Oxford-style Debates for IT Students

Oxford-style debating is a well-known tool in social sciences. However, when we try to go beyond standard thinking, it turns out that the debates can be a great educational tool in telecommunication and computer engineering. Oxford-style debating can be defined as a formal communication process where participants argue for and against a predetermined topic, known as a motion. The discussion has a competitive format where the participants are divided into two teams: proponents, who agree with the motion of debate, and opponents, who argue against the motion. The participants - including the listening rest of the class - take a broad view of the given subject without ignoring different points of view. This form of debating supports professional education and soft skills training, efficient teamwork and individual study, and effective verbal and non-verbal communication skills. All of these abilities are very important for IT engineers. The well-organized structure and competitive character makes this educational tool useful in academic study (especially for postgraduate students) as well as at special events (e.g. summer schools). Defining valid and interesting motions is certainly a challenge; however, given sufficient interest and research, there are plenty of topics suitable for a valuable debate related to computer science (e.g. 'Law enforcement agencies should be able to read confidential messages sent by citizens'). Oxford-style debates can be a great didactic tool at technical universities.