By Dr Tam Duc Dinh
Posted Tuesday 10 March, 2026

I teach two units: MKW2402 Consumer Behaviour and MKW2420 Marketing Research Methods. Both units’ signature feature is their weekly case discussion – I use cases from company websites, news, and academic articles to help students understand how the concepts explained in their Moodle videos and slides are reflected in real-world contexts.

Who this post might help

My context may not be the same as yours. I’m sharing what has helped me; take what is useful and leave the rest. Does any of this sound like you?

• You have certain expertise in your subject, but you don’t know how to share it and engage the students.
• You have no issue with making students smile, but their thoughts are not as deep and critical as you want.
• Your students are lovely and you are an excellent educator, but the questions keep coming from you and you do not know how to help students ask important questions.
• You want yourself and your students to learn from both answering and asking questions; you just do not know how to begin.

My two main challenges

During my weekly case discussions, two main challenges arise. 

Firstly, how do I engage the students? This is extremely important because the internal motivation of the students results in their presence in class. To sustain such motivation, the teachers must know how to make the learning environment engaging.

Secondly, engagement is only the starting point. In my case discussions, my ongoing challenge is helping students move from participating to thinking critically. The term is common but often abstract; in the classroom, I am looking for observable behaviours – students questioning assumptions, explaining why, listening, reasoning, and using evidence. 

From my teaching, as well as past experience in training and mentoring, I have distilled five practices to build an engaging environment and six practical dimensions to guide critical thinking. I use these to help both myself and my students during our discussions.

Engagement and critical thinking: Two sides of the same coin

Others may approach engagement and critical thinking as two separate aspects in teaching and learning. I argue that both are the two sides of the same coin. To me, to engage people is to make them think, and a memorable engagement (not encounter) is when people are motivated to think critically. 

Without thinking, the engagement is purely entertaining – ephemeral and even shallow. Without engaging, the thinking is dry and forceful – torturing both the speaker and the listener. Trying to delineate which comes first is like trying to say, “let’s have fun first and think later” or “let’s think hard and have no fun”. 

How can I create an engaging learning environment?

There are five practices I use to promote trust and create an engaging learning environment. 

1. Make it safe to contribute

In my classes, we build a culture of “no fear of judgement”. I always emphasise to my students that there are no right or wrong answers, and we learn from the exchange of information rather than one fixed conclusion. Ultimately, it is students themselves who will judge the usefulness of knowledge when they encounter real-world contexts. To make this possible, they must feel free to share their opinions without fear. Creating this freedom makes inclusivity not just important, but essential.

2. Model the mindset you want

I try to be a role model: if I want students to develop certain skills, I must first demonstrate them. Behavioural imitation is a powerful way of learning and teachers must realise how much their words and actions impact their students. 

3. Get students talking to each other

I promote a collaborative learning environment to foster a sense of intellectual curiosity and inclusivity. Because the classroom is established as a safe space, peer review becomes a natural part of learning. Students not only share ideas but also give and receive constructive feedback from one another.

4. Give feedback they can use

Feedback is only helpful when students know what to do with it. I have learned to offer feedback with empathy, prompting students to reflect on their assumptions and learning process. The way feedback is delivered matters as much as the content itself. When trust is established, students are more open to advice and more willing to learn from mistakes.

5. Reinforce effort and improvement

One word my students often hear from me is “excellent.” Whether they follow instructions, attempt an answer, or take initiative, their efforts are valued. After assessments, I share examples of outstanding work so students can see what excellence looks like and believe they can achieve it too. Repeated messages of encouragement – “excellent” and “you can do it” – motivate students to push themselves toward better outcomes.

Why safety and inclusivity come first

In my humble opinion, there is no engagement if the environment is not safe. Creating a safe, inclusive space is integral to creating an engaging learning environment. 

A safe environment is a necessary condition, but not sufficient to turn itself into an engaging one. Making it safe to contribute is a criterion that works alongside the others to help educators deliver an engaging learning environment. 

Once I have engagement, how can I promote critical thinking?

Once the engagement practices have laid the foundations on which thinking is nurtured, how can we refine our students’ thoughts? To do so, I use six dimensions to encourage critical thinking as follows.

1. Encourage curiosity and questioning

When calling on one student might put them on the spot, I switch to a one-minute pair-share so everyone speaks. Each pair then offers one idea or one question. I explain that depth matches time – an hour yields an hour-level answer; a minute yields a one-minute answer – and that the goal is simply to start thinking. This routine spreads talk across the room and, because it’s brief and low-risk, even quieter students join in.

2. Challenge assumptions

I found that asking “why?” really helps. It is not about challenging the ‘merits’ of my students’ viewpoints. Instead, it is about asking the reasons for their thoughts. By exposing their thinking process, I help my students to sense that something is not as reasonable as it may seem. Slowly, my students will obtain the appropriate answers on their own.

3. Foster intellectual humility

Fostering intellectual humility means treating ideas as provisional: say what you know, name what you don’t, listen first, and be willing to change your mind when evidence shifts. In class I model this (“Here’s what I think and why. What do you think?”), keep the stakes low (“There isn’t one right answer; tell me why you think that: what’s your evidence?”), and then probe gently (“If I were a marketing manager of a brand X, why would I listen to your presentation?”). This mix creates a no-fear-of-judgement climate and moves attention to reasons and evidence. The essence of this process is that since opinion is more correct than others, every student is equally motivated to speak out their mind.

4. Teach active listening

This is extremely important. I always tell my students, kind of, “When someone is talking, we need to be quiet and listen, because we want the same thing when we speak”. Indeed, we learn when we listen, not when we talk. As a result, just as my students are trying to learn from me, I must also learn how to listen to them. Active listening results from the respect for the speaker’s viewpoints, but may result in greater respect for the listener.

5. Practice logical reasoning

By this I don’t mean ‘technical’ logic; I mean disciplined, explain-your-why thinking. In class I ask students to state a claim, give their reasons, point to evidence, consider an alternative, and then revise or confirm. The poster questions below make these steps brief and regular, so thinking becomes visible and we can refine it together. This only works in an engaging environment with no fear of judgement, where freewill is encouraged and sharing is the norm.

6. Promote evidence-based thinking

It starts with small questions such as “How do you know that you are right?” or “Why did you think so?” Gradually, evidence-based thinking is built into the assignment rubric (e.g., citations and references). In my own teaching content (e.g., Moodle videos), sources are integral to knowledge delivery. This is one example of modelling good behaviour, promoting transparency and scientific thinking. To teach good thinking, we base our thoughts on good evidence. This is also why we provide references: they make our synthesis transparent and show which perspectives informed our claims.

Questions we use to think better

I have been integrating critical questions to guide my students’ thinking. I have designed a poster named “How to Think Better” for my classes. 

The questions in the poster have been applied seamlessly in everyday conversation between me and my students. Moreover, these questions are helpful for my students to prepare for certain assignments, such as presentations. By going through each question, students assess their own content more critically. 

Open image in full screen

Is your classroom different, or the same?

I have shared the five practices I use to engage my students and the six dimensions that guide how we think together. These come from MKW2402 and MKW2420, and they work in my context; yours may differ – and that is the point. There is no right or wrong here, only learning.

If you have a minute, please share:

• your context (unit, cohort size, mode)
• one challenge you face
• one practice that helped and why

If you would add a practice/principle to promote engagement or critical thinking, what would it be?

References

CAST, Inc. (2025). The UDL guidelines. https://udlguidelines.cast.org/

Elder, L., & Paul, R. (2016). A miniature guide for students and faculty to the foundations of analytic thinking: How to Take Thinking Apart and what to Look for when You Do ; the Elements of Thinking and the Standards They Must Meet. Foundation Critical Thinking.

Lynch, C. L., Wolcott, S. K., & WolcottLynch Associates. (n.d.). Helping your students develop critical thinking skills. In IDEA PAPER (No. 37; p. 2). https://ideacontent.blob.core.windows.net/content/sites/2/2020/01/IDEA_Paper_37.pdf

State of Victoria. (2020). High impact teaching strategies. Department of Education and Training. https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/support/high-impact-teaching-strategies.pdf

Strategies to Facilitate Productive Dialogues.pdf | Powered by Box. (2023). https://iastate.app.box.com/s/kqclg5941ax9tp0qchkggalea35r7zjq