 2010

Lecture - Argument & Debate Textbook for Non-Debaters - Korry Harvey & Paul Bingham - 3rd Better World Conference 2010 from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.

An argumentation and debate text book for not debaters: Understanding Argument: the journey from consumer to critic, critic to advocate, Korry Harvey and Paul Bingham, Western Washington University, USA

Although there are already several fine argumentation and debate texts in print, in writing this text we hope to address argumentation from more of a practical perspective than solely an academic or theoretical approach. In our experience, argumentation makes the most sense when we can see the application it has to our everyday lives. While recognizing that there is undoubtedly an important purpose for the more highly specialized debate handbooks available, most people will never actually participate in a school’s competitive debate program, therefore this effort is directed less toward the argument theorist or experienced academic debate student than toward a more general audience. Indeed, everyone faces conflict and challenge in their lives. Everyone is subject to a myriad of political and social messages on a daily basis. Everyone is regularly tasked with making a wide range of difficult decisions. It is our hope that this text can assist the reader in understanding the intricacies of argumentation, and in so doing act as a guide along the journey from being simply a consumer of argument to becoming a critic of argument, and then acting as an advocate for the ideals and positions they hold. Rather than passively being bombarded by arguments (via the media, religious institutions, the government, political campaigns, social movements, peers, etc.), our intention is to help people develop the skills necessary to recognize when argument is being directed at them, to critically assess it for validity, and then to respond appropriately. In a world that is changing as rapidly as ours currently is, such skills are of great value to everyone.

3rd International Conference on Argumentation, Rhetoric, Debate and the Pedagogy of Empowerment, October 2010, Maribor, Slovenia.

Further details can be found at the conference websites:
Basic information at debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​better/​Welcome.html
News blog at betterworldconference.blogspot.com/

The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor in Slovenia uni-mb.si/ , ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/Pro et contra, institute for culture of dialogue zainproti.com/ , and the World Debate Institute of the University of Vermont debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​wdi/​Welcome.html .

The organizers are grateful for the support of our sponsor QatarDebate qatardebate.org/ .

Thanks to organizers Boris Vezjak, Alfred Snider and Bojana Skrt. Special thanks to Peter Mesarec, Monica Sobocan and Aljoša Polšak. 

Lecture - Speaking & Argument in Qatar National Curriculum - Abdul Gabbar Al-Sharif - 3rd Better World Conference 2010

Lecture - Speaking & Argument in Qatar National Curriculum - Abdul Gabbar Al-Sharif - 3rd Better World Conference 2010 from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.

Debating and argumentation skills in the speaking strand of Qatari National English and Arabic Curriculum Standards: A critical review, Abdul Gabbar Al – Sharif, Qatar Debate

The importance of speaking for debate and argumentation is more than crucial. This paper provides a critical review of the set of curriculum standards under the SPEAKING strand of the English and Arabic curriculum standards in the State of Qatar to investigate the opportunities that these standards provide for Qatari students to develop debating and argumentation skills. The paper proposes a multi-level developmental model of argumentation and maps this model on the debating and argumentation skills provided in these curriculum standards to decide on what level of argumentation the Qatari national curriculum standards in language arts aim to place learners by the end of each grade and by the end of school education. The aim of the paper is to assess the educational environment in which QatarDebate is working and suggest appropriate recommendations for QD and for Qatari schools on how to foster these important skills in classroom pedagogy and translate them into actual classroom activities. The findings of this critical review will significantly help QD to draw future policies regarding cooperation and coordination with Qatari schools and educational authorities. It will also provide QD with benchmarks that clearly specify where Qatari students stand in relation to this multi-level developmental model of argumentation and what needs to be supplemented to students in the form of extracurricular training on debating and argumentation.

3rd International Conference on Argumentation, Rhetoric, Debate and the Pedagogy of Empowerment, October 2010, Maribor, Slovenia.

Further details can be found at the conference websites:
Basic information at debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​better/​Welcome.html
News blog at betterworldconference.blogspot.com/

The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor in Slovenia uni-mb.si/ , ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/Pro et contra, institute for culture of dialogue zainproti.com/ , and the World Debate Institute of the University of Vermont debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​wdi/​Welcome.html .

The organizers are grateful for the support of our sponsor QatarDebate qatardebate.org/ .

Thanks to organizers Boris Vezjak, Alfred Snider and Bojana Skrt. Special thanks to Peter Mesarec, Monica Sobocan and Aljoša Polšak. 

Lecture - Debate Academy Training Model - Bojana Skrt & Alfred Snider - 3rd Better World Conference

Lecture - Debate Academy Training Model - Bojana Skrt & Alfred Snider - 3rd Better World Conference from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.
Training model: Debate academy, Alfred C Snider, University of Vermont, USA and Bojana Skrt, ZIP, Slovenia
The authors have held many debate training sessions throughout the world, such as in Europe, Southwest Asia, Northeast Asia and North America. During these nine years of experience a model of debate training has been developed that has come to be called the »Debate Academy« model. In this presentation we will outline the design and implementation of this model. First, we will discuss the basic design principles behind this model. Second, we will discuss implementational elements in the model. Third, we will discuss the results in terms of student achievement and evaluation. This model has already been copied, both in name and substance, by other debate training programs around the world, and we hope that this paper will help those individuals and organizations to appreciate the substance as well as the name.
Further details can be found at the conference websites:
Basic information at debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​better/​Welcome.html
News blog at betterworldconference.blogspot.com/
The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor in Slovenia uni-mb.si/ , ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/Pro et contra, institute for culture of dialogue zainproti.com/ , and the World Debate Institute of the University of Vermont debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​wdi/​Welcome.html .
The organizers are grateful for the support of our sponsor QatarDebate qatardebate.org/ .
Thanks to organizers Boris Vezjak, Alfred Snider and Bojana Skrt. Special thanks to Peter Mesarec, Monica Sobocan and Aljoša Polšak. 

Lecture - The Noisy Classroom: Debate for Education - Debbie Newman - 3rd Better World Conference 2010

Lecture - The Noisy Classroom: Debate for Education - Debbie Newman - 3rd Better World Conference 2010 from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.
Debbie Newman has experience of teaching debate around the world at all levels. She is now focused on using debating and other active techniques to improve classroom methods. She is a previous English national debating champion, president of the Cambridge Union Society and world champion schools debate coach. She has been on the faculty of the World Debate Institute, IDAS and the UK Debate Academy and is a former Head of the Centre for Speech and Debate at the English-Speaking Union in London. Although Debbie is an experienced university trainer, her focus is on schools debating: both working with children, from 8-18, and also working with teachers to help build their skills and confidence in training and judging debate. Debbie believes that training is always tailored to meet the needs of the learners and should aim to be both challenging and enjoyable. Whether beginners learning skills for the first time, or the more advanced looking to hone their talents, all students and teachers should develop their abilities in a supportive and positive environment.
Further details can be found at the conference websites:
Basic information at debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​better/​Welcome.html
News blog at betterworldconference.blogspot.com/
The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor in Slovenia uni-mb.si/ , ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/Pro et contra, institute for culture of dialogue zainproti.com/ , and the World Debate Institute of the University of Vermont debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​wdi/​Welcome.html .
The organizers are grateful for the support of our sponsor QatarDebate qatardebate.org/ .
Thanks to organizers Boris Vezjak, Alfred Snider and Bojana Skrt. Special thanks to Peter Mesarec, Monica Sobocan and Aljoša Polšak. 

Lecture - More Debates in More Classrooms - Sam Greenland - 3rd Better World Conference 2010

Lecture - More Debates in More Classrooms - Sam Greenland - 3rd Better World Conference 2010 from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.

Sam Greenland is currently President of the World Universities Debating Council. Sam has debated for Oxford and has also been a successful schools coach, directing the Hong Kong team at numerous World Schools Debating Championships. Recently he has been representing the University of Sydney Union in competitions, and reaching the WUDC semifinals among other advanced elimination rounds. He has been very active in creating the standards for non-native speakers to participate in international tournaments such as the WUDC. Sam has also been working on how debate can be used as a tool for teaching English and how debating improves the overall academic performance of students.

Curriculum documents and broader educational statements place increasing emphasis on critical thinking and rich assessment tasks. Classroom debates have been used in a number of secondary and tertiary contexts to assess student performance against curriculum learning outcomes. However, a number of authors have questioned the worth of debating as a classroom activity, in part due to the low level of research on how it can be accurately assessed and on the extent to which debating does or does not favour certain pre-determined groups of students.
This keynote presents a new assessment tool for classroom debates aimed at teachers who are not themselves debating experts, and analyses the performance of that assessment tool when used in a number of classroom contexts in Hong Kong secondary schools. It further explores whether the data presented from those interventions supports claims made in the literature that debating is an activity biased in favour of students who are male, high academic achievers and with high levels of English literacy.

The presentation finds that the new assessment instrument allows debating performance to be measured successfully by instructors in a classroom context. It also implies that debating does not possess the biases that some authors attribute to it, and therefore should gain wider acceptance as a useful classroom activity for developing and assessing critical thinking. It concludes with an exploration of the possible impacts of these results on classroom pedagogy and programme design for both curricular and extra-curricular activities.

Further details can be found at the conference websites:
Basic information at debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​better/​Welcome.html
News blog at betterworldconference.blogspot.com/

The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor in Slovenia uni-mb.si/ , ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/Pro et contra, institute for culture of dialogue zainproti.com/ , and the World Debate Institute of the University of Vermont debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​wdi/​Welcome.html .

The organizers are grateful for the support of our sponsor QatarDebate qatardebate.org/ .

Thanks to organizers Boris Vezjak, Alfred Snider and Bojana Skrt. Special thanks to Peter Mesarec, Monica Sobocan and Aljoša Polšak. 

Lecture - Discourse Towards Minorities - Masako Suzuki Takahashi - 3rd Better World Conference

Lecture - Discourse Towards Minorities - Masako Suzuki Takahashi - 3rd Better World Conference from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.
An approach to analysis on discourse toward minority, Masako Suzuki Takahashi, Research Center for Foreign Language Education, Keio University, Japan
This research aimed to analyze problems in language expressions towards minority groups of the society frequently appearing in communication among pulurilingual/pluricultural parties.
In our increasingly pluricultural world, it is essential to respect each other regardless of cultural, religious, ethnical, gender, (dis)abilities and economic background. New task for language education is to provide students opportunities to grow their ability to understand pains of others with different identity. In order to raise students who can advocate their views without hurting others, we first need to understand what expressions should be avoided.
There has been many insightful research works in the past namely Said’s “Orientalism” and Foucault’s “Maladie Mentale Et Psychologie”. However, background of minority is more diverse in the current society and so as shapes of oppression. An individual who belongs to minority in terms of one aspect of his/her identity can belong to majority in terms of another. Studies on bilateral relationship of groups are therefore not enough relevant in the current society. What we need now is more decent definition of insensitivity in general. Quantitative analysis on appeared insensitivity in the community must be very helpful in understanding the problem as well.
This research first analyzes Code of Conducts/Ethics of diverse international assemblies to discuss on general direction of pluricultural communities. Second, we discuss on possible definition of insensitive speech toward minority comparing with fallacy analysis by Pragma-Dialectical approach. Last, we discuss on further possibility to classify the insensitive speech using example statements collected at international and domestic debating events.
Further details can be found at the conference websites:
Basic information at debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​better/​Welcome.html
News blog at betterworldconference.blogspot.com/
The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor in Slovenia uni-mb.si/ , ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/Pro et contra, institute for culture of dialogue zainproti.com/ , and the World Debate Institute of the University of Vermont debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​wdi/​Welcome.html .
The organizers are grateful for the support of our sponsor QatarDebate qatardebate.org/ .
Thanks to organizers Boris Vezjak, Alfred Snider and Bojana Skrt. Special thanks to Peter Mesarec, Monica Sobocan and Aljoša Polšak. 

Panel - Cultural Variation, Debate and Argument - 3rd Better World Conference 2010

Panel - Cultural Variation, Debate and Argument - 3rd Better World Conference 2010 from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.

 Panelists: Abdul Gabbar Al-Sharafi, Yemen, Abdel Latif Sellami, Morocco, Maja Nenadovic, Hungary-Netherlands, Debbie Newman, UK, David Cratis Williams, USA and Masako Suzuki Takahasji, Japan. The event was moderated by Alfred Snider of the University of Vermont.

The Third International Conference on Argumentation, Rhetoric, Debate and the Pedagogy of Empowerment, Thinking and Speaking a Better World, concluded in Maribor, Slovenia on Sunday 24 October 2010. The conference featured scholars, experts and enthusiasts from nineteen countries.

During the sessions there were over 50 papers presented on a variety of topics. There were two keynote speeches, one by Debbie Newman (former president of the Cambridge Union, England and Wales debate champion, former head of the English Speaking Union's Centre for Speech and Debate, and world champion schools coach for England) from the UK on "The Noisy Classroom" and one from Sam Greenland (Sydney University, WUDC semifinalist, current World Debating Council President) on "Measuring Debate's Impact on Classroom Performance."

Eighty attendees spent three days sharing ideas, scholarship and fellowship while networking on future projects. A major panel discussion on "Cultural Variation - Debate and Argument" had participants from Yemen, Morocco, Hungary, Venezuela, Japan, UK and USA. There was a lavish banquet on Saturday night and productive discussions during the twenty panel sessions that were held.

Papers from this conference as well as the 2006 and 2008 events will be published in a volume entitled Thinking and Speaking a Better World edited by Alfred Snider of the University of Vermont and David Cratis Williams of Florida Atlantic University due out at the end of 2011.

Videos of many of the presentations, both keynotes, and the panel discussion on culture will be available in coming weeks at the conference websites.

There will be an announcement soon about the fourth and next conference.

Further details can be found at the conference websites:
Basic information at debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​better/​Welcome.html
News blog at betterworldconference.blogspot.com/​

The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor in Slovenia uni-mb.si/​ , ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/Pro et contra, institute for culture of dialogue zainproti.com/​ , and the World Debate Institute of the University of Vermont debate.uvm.edu/​debateblog/​wdi/​Welcome.html .

The organizers are grateful for the support of our sponsor QatarDebate qatardebate.org/​ .

Thanks to organizers Boris Vezjak, Alfred Snider and Bojana Skrt. Special thanks to Peter Mesarec, Monica Sobocan and Aljoša Polšak.

Debate - WUDC - Campaign Promises & Recall Elections - HWS IV Final Round 2010

Hobart & William Smith IV: Final Round from Steve Llano on Vimeo.

From Steve Llano, St. John's University NY:

The Final Round of the Hobart & William Smith Colleges IV, held on October 2nd and 3rd, 2010.

The Motion:This House would allow candidates to designate certain promises as legally binding, which, if broken, would trigger automatic recall elections.

Teams:
Opening Gov: The University of Vermont
Opening Opp: St. John's University, New York
Closing Gov: Ohio Wesleyan
Closing Opp: Cornell University 

Debate - WUDC - Support a Nuclear Iran - St. John's University

STJ Public Debate: Supporting Nuclear Iran from Steve Llano on Vimeo.

Steve Llano, St. John's University:
Here's a video of a public debate that St. John's Debate Society members put on for the campus in our public debate series.  The motion was: This House supports a nuclear Iran. October 2010. 

Lecture - WUDC - Find the Winning Arguments - Croke & Hind

Sydney WUDC Champions BP Workshop from Steve Llano on Vimeo.

Steve Llano, St. John's University: 

Here is a video of a Worlds Debating workshop conducted by Chris Croke and Steve Hind, the current WUDC Champions from Sydney Union. The workshop is one of the best we've done, I think. This was at King's College, Manhattan.