The same general principle may be applied to weekly courses. Topics can be allocated to small groups for fact finding and discussion before they contribute a joint paper or report to the whole class. Since students are often more conservative than teachers, they may expect the all-too-common lectures followed by desultory questions and discussion, and this approach can be used to loosen the structure of the class meeting itself. A meeting can be devoted to groups working at their separate tasks with the teacher giving advice only if asked, and encouragement where needed. Later class meetings often benefit from the greater informality introduced in this way.