Discussion Is the Star, but Technology Sets the Stage
There is a great deal of anxiety running through education regarding the use of screens and technology, that it is either doing too much of the thinking for our students or distracting them from learning. It is a fair concern, and one worth sitting with rather than answering with a knee-jerk “ban it” or “use it” declaration. A balanced approach is probably the soundest. Let technology do what it does well, and then put it aside so the group can do what only humans can do—delve deep into thoughts through conversation.
The Junior Great Books Digital Classroom is a good example of this moderate approach in action, and it is worth looking at closely. It is a great model for how technology can support, rather than substitute for, the deeper work of building readers, thinkers, and listeners.
What Technology Actually Does
Junior Great Books Digital Classroom uses digital tools to prepare students for the deeper thinking of the Shared Inquiry discussion. On the platform, students read and reread a text, engaging in first and second readings as they prepare for discussion. The platform puts the text first, with comprehension as the focus, and students can access content by reading or listening to audio recordings that track along with the text. Students can easily enlarge text if they need help seeing it better.
This is technology used for what it’s genuinely good at: individualized pacing, accessibility, and giving every student—regardless of reading level, language background, or learning need—the opportunity to understand the text before the group ever sits down together. Students can share their thinking orally, in writing, or even in picture format, which means the digital space also becomes a place where students can begin forming initial claims about the text and gathering evidence that supports their thinking without the pressure of an audience.
There’s also a significant benefit here for teachers. Students can submit notes to teachers, allowing teachers to view and respond to student questions. This private, one-on-one communication supports comprehension before discussion day arrives. A teacher walking into a Shared Inquiry discussion already knows where the confusion is, where the sparks of curiosity are, and which students might need an extra nudge to speak up.
What the Technology Doesn’t Do—On Purpose
Here’s the part that matters most: the technology does not run the discussion.
The goal of the Shared Inquiry discussion, the key activity of a Junior Great Books® unit, is for students to consider and discuss the questions of meaning that the text raises. This is a live, facilitated, human conversation. No app moderates it. No algorithm scores the responses. A trained Shared Inquiry leader sits with the group, asks the focus question, and then does something increasingly rare in a student’s day: listens and is curious about the student’s responses.
This is where the real instructional payoff happens, not in the platform, but in the room.
The Discussion as the Destination, Not an Add-On
It’s worth naming what’s actually being practiced when students put down their devices and turn to face each other.
Civil discourse skills. Students learn to make a claim, support it with evidence from the text, and build on, or respectfully challenge, what a classmate just said. This is a skill that no amount of solo screen time can teach, because it requires another person to respond to. It requires the teacher to create a safe space for practice.
Listening. Shared Inquiry discussions ask students to follow the conversation rather than just wait for their turn to talk. They have to follow someone else’s reasoning closely enough to ask a genuine follow-up question or notice when an idea connects to something said five minutes earlier.
Disagreeing well. Because the discussion question is genuinely interpretive (there are multiple possible answers) and no “right answer” is expected, students regularly find themselves on opposite sides of an interpretation. Learning to say “I see it differently, and here’s why” without it becoming personal is a skill students will use for the rest of their lives, in classrooms and far beyond them. Having their ideas challenged rather than being agreed with and pandered to by the AI is something students need on a regular basis.
Critical thinking under social conditions. Thinking alone with a screen is one kind of cognitive work. Thinking out loud, in real time, while adjusting your view in response to a peer’s compelling point, is a different and harder kind and arguably the kind that matters most for citizenship, collaboration, and lifelong learning.
The Shared Inquiry Sequence of Activities Matters
Technology lays the groundwork by providing the platform for questioning, comprehension-building, access, and initial reflection so that when students arrive at the discussion, they’re not starting from zero. They’ve read the text twice. They’ve formed some initial opinions about the text and have struggled to gather evidence to support their thinking. The teacher has a sense of where the class stands by having led both in-person sessions and also by looking online at what the students have entered into JGBDC.
That preparation is what makes the Shared Inquiry discussion productive rather than chaotic. Students aren’t discussing because the schedule says it’s discussion time; they’re discussing because they’ve done the work that gives them something to discuss. The technology supports—but does not replace—human conversation and connection.
Shared Inquiry Sequence of Activities
A Model Worth Borrowing
Use the Junior Great Books Digital Classroom’s technology to support students in preparing for discussion, giving them access to complex texts, and providing individualized pacing. This will center the classroom on the live, human moment where the highest-order skills that Junior Great Books and Shared Inquiry support, such as discourse, listening, perspective-taking, and respectful disagreement.
While it is tempting to either hand everything over to adaptive software or to reject technology altogether, the Shared Inquiry model and JGBDC offer something more useful: a division of labor. Let the technology do its job well. Students can engage with each other and the teacher throughout the activities in every unit. When Shared Inquiry discussion starts, students can access their notes and questions, as well as the text, through the digital platform. But the classroom focuses squarely on discussion, collaborating to uncover and share unique insights into the selections they have been exploring.
Get Started with Junior Great Books Digital Classroom
It’s easy to get started with our digital platform. We are happy to give you a free trial so you can see the text selections for your grade level and explore the features that make it so easy and enjoyable to use. Contact your Great Books partnership manager to get started today!
Professional Learning Consultant
Teri Laliberte has over 20 years of experience working with learners from a variety of backgrounds. Prior to working abroad, she earned her master’s degree in language and linguistics from the University of Georgia. With 15 years of experience working with English language learners, she has supported language growth and acquisition in her students, along with the needed academic skills of critical thinking, listening, and speaking. Prior to rejoining the Great Books Foundation, she spent 15 years working with adult learners in higher and continuing education, honing her skills by meeting the needs of various learners in literacy, communication, and critical thinking.
