Designing Oxford-Style Debates

Overview

Students participate in an Oxford-style debate in which they are assigned a stance on an issue (in favor, against, or consensus), then debate each other depending on their role.

Why Use This?

Oxford-style debate improves student-to-student interactions within the course and inspires deeper thinking about a topic. It encourages students to go beyond their own perspective.

How Does It Work?

At the start of the course, students are split into three groups (Groups A, B, and C) via a student-editable content page in Canvas and are given the instructions for participating in an Oxford-style debate. Throughout the course, there are three debates, each on a different topic. Each group is assigned one of the following roles regarding the topic: argue for, argue against, or provide an assessment. The role of each group changes for each debate. This way, every student participates in each discussion from a different perspective. Each group is required to post by specific deadlines during the week (Group A on Tuesday, Group B on Wednesday, etc.). The assessment group responds at the end of the week with their perspective on which group they found to be more convincing.

Keep In Mind

• Sometimes editable pages can cause issues if two students are editing it at the same time.
• The instructor should participate in the debate while it is ongoing. This shows students the discussion is active and organic in nature.
• Instructors should also remind students about post deadlines (in an announcement, for example), which tend to be more intricate for debate-style discussions.
• An optional resource, Intelligence Squared, can be given to students so they can familiarize themselves with the Oxford-style debate format by watching debates on different current event topics.