15 Discussion Questions
These questions are drawn from our experience using the four scenes and are intended to help you facilitate discussion. Some questions lend themselves more to particular groups (faculty members, graduate students, mixed groups). None are mandatory. The discussions are meant to be organic in nature, led by the participants and the issues they feel to be important. Your groups may focus on some of the questions below or may raise entirely different issues. If participants are engaging with the video, rest assured that their contributions are relevant!
Note on multiple endings: Due to this scene having multiple endings, some questions may need to be rephrased slightly if your group has only watched one ending. When there are references to a particular ending, we’ve noted this. If your group didn’t watch the scene referenced, you could always pose this as a hypothetical scene ending so as to be able to still ask the related discussion questions.
Warm-up Questions
- Before we start the discussion, did you find anything confusing or unclear in the scene?
- Did a particular character, or line in the dialogue, resonate for you?
Authorship
- Why is Erika’s inclusion as an author such a contentious and sensitive issue? Would including her as an author actually result in negative consequences for Markus?
- This scene only considers the issue of Erika’s inclusion as an author. Assuming she is added, how should they approach the question of authorship order?
- Are there any norms or practices around authorship in your discipline that you would change to make it a more equitable and fair practice?
Administrative Work
Markus seems to inadvertently leave the task of taking notes to Erika and she comments on the fact that marginalized people often are tasked with a disproportionate amount of administrative works. This work also tends to be valued significantly less than other tasks, such as research or writing.
- What are some of the factors that contribute to this unequal distribution of types of work?
- Why do you think certain types of labour are valued so much less while also often equally essential parts of the research and publication process?
- How could the department or university address these disparities?
Peer Relationships
Erika’s inclusion as an author is causing tension between Erika and Markus and negatively impacting their ability to collaborate effectively on other projects. We’re also told that Markus is sharing authorship on this paper with Jaspreet, who isn’t present for any of the conversations that take place in this scene.
- How would you feel if you were Jaspreet and not included in any of these conversations or decisions?
- How are peers and colleagues able to contribute positively or negatively to other’s wellbeing?
- What factors contribute to Markus’s confidence throughout this scene? What about Erika’s hesitancy in speaking out?
- How could recognizing his own positionality enable Markus to better understand and support Erika?
Intergenerational Interactions
In Ending B, Sandra mentions to Markus that things were worse when she was in graduate school. She describes how she had to “pay her dues” by polishing much of her supervisor’s work. Markus also describes having “helped out” on papers for older graduate students while he was a more junior graduate student.
- (Ending B) If you were in Markus’ position, how would Sandra’s comment make you feel? Supported or dismissed? Why?
- (Ending B) Likewise, if you were in Erika’s position, how would Markus’ comment make you feel and why?
- (Either Ending) How do you think Sandra’s own graduate experience impacts how she handles this situation or how she approaches her role as a supervisor more generally?
- (Either Ending) How might this experience impact Erika or Markus’ approach to supervision if they find themselves supervising graduate students in the future?
Resolution
- (If your group watched both endings) What are some of the strengths and weaknesses of each ending?
- What steps would you recommend to Erika and Markus to ensure their future collaboration is successful?
- What advice would you offer to Sandra to ensure her supervision is supportive and successful?
- Imagine yourself as a staff member whom Sandra, Markus, or Erika approaches for help. What advice would you give them and how would you go about it?
Wrap up
- If you could rewrite the ending to this scene, what would it look like and why?
