Creating a classroom environment where students feel comfortable engaging in dialogue—whether in whole class discussions or small group activities—is 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—and 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—not just in future workplaces, but in their lives.
As Teamwork Program Lead at 91şÚÁĎÍř’s E-IDEA Teamwork Program, Renee partners with engineering instructors to intentionally design those opportunities —she 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’s 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‑ended, application-based questions that invite students to bring their own lived experiences into the conversation.
For example:
“Why do you think this happened?”
“Why might this situation have unfolded this way?”
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:
“These prompts are here to guide your discussion — you don’t need to answer everyone.”
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’s 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’s 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‑stakes in‑class activities
- Reflection tasks
- Varied forms of verbal and non‑verbal participation
This multimodal approach communicates to students that participation is not synonymous with speaking the most—it’s about engaging meaningfully in ways that suit their strengths and comfort levels.
Rather than focusing on whether students produce the “right” answer, this approach emphasizes how they engage in the learning process. Participation is understood as the actions students take—showing 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’ 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’s 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’ 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, “We want to hear what you have to say as a person,” she creates conditions in which they naturally feel this. By encouraging students to connect concepts and scenarios to their own experiences—rather than treating prompts as right or wrong questions—she 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‑rich learning environments that deepen student engagement.
Her work ultimately shows that intentionally designed dialogue opens space for all voices to be heard— and when students feel heard, they can engage in deeper, more sustained learning.
This article was originally published on the site.