Creating a classroom environment where students feel comfortable engaging in dialogue鈥攚hether in whole class discussions or small group activities鈥攊s essential for meaningful learning. Yet, many instructors observe that students often hesitate to participate, unsure of what to say or how to begin.
At the Beyond Grading Symposium 2025: Fostering relationship-rich classrooms, teamwork expert Renee Pellissier shared a set of thoughtful, practical strategies that help students develop the interpersonal and collaborative skills needed for rich, sustained dialogue in the classroom. Her session, Strategies to facilitate dialogue among students during class and group work, highlighted her deep experience in fostering teamwork and interpersonal skills inside the classroom. The insights that follow come from an interview that we I conducted following her presentation.
Why dialogue matters鈥攁nd why it needs to be intentionally designed
For Renee, the motivation is simple: interpersonal and teamwork skills are universally applicable, and students need structured opportunities to practice them鈥攏ot just in future workplaces, but in their lives.
As Teamwork Program Lead at 海角社区鈥檚 E-IDEA Teamwork Program, Renee partners with engineering instructors to intentionally design those opportunities 鈥攕he conducts in-class workshops with students and shares ready to use resources (e.g., team contracts, team contracts, goal alignment guides, feedback frameworks, and strategies for difficult conversations) so instructors can sustain dialogue-rich learning environments long after the workshop concludes.
The throughline in all of this is intentionality: Dialogue works best when instructors clearly plan:
- Why a discussion is happening
- How it will unfold
- What support students will have to participate equitably
Three pillars of effective classroom dialogue
Renee鈥檚 approach to discussion design is anchored in three interrelated elements:
1. Thoughtful framing
Rather than offering abstract prompts or yes/no questions, Renee encourages instructors to use open-ended, application鈥慹nded, application-based questions that invite students to bring their own lived experiences into the conversation.
For example:
鈥淲hy do you think this happened?鈥�
鈥淲hy might this situation have unfolded this way?鈥�
These questions encourage exploration rather than evaluation, helping students enter the discussion more naturally.
2. Gentle structure
Structure helps reduce anxiety.
Renee typically provides three or four guiding questions to give students direction without turning the activity into a checklist. She might say:
鈥淭hese prompts are here to guide your discussion 鈥� you don鈥檛 need to answer everyone.鈥�
This light scaffolding clarifies expectations and gives students multiple entry points into the discussion. When expectations are clearer, participation feels safer.
Modelling the behaviour you want to see
Perhaps the most powerful element of Renee鈥檚 approach is modelling.
If she wants students to discuss a topic openly, she begins by sharing her own perspective, demonstrating both vulnerability and curiosity.
Students, she notes, mirror the behaviour they see. When instructors speak honestly, show uncertainty, or make connections to their own experiences, students feel more permission to do the same.
Implementation: supporting every student鈥檚 way of participating
Renee is acutely aware that participation looks different for different students. To ensure inclusivity, she suggests instructors use multiple ways to enhance classroom engagement, such as:
- Online polls
- Low鈥憇takes in鈥慶lass activities
- Reflection tasks
- Varied forms of verbal and non鈥憊erbal participation
This multimodal approach communicates to students that participation is not synonymous with speaking the most鈥攊t鈥檚 about engaging meaningfully in ways that suit their strengths and comfort levels.
Rather than focusing on whether students produce the 鈥渞ight鈥� answer, this approach emphasizes how they engage in the learning process. Participation is understood as the actions students take鈥攕howing up prepared, contributing to discussions, working with peers, asking questions, or reflecting on an activity. What matters most is their willingness to take part, try things out, and stay involved.
By valuing effort and engagement over correctness, this approach helps create a classroom environment where students feel more comfortable participating and more invested in their learning.
What students value most: practicality matters
Engineering students consistently tell Renee that the practical examples are the most helpful part of her workshops, largely because their programs offer few opportunities for dialogue-based activities. They especially value having structured time to talk with one another about meaningful topics. These conversations deepen understanding while also strengthening connection and community.
Addressing common challenges
Facilitating dialogue is not without challenges. Renee identified two main hurdles:
1. Student hesitation
Students need help understanding why dialogue matters. Renee meets them where they are, explaining the relevance of communication and interpersonal skills beyond the course outcome.
1. Instructor s鈥� lack of participation or buy-in
These strategies work best when instructors are actively involved. Renee emphasizes the importance of meeting with instructors, having them attend workshops, and modelling the vulnerability they hope to see from students.
Take home message: dialogue as a foundation for learning
Renee Pellissier鈥檚 work reminds us that effective dialogue does not happen by accident. It grows from thoughtful design, supportive structures, and an environment where students feel genuinely seen and heard.
A key part of creating such an environment is acknowledging that students鈥� cultural backgrounds shape how they communicate and engage with course material. While this is not a major challenge in facilitating dialogue, Renee notes that it is an important consideration when designing activities. Rather than explicitly telling students, 鈥淲e want to hear what you have to say as a person,鈥� she creates conditions in which they naturally feel this. By encouraging students to connect concepts and scenarios to their own experiences鈥攔ather than treating prompts as right or wrong questions鈥攕he ensures that diverse perspectives are welcomed and integrated into class discussions.
Thoughtful framing, clear structure, and authentic modelling come together powerfully in her strategies, creating the conditions for active and engaged classrooms. Even more compelling is the way her approach demonstrates that meaningful participation becomes possible for every student when they are offered multiple pathways to contribute.
She also provides instructors with tangible practices for intentionally cultivating relationship鈥憆ich learning environments that deepen student engagement.
Her work ultimately shows that intentionally designed dialogue opens space for all voices to be heard鈥� and when students feel heard, they can engage in deeper, more sustained learning.
This article was originally published on the site.