Instructors: Jazlin Gomez Garner, M.P.A. & Stephen K. Kim, Ph.D.

3 credits. Letter grades only.
Offered: Spring.

Visit the Class Roster for Course Times

Course Description

How can we practice critical dialogue to analyze and address complex policy issues? Increasing polarization in our political climate has underscored the importance of dialogue across differences in political beliefs, social identities, and experiences. In this course, we will explore how we can put this aim into action by: learning key dialogue skills for listening to different perspectives and sharing our own; reflecting on how our connections to one another and to societal structures inform our responsibility and agency as political actors; and practicing dialogue through exploration of key policy issues. This course will be experiential and engaged. Students will be active participants in dialogue and will take responsibility for sustaining a learning community throughout the semester. This community will extend beyond our class and will include invited guests from among Brooks School faculty and Ithaca community practitioners, who will provide greater insights into each of the key policy issues.

Learning Outcomes

• Apply dialogue frameworks and skills for effective communication across difference in service of public policy.
• Reflect on both their own and others’ connections with policies, political systems, and social structures.
• Analyze power dynamics based on social identity, institutional role, etc. in policymaking and government actions.
• Develop skills for written and spoken delivery of personal perspective, evidence, and research findings to collaborate with a diverse group of stakeholders.
• Explore how the use of dialogue in both public policy and other contexts can strengthen democratic principles and practices