Leading Dialogue Across Difference

Practicum in Intergroup Relations

EDUC 4826/ILRID 4826

The Center for Dialogue & Pluralism (CDP) advocates for peer education as a crucial avenue for creating a pluralistic culture on campus. With proper support, peer facilitation can encourage more candid dialogue about and across differences. It also helps build a co-learning environment, one in which everyone can teach and learn from each other. For these reasons, CDP extensively trains undergraduate peer facilitators who lead, in pairs, sections of its main undergraduate course, Intergroup Dialogue (EDUC 2610/ILRID 2610). Through this work, peer facilitators also develop their skills and capacities as leaders and engaged community members, both at Cornell and beyond.

Peer facilitators for Intergroup Dialogue enroll in Leading Dialogue Across Difference. All academic components of Leading Dialogue Across Difference are led by CDP faculty, who work together as a team to support CDP peer facilitators. Leading Dialogue Across Difference components include:

  • an intensive week-long pre-semester training before the start of the semester on the foundations of CDP’s educational model
  • weekly seminars during the semester that advance facilitators’ understanding of CDP frameworks and skills while also offering opportunities to practice facilitation
  • weekly coaching/mentorship sessions in which facilitators prepare for and reflect on the challenges and opportunities specific to their section of Intergroup Dialogue

Instructor: Dr. Adi Grabiner Keinan
Prerequisites: EDUC 2610/ILRID 2610 or department permission
Distribution Requirements: AG-Human Diversity (D-AG); AG-Social and Behavioral Analysis (SBA-AG); IL-In-College Advanced Elective (ICE-IL)
Offered: Fall & Spring
4 credits. Letter grades only.

Visit the Class Roster for Course Times

Through theoretical and experiential learning, students in EDUC 4826 will further develop knowledge and skills gained in EDUC 2610 for leadership across social, cultural, and political differences. Through weekly seminar sessions, students gain a working knowledge of scholarly literature drawn from the fields of critical intergroup dialogue, practice theory, social identity theory, and social justice education. Students learn about the theories and empirical evidence on why and how communication and collaboration across difference work. Moreover, through unique experiential learning opportunities in the classroom, students practice communication and collaboration across difference, as well as facilitation skills fundamental to leading intergroup dialogue processes.

Throughout the semester, undergraduate peer facilitators develop a more sophisticated understanding of Intergroup Dialogue (EDUC 2610/ILRID 2610) development areas: human connection, dimensions of difference, intentional communication, and collaborative change. After successful completion of the course, facilitators will be able to:

  • Communicate effectively across difference.
  • Demonstrate disciplinary knowledge of literature on critical dialogue.
  • Apply skills for leading individuals from different backgrounds within a multicultural society.
  • Demonstrate capability to mediate conflict through dialogue for mutual understanding.
  • Through critical reflection, examine how personal and group socialization connects with larger societal systems.

Pre-Semester Training

Each semester before the start of classes, CDP undergraduate peer facilitators complete an intensive week-long training. For new facilitators, training serves as an introduction to CDP’s educational model, while returners use training to review and deepen their understanding of CDP frameworks and skills. CDP faculty lead training modules on specific topics related to dialogue and pluralism as well as applied sessions for practicing concrete skills for classroom management and dialogue facilitation.

Weekly Seminars

CDP undergraduate peer facilitators participate in a weekly seminar during the semester they facilitate Intergroup Dialogue (EDUC 2610/ILRID 2610). These seminar sessions help facilitators learn from each other’s experiences in the classroom while continuing to practice dialogue facilitation skills. Readings based on theoretical and empirical research advance facilitators’ approaches and frameworks related to education, human connection, dimensions of difference, pluralism, etc. Led by CDP’s Director, weekly seminars are tailored to meet the needs of each facilitator cohort throughout the term.

Weekly Coaching/Mentorship

Two CDP undergraduate peer facilitators co-lead each section of Intergroup Dialogue (EDUC 2610/ILRID 2610). Co-facilitators meet weekly with their coach, a CDP instructor, who mentors them as educators throughout the semester. In coaching meetings, CDP facilitators, with their coach, explore challenges and opportunities specific to their section, review student participation and development, engage in targeted practice of facilitation and teaching skills, and reflect on their growth as leaders, educators, and community members.

Here’s what students have said about the course…

“

I feel like this class, especially facilitating it, has opened me up to thinking more about the whole than just myself alone. This has been a large contributor in my ability to seek more human connection, and therefore has contributed greatly to my happiness. I also feel empowered, like the actions I take really can make a difference.

“

I learned that for human connection to be fostered, you have to break through the surface level conversations to gain trust - whether is challenging each other, confiding in each other, or being vulnerable

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Being honest with myself and others leads to more happiness from myself, and a more genuine life with deeper connections.

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I never really understood the impact of a question (or lack of one) before facilitating and I hope that engaging with this idea of pushing for a deeper level of understanding through change is something that was beneficial for our students.

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Dialogue is more than just effective use of techniques. It requires a genuine interest to understand the other side and create new understanding.

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I learned that collaborative change is essential when we try to imagine a future that allows everyone to belong. It does not necessarily mean that everyone in a community needs to agree or move in lockstep towards a goal, but it does highlight the importance of bringing in the diversity of perspectives that exist within the community.

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It has been humanizing to reach out to peers I have never met before and try to have dialogues about difficult topics. It's been humanizing to receive training from highly educated professionals who want to see me be a good teacher and learner in the classroom. It's been humanizing to expand my personal work on campus to a program that cares about student engagement and connection making.

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I learned that collaborative change is a difficult, but attainable process that involves building connections across difference and developing coalitions of people from different backgrounds, who come together to solve issues that impact our community.

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I feel so much more empowered having conversations with students and facilitators about things we want to change and need to change. Hearing their perspective and ideas not only makes me feel less alone in life, but less alone in making change in the world.

Please contact dialogue@cornell.edu with any questions.