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Facilitating productive class discussions is one of the most challenging tasks facing college educators, especially when potentially divisive issues are discussed. The author shares ten recommendations derived from teaching a course on current and controversial managerial issues via conversational learning. Excerpts from student comments are included to demonstrate the appropriateness of these recommendations. These recommendations are applicable to conversations across subjects and are meant to encourage college teachers to experiment with conversational learning in their own classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the statistical effect of changing from a 10-point to a 5-point response scale on students' evaluation of instruction. Participants were 5,616 students enrolled in classes offered by the College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs at a large Western university, who completed both the old evaluation (10-point response) and the new evaluation (5-point response). On average, students used a greater range of points on the scale for the 5-point scale (32 percent) than on the 10-point scale (19 percent). The effects of changing the response scale are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]