I just taught one of my most effective lessons and only did 5% of the talking.

One student commented that “it was one of the most useful things I’ve ever done. It felt like a legit board meeting.”

Here is what I did:

My students have been working on solving a problem this semester related to AI and job outsourcing. I gave them a problem statement and they have been learning how to make difficult judgments and decisions about things that we don’t know much about with practical wisdom.

Today they were responsible for sharing the judgment that they finally arrived at in the context of their groups.

I did not ask them to make a PowerPoint. I did not permit them to read from notes. Each group had to come up and talk through their solution unaided.

After it was presented, the rest of the class had two minutes to confer with their own groups and develop several pointed questions that challenged the group’s determination.

The presenters were then required to engage with the questions and try to answer them to the best of their ability—similar to a doctoral defense.

And…

It was awesome 🙌

These questions were so on point and, importantly, they were forced to listen to ask them (I kept them accountable by requiring people to write down minimum of one solid question per group presentation).

The whole class was thinking and participating without constant counsel from the chatbot on their phones.

10/10 highly recommend.

note: this is a critical thinking course required in our business school.