Lecture - Using Debate in University Courses - Steve Llano

Using Debate in University Courses from Steve Llano on Vimeo.

From http://progymnasmata.posterous.com/using-debate-in-university-courses

Here's a lecture I gave a month ago to some faculty members about using debate in regular coursework. The session was sponsored by our Center for Teaching and Learning on campus. My goal was to encourage these professors to see debate as another valuable tool to use in their pedagogy. I tried to convey that debate is both useful as a learning process instrument in the classroom, as well as an assessment instrument in courses. 

I really dislike taking an instrumentalist view of debating. But in this case it seemed to be a good way to get faculty to think of it as something useful instead of a time-waster, or worse, the introduction of anarchic conversation into the classroom. By portraying debate as the equivalent of a class discussion, essay, or examination, I hope to get a more positive view on it across campus. 

I think eventually they will figure out that debate is a bit more powerful than just another learning tool. But that might be for a different talk.