Professor in a Strange Land: An Expat Metaphor for Classroom Discussions

Classroom discussions provide many benefits to students, including practice with verbal skills, enhanced critical thinking skills, an active learning framework, and greater intellectual stimulation than an unidirectional lecture format. Although discussions’ suitability for learning objectives varies (e.g., for some mathematical skills, a different active learning format could be more suitable), many courses cover material that classroom discussions can enhance. However, successful classroom discussions present obstacles for instructors, including a lack of confidence in the format’s success or an inability to relate to students’ perspectives. I present an “expat metaphor” for how instructors can internally relate to students during class discussions. Rather than avoiding the gap in cultural referents between the instructor and students, the metaphor exploits it toward a way of thinking about classroom discussions that is egalitarian while maintaining the instructor’s authority. I describe how I run discussions in my courses, link the metaphor to them, and explain how the metaphor frames planning and moderation of discussions.