Engaging Student Voices: Student Engagement and Civil Discourse in the Classroom
In this article, Hannah Lipinski reflects on a particularly impactful course experience that transformed how she engaged in classwork – ultimately deepening her intellectual humility and open-mindedness. As part of her capstone project, Hannah interviewed both peers and professors to generate best practices for fostering student engagement and civil discourse in the classroom. In a deeply polarized society, we need these recommendations so our students pay attention to the nuances of arguments.
While part of the responsibility of student engagement and discourse lies within students, there are important actions and strategies that professors can incorporate into their classroom that can encourage and facilitate these practices. This article will explore practices that I have observed as successful in my own classes, practices my peers have identified to be successful, as well as what some professors have reported to be their useful strategies for increasing and navigating student engagement and civil discourse in their classrooms.