Here's a description that will resonate with many faculty: “Whole-class discussion often fell flat, so I shifted to heavier reliance on small-group discussion as a warm-up for talk in the larger group. This change got students talking, but not necessarily reading, and the talk frequently seemed to sit on the surface of the issues, or even skirt them altogether in favor of personal storytelling that might be tangentially related to the central course concepts.” (p. 146) That's an observation Jane West offers in an article that describes an assignment developed by others but modified and adapted by her in some unique ways.