Leading Effective Discussions 

TEW Workshop  

Brian Smentkowski

Reminder to Self

Getting Around 

Latitude

Latitude lines run horizontally.

Latitude lines are also known as parallels since they are parallel and are an equal distant from each other.

Each degree of latitude is approximately 69 miles (111 km) apart; there is a variation due to the fact that the earth is not a perfect sphere but an oblate ellipsoid (slightly egg-shaped).

Degrees latitude are numbered from 0° to 90° north and south.

Zero degrees is the equator, the imaginary line which divides our planet into the northern and southern hemispheres. 90° north is the North Pole and 90° south is the South Pole.  

Longitude

The vertical longitude lines are also known as meridians.

They converge at the poles and are widest at the equator (about 69 miles or 111 km apart).

Zero degrees longitude is located at Greenwich, England (0°).

The degrees continue 180° east and 180° west where they meet and form the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean.  

How They Work Together

Degrees longitude and latitude are divided into minutes (') and seconds (").

There are 60 minutes in each degree. Each minute is divided into 60 seconds. Seconds are further divided into tenths, hundredths,etc. 

So, In Our Example 

Kent Library is located 37 degrees, 18 minutes, and 41.22 seconds north of the equator and 89 degrees, 31 minutes and 52 seconds west of the meridian passing through Greenwich, England.

Academic Hall is located 37 degrees, 18 minutes, and 45 seconds north of the equator and 89 degrees, 31 minutes, and 51 seconds west of the meridian.

How do you get from “Point A” to Point B”?

What if you’re driving?

What if you’re walking?

What if you’re in a wheelchair? 

The stats one 

• y=α+βx1+βx2+βx3+e
• What can you tell about this equation even if you don’t know anything about math or statistics?
• What about causality?

The Music one 

• The sheet music
• The music

Online issues 

• “You can’t have a meaningful discussion online”
• Why not?

The Ophelia Syndrome & The Meno Example 

• Act 1, Scene 3, Hamlet.
• Ophelia: “I do not know, my lord, what I should think.”
• Polonius: “I’ll teach you. Think yourself a baby…”
• Problem: Teacher gives answers, not questions; does not allow or encourage independent thinking.

• Plato’s Meno.
• Context: Even an uneducated person can, with proper guidance, solve difficult problems.
• Teachers don’t give answers; students have them but need to discover them.
• Teachers = facilitators

Benefits of Discussion 

• Students are not treated as passive recipients of information
• Students should –and can- learn from other students
• Participation bridges the gap between what we say and what students hear/infer

• Students learn by doing.
• They develop their own answers
• They also develop their own questions
• The more active they are in the learning process, the more likely they are to:
• Retain information
• Apply information to different circumstances
• Develop problem solving skills
• Analyze their own attitudes

• Develop good questions
• Be inclusive
• Be patient
• Facilitate conversation
• Provide control and direction
• Listen
• Exercise respect, but feel free to challenge points of view

• Allow students to answer their own questions and those of others
• Synthesize information
• Provide a strong conclusion
• Do not allow students to think they were “just talking” in class today.

10 commandments of discussion