I’m sorry to hear about your problem-on-the-board experience during undergrad. Unfortunately, I’ve definitely had a few of those incidences myself. This topic comes up a lot in my Graduate Teaching Scholar class. The literature says that when students feel comfortable in their learning environments, they tend to learn better. However, that does not equate to students not participating at all. I like how one of my classes is set up where we are asked to do a reading at home and then expected to talk about it in class. That way, students are fully aware that they are going to be called on. It shouldn’t be a surprise to them. If students are able to express their thoughts and opinions better when they have notes written down, then this gives them the opportunity to do that.