WHY ARE YOU SITTING ON THAT SIDE
Looking for a good active learning method to kick off the second part of your semester? Forced debate is a great way to focus on critical thinking, allow your students to practice their communication skills, and gauge where the class is in terms of learning. To get started, identify an issue about which there are two clearly defined and opposed positions, and let students know one class in advance that they will be required to select a side and defend it. On the discussion day, divide the room physically into two sides and ask the students to sit on one side or the other. You should leave space in the middle for undecided students who, however, have to move to one side or the other before the class has ended. In fact, any student who changes their mind can move during the class: from one side to the other, from one side to the center, and back again. You can, of course, begin forced debates with a writing exercise, asking students to write a one‐paragraph explanation of why they are sitting on a certain side. Opening a forced debate is the easiest question you’ll ask all year: “Why are you sitting on that side?” Ask a handful of students on one side to respond to that question; by the time they are finished, the students on the other side are frantic to refute the points they are hearing. The physical division of the classroom facilitates the discussion as well, since whenever someone moves, you can pause and ask them why; it also helps the students see that others are changing their minds as a result of the discussion, as they learn from their peers. It is recommended that you use this learning experience at least once a semester in every class you teach. You can find more learning experiences like this one in the Active Learning Manual which is available on the Canvas site under Teaching and Learning Faculty Development under the Modules file.

KEEPING THEM ENGAGED IN AN ONLINE COURSE
Dr. Paula Bigatel, an instructional designer and instructor at Penn State University’s World Campus, has some good information for those of us teaching in the online environment. She writes, "During the past year and a half, our faculty development unit has been gathering data from students about how engaged they felt in their online courses. We wanted to use this data to develop a variety of strategies for faculty to use to better engage their students. Research provides evidence for the connection between higher student engagement and persistence and retention in online programs. We gained valuable insights from students when we asked: Define what it means to you to be engaged in a course." Read the full article here.

I WASN'T IN CLASS BECAUSE I GOT EVICTED
When a low-income parent gets evicted, what happens? Matthew Desmond’s new book, Evicted, looks closely at what happens to a series of low-income people, mostly parents, in Milwaukee. It should be required reading for anyone who works at a community college or a public school in a low-income area. Desmond insinuated himself into the lives of dozens of people in the Milwaukee area at the onset of the Great Recession, and followed their lives closely for years. The book is written mostly as a series of character-driven vignettes, rather than as academic sociology, though he connects the dots in passing and at the end. Continue reading Matt Reed's post here.