4 Tips for Better Online Debates

Debates are excellent engagement activities that allow students the opportunity to compare and contrast ideas, verify assumptions with evidence, and review a range of perspectives on an issue. Additionally, classroom debates can help students use their critical thinking skills to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of an argument. For structured, semi-structured, or informal debate formats in an online classroom setting, consider these strategies to help enrich the debate experience:

• Outline debate rules and procedures in advance to encourage respectful behavior.  It comes as no surprise that debating can bring about a range of emotions, especially if participants are arguing positions they are passionate about. For this reason, if you plan to conduct a formal or semi-formal debate, it is best practice to encourage an environment of controversy with civility by setting expectations and informing students of the rules and procedures of the debate in advance. This can easily be achieved by posting debate rules on your course wall, discussion board, or announcement board. 

• Ask non-debaters to nominate questions. This debate option is similar to moderators taking questions from the audience during political debates. A benefit of taking questions from the audience during class is that it increases listener engagement and allows quieter students an opportunity to participate in the debate experience. In an online classroom, you can facilitate questions from the audience by asking students to nominate questions in chat, vote on questions using a poll, or speak questions out loud in a group forum. 

• Have students argue a position counter to their personal view.  Having students argue a position counter to their personal view is a great way to encourage students to develop their critical thinking skills. It is also a useful technique to help students combat confirmation bias, critique their own beliefs, and probe the weaknesses of their own positions. 

• Use collaborative documents to help students brainstorm pros and cons of a position.  If you are looking for more informal ways to conduct a debate, having students add their arguments (either for or against a position) on a collaborative slide is a fun way to review debate positions and share ideas without the pressure of a formal public speaking debate structure.

This is the second article of a four-part series that focuses on strategies for better conversations in online classrooms. In the next article of this series, we will examine how to have better conversations with discussions and explore unique ways to enhance discussion experiences for active learning. Click here to visit the first article providing an overview of the series.

Image powered by Storyset