Innovations for Teaching the Deliberative Experience Online: Our Experiences and Experiments using Common Ground for Action and Online Conferencing Tools

Until very recently, deliberative democracy has mainly meant in person, face-to-face discussions. However, the current crisis has created an opportunity to innovate by experimenting with moving deliberation online. We will share insights we gained from hosting a national week of cross-campus online deliberative dialogues using Common Ground for Action (CGA), a series of weekly campus based online deliberations, and from several experiments in campus, community, and classroom deliberations using CGA and video conferencing software. Specifically, session attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a short demonstration of CGA, and then we will discuss how to integrate a variety of methods of online deliberation into university classrooms and campus-community deliberative events, how to structure syllabi and assignments for students to get the most from their deliberative experience, and explore best practices with seasoned forum conveners. Presenters represent the diversity of civic engagement in democratic practice across different disciplines at colleges and universities (2-year;4-year), the Kettering Foundation and the National Issues Forums Institute.

Speakers:  Kara Dillard, Kara Lindaman, John Theis, Verdis Robinson