Conclusion
Post-graduate international students at US institutions of Higher Education often find difficulty dealing with seminar type discussions. An attempt was made to help students with this by utilising the group discussion facility of a university program. However, as most of the students were from East Asia, who often consider education as essentially a passive process, it was felt necessary to investigate whether they would undertake such an activity and what the benefits were. Despite some criticisms, the students generally took part in the activity seriously and saw the usefulness of it. They were generally found to understand the purpose of the activity and felt they had learned from it. Thus, overall, when the activity was clearly seen to be related to the learning outcomes and integrated into the course, the verdict was overwhelmingly positive and the rationale understood. By taking the various points students made and adjusting the task slightly, by integrating the on-line discussion more into class work, involving the lecturers more and by thinking more about the text, we hope that the positive outcomes can be further cemented, and further areas probed and students helped to take part in seminar style discussions more confidently and competently.