Democratic Engagement

I recently received a request from the St. Joe Valley Notre Dame Club to co-present the annual Hesburgh lecture. They asked me to team up with Notre Dame business professor Amanda McKendree to discuss the topic of civil discourse and provide the audience with advice for becoming a better discussion partner.

Abstract. In this article, we test and compare several message-based nudges designed to promote civil discourse and reduce the circulation of harmful conte

Civil discourse is crucial for fostering understanding and collaboration in a diverse society. Challenges with civil discourse can arise in homes, workplace ...

What is civil discourse? Civil discourse is the practice of deliberating about matters of public concern in a way that seeks to expand knowledge and promote understanding.

(DOI: 10.58680/ej202332230) To highlight the importance of civil discourse, an English education scholar worked with teachers to develop strategies for teaching argument that promote respectful engagement with controversial topics.

To improve quality of life, all communities must engage in civic discourse about issues of common concern, which may elicit divergent opinions particularly in liberal democracies. Appropriate forums with properly articulated and understood rules of engagement help organize  discussions and discourses and enable them to remain civil even when contending parties hold strong and disparate opinions.

(DOI: 10.4148/2637-4552.1177) Research suggests that America today is more politically polarized and less capable of conducting civil public discourse than at least the last several decades. These greater cultural factors unsurprisingly seem to have trickled into American schools, as teachers report increased divisiveness and conflict, particularly directed toward historically-marginalized groups, in class. While it seems sensible that public schools should play a role in teaching American children how to civilly speak with people different than themselves, teachers are often unprepared to do so. This paper describes a project-based learning activity conducted during the Fall 2022 semester which was designed to empower pre-service teachers with practical tools to promote civil discourse in their future classrooms.

The tools and strategies in this guide will help you prepare students to engage in difficult conversations on topics that matter to them, to their communities, and to our world.

Virtual communities of practice (COPs) are fast becoming a basic work unit in a networked world. The relationship between COPs, Knowledge Management, and the Learning Organisation is a question of priority for social sector leaders, researchers,

The development of open education policies will help move OER and OEP from the periphery to the center of education practice.

These OER thematic videos were developed as a prelude to the Ministerial Forum on Open Educational Resources (OER) and Development in West Africa and the Sah...

(TA4.06) Monitoring the SDGs for everyone: making data widely accessible and engaging stakeholdersOrganiser(s): United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD-DESA...

Open Education Analytics (OEA) is an open source community coordinated by Microsoft Education collaborating with education systems across the world to develo...

Listening is a skill that’s vitally important, sadly undertaught, and physically and mentally taxing. In the aftermath of Covid-19, particularly with the shift to remote work and the red-hot job market, it’s never been more important — or more difficult — for leaders to be good listeners. This article offers nine tips to help leaders become more active listeners, and a breakdown of the subskills involved in listening and how you can improve in them.

Virtual communities of practice (COPs) are fast becoming a basic work unit in a networked world. The relationship between COPs, Knowledge Management, and the Learning Organisation is a question of priority for social sector leaders, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners as they seek to establish ways to maintain relevance and effectiveness in the volatile environments in which they work (Thomas et al, 2005). When well executed, virtual COPs produce results because the knowledge is stewarded: organised for learning, poised for action, and planned for sustainability. In this paper, we document and analyse the actors and factors that, in our experience, contribute to success: Enlightened Leadership, Compelling Work, Appropriate Technology and Knowledge Sustainability. Over the last two years we have worked with new virtual COPs in both the public and non-profit sectors. The outsized successes prove the power of this approach to work. The under-performers help define the...

UW–Madison employees have access to thousands of events, classes, seminars, and conferences every year. Maintain, improve, or develop new knowledge and skills that can help you throughout your career. Build new relationships across UW–Madison while challenging yourself to learn something new and perform your job at a higher level.

Based on a collaborative and socio-constructivist approach to online education, the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model emphasizes creating an effective …

One-time training rarely results in long-term shifts in working practices, but remote learning communities can help reinforce new lessons and promote lasting change.

Kari Henry Hulett Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology It happens to everyone. That sense of distraction and over commitment. Semesters when demands of professional development, research, scholarship, and service draw your energy and focus away from classroom teaching. With just a few short weeks left in the semester, I was desperately striving to meet dissertation writing deadlines, teaching two online undergraduate courses, and prepping for a class in the fall. Admittedly, I wa

Sharing Practices, Building Community

The aim of this set of books is to combine the best of current academic research into the use of Communities of Practice in education with "hands on" practitioner experience in order to provide teachers and academics with a convenient source of guidance and an incentive to work with and develop in their own Communities of Practice. This set of books is divided into two volumes: volume 1 deals principally with the issues found in colocated Communities of Practice, while volume 2 deal principally with distributed Communities of Practice"

Communities of practice (CoPs) are designated networks of people who share information and knowledge either face-to-face or virtually.

PDF | The human services field is fueled by knowledge. Insights into how human service programs work and why practices succeed or fail rests in the... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

Introduction The USAID-funded Capacity Project established the Global Alliance for Pre-Service Education (GAPS) to provide an online forum to discuss issues related to teaching and acquiring competence in family planning, with a focus on developing countries' health related training institutions. The success of the Global Alliance for Nursing and Midwifery's ongoing web-based community of practice (CoP) provided a strong example of the successful use of this medium to reach many participants in a range of settings. Case description GAPS functioned as a moderated set of forums that were analyzed by a small group of experts in family planning and pre-service education from three organizations. The cost of the program included the effort provided by the moderators and the time to administer responses and conduct the analysis. Discussion and evaluation Family planning is still considered a minor topic in health related training institutions. Rather than focusing solely on family planning competencies, GAPS members suggested a focus on several professional competencies (e.g. communication, leadership, cultural sensitivity, teamwork and problem solving) that would enhance the resulting health care graduate's ability to operate in a complex health environment. Resources to support competency-based education in the academic setting must be sufficient and appropriately distributed. Where clinical competencies are incorporated into pre-service education, responsible faculty and preceptors must be clinically proficient. The interdisciplinary GAPS memberships allowed for a comparison and contrast of competencies, opportunities, promising practices, documents, lessons learned and key teaching strategies. Conclusions Online CoPs are a useful interface for connecting developing country experiences. From CoPs, we may uncover challenges and opportunities that are faced in the absorption of key public health competencies required for decreasing maternal mortality and morbidity. Use of the World Health Organization (WHO) Implementing Best Practices Knowledge Gateway, which requires only a low bandwidth connection, gave educators an opportunity to engage in the discussion even in the most Internet access-restricted places (e.g. Ethiopia). In order to sustain an online CoP, funds must come from an international organization (e.g. WHO regional office) or university that can program the costs long-term. Eventually, the long-term effectiveness and sustainability of GAPS rests on its transfer to the members themselves.