Melanie’s discussion tips
For facilitators
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Plan!
Don’t attempt to wing it. In fact, plan for more than you think is necessary for your allotted time, but recognize that you might not get to all of your prepared agenda.
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Decide on a few areas of focus for the discussion: relatively broad questions or concepts that can serve as beginnings for group exploration.
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Take a multifaceted approach to your focus areas: devise a few strategies for exploring different aspects of their complexity.
For example, say you are interested in idea of interpretive flexibility of category definitions and how new examples might affect existing category structures. You might first have the class identify, compare, and evaluate material from the week’s readings that bears upon these issues.
You might proceed by looking at some terms from the HRDI thesaurus and examining, from the perspective of these readings, how these terms might be used differently for different collections or situations. You might also discuss the implications of this interpretive flexibility, including what, if anything, might be done about it: to the thesaurus, to processes for developing and revising the thesaurus, to processes for using the thesaurus to index documents, to facilitate understanding between different stakeholder groups, and so on.
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Draw others into your world: give context to your initial questions by relating an anecdote, an example that others can relate to, a potential scenario, and so on.
For example, instead of beginning your discussion with a huge, impossible question, such as “is all classification an instrument of oppression?” describe the specific ways that an assigned reading made you wonder about classification and oppression, perhaps relating your thoughts to experiences as an information seeker and as an information professional, and then ask the class to brainstorm potential defenses of professionally supplied categories. Write these on the whiteboard and examine them. Do they fall into a few broad categories? Are they feasible? And so on.
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Vary the structure as appropriate for your chosen focus.
In addition to whole-group discussion, you can think about individual writing, work in small groups, brief activities or exercises, and so on. (None of this is required, just possible.)
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Don’t be afraid of silence.
Give everyone a chance to think before you jump in and rephrase the question or move on to something else.
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Move the discussion forward by summing up arguments and connecting various contributions, then directing the group to unexplored aspects of the area under discussion.
For example, a facilitator might say, “It sounds like while we in general agree that classification can generate new understanding for the information seeker, we are skeptical that documents can be classified efficiently and consistently, which lessens the potential for this type of learning. Can we think about the specific problems at work here, and what we might do to solve them?” or
“Everyone so far seems to agree that archives have different goals than libraries. But can classification systems be used in archives or not, and how would these be different from the kinds of classifications used in libraries?”
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To avoid vague generalizations, refer to specific parts of the assigned readings and ask participants to do so as well.
You might say, for example, “well, does Hulme actually say anything about what to do when books define concepts differently? Does Beghtol mention this?”
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Monitor the group dynamic, and make sure that everyone who wants to speak gets a turn.

 Although it’s scary, be flexible.
If the discussion takes an unexpected turn, but everyone is into it, consider letting it move in the new direction, even if you have to abandon some of your careful plans. Alternatively, if things aren’t going well, go with what people seem interested in (or, if desperate, have everyone write down a discussion question, collect them, and then start tossing them out).
For participants
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Contribute!
It’s through sharing your own ideas and engaging the ideas of others that greater understanding and—gasp—learning happens. Also, remember that you will be leading a class session, and participate in the way that you hope your colleagues will participate in the session that you facilitate.
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Listen!
Respond to what others have said, not just to the questions that the facilitator has asked. Talk to each other, not to the instructor or the facilitators only.
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Back up your assertions with evidence, from the readings, from personal experience, or other forms of evidence.
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Be respectful, but critical.
If it doesn’t seem like the support provided for someone’s claim is sufficient, explain why you think so and give the group a chance to offer more evidence.
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Be open to changing your mind.
If someone else provides convincing evidence, acknowledge it and move on.
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Take responsibility for the group.
If you feel like the discussion is drifting, or if it’s being dominated by one person, or if the contributions aren’t as rigorous as you would like, don’t tune out: change the dynamic. For example, you might say, “We’ve all had experiences where we’ve encountered ridiculous categories. But I feel like this discussion is turning into a big venting session. Can we maybe think more about how these kinds of failures might be avoided?”