The Generative Interview

To assist my students in determining a cultural trend to investigate this semester for their class eportfolio, our active learning exercise today was the generative interview, a focused brainstorming session in which I gave pairs of students a set of questions to ask each other, questions designed to help them think about the breadth of what constitutes culture and about the need to focus on a smaller, more manageable aspect of a specific cultural trend.

For a few minutes before today’s collaborative activity began we discussed the broader sense of culture and some parameters they should consider as they begin choosing their field of investigation. For example, we asked will the cultural trend they investigate be significant enough to warrant a readers’ time? Do they have personal experience of the cultural trend? Have they observed the cultural trend? Can they talk to people who are a part of the trend? Can they read about the cultural trend? Are they able to examine the trend dispassionately as they learn about it? Are they comfortable discussing their investigation with their peers in class? Can they report their final opinion about the trend in a civil and persuasive manner? I’m encouraging them to withhold judgments and opinions in this preliminary stage of inquiry until they have accumulated enough information and put in enough thought to have an informed opinion.

We then discussed the procedure for the paired interviews and soon after the room got noisy. As I circulated among the tables of students I heard and saw just what I wanted: the questions being asked and the answers given and recorded. Some of them finished earlier than others and their conversations wandered to other topics not necessarily connected to class, but this happened in the final few minutes, it did not interfere with the other students, and I suspect it will help the students become more comfortable with each other as they come to trust and rely on each other’s assistance this semester.