I teach courses on various topics related to language and second-language education. Recent course titles include Ideology and Language Education, Ethics and Language Education, Language and Society, and Topics in Second-Language Education. I start the semester with only a general outline of each course, and the specific topics covered week by week are decided based on where our discussions go. Nearly all of the students are themselves multilingual and many have studied linguistics or related subjects, so they have the interests, experience, and backgrounds that enable them to contribute productively to the discussions. I learn as much from them as they do from me.
You’re right that the same method wouldn’t work with some other subjects and some other types of students.
I did take a mathematics class as an undergraduate, though, in which our teacher—Paul Halmos—had us work together in small groups on problems throughout the semester, with guidance from him only when we got stuck. That could presumably be done online, too.
He seemed a bit formal and intimidating at first, but he turned out to be a warm, considerate person. He and his wife had me and several other students over to their house for dinner a couple of times, and he enjoyed talking with us about whatever youthful nerdish topics we were interested in.
I was about twenty years old then. I just realized that he was in his early sixties, a couple of years younger than I am now.
Also, interesting to read about the Moore method (I found vid the Algolia link). If I'll ever do some teaching stuff, I'll try Halmos' flavor of that method :-)
You’re right that the same method wouldn’t work with some other subjects and some other types of students.
I did take a mathematics class as an undergraduate, though, in which our teacher—Paul Halmos—had us work together in small groups on problems throughout the semester, with guidance from him only when we got stuck. That could presumably be done online, too.