The culture of questioning techniques in the classroom

In her paper Bonnie McAlister (Elon University, USA) presented the questioning protocols she has used with her colleague Steven Friedland to encourage active learning, demonstrating through exercises and discussion how they improve student engagement. Bonnie and Steve’s full paper appeared in the Web Journal of Current Legal Issues 2009(3) in June 2009.

Legal educators concerned about effectively engaging their students must have a model of the protocols to use when asking questions. Traditional teaching methods, reliant on Socratic practices, are limited in their effectiveness as they do not incorporate considerations such as the different purposes of questions, the importance of narratives as responses to questions and the value of feedback in questioning.

Elon University School of Law’s emphasis on a learning centred environment leads faculty to challenge traditional methodologies and focus on ways to question students so they may have both the knowledge and the practice competencies they need in order to be effective lawyers.

In the session Bonnie focused on the communication competencies developed by use of the protocols, demonstrating how questions need be organised, what purposes they serve, what outcomes they produce, and why they engage students more effectively.

About Bonnie

---

Bonnie McAlister is executive coach in residence at Elon University School of Law. Prior to joining the Elon faculty she was a faculty member at Davidson College in North Carolina and a program manager at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Last Modified: 9 July 2010