Honors/Civil Discourse for Complex Problems

Catalog description

In this course, we will contemplate the question: How do we talk about issues we are concerned about in ways that encourage more meaningful individual and community engagement? Civil discourse is a means of bringing people together to solve public problems. This course engages students in how to build interpersonal connections, cultivate a sense of belonging, increase problem-solving capacity, and foster more productive citizenship in our communities. Through project-based learning, students will become empowered with the professional currency needed to thrive in the 21st century workplace: collaboration and leadership skills, critical thinking, and the ability to frame and solve complex problems. As a class, we will examine civil discourse in practice, including the role it plays in our U.S. civic structure, the civility/uncivility of advocacy, activism, and protest; the possibilities of public dialogue and deliberation as part of a participatory democracy; and the role of collaborative inquiry in addressing public problems. Our primary objective will be to appraise the challenges and opportunities for fostering civil discourse through dialogue and deliberative decision-making in politics, organizations, on campus, and in our communities. In small groups and via facilitated classroom conversations, we will practice civil discourse, dialogue, deliberation, and collaborative inquiry while we contemplate the complex dynamics of our civic landscape and various mindsets necessary for engaging in civil discourse across these contexts. Honors students will work together to ask critical questions about “How should we learn and work with AI in the university context?” and make recommendations to UNH community stakeholders regarding best practices, goals, resources, and recommendations for community-engaged civil discourse interventions.