Transcript Discussion and dialogue as powerful learning experiences

Organizing and Conducting
GOOD Discussions through
Dialogue
Ratnesh Nagda
School of Social Work
WELCOME!!
Welcome and Overview of session
3 critical questions for us:
 What does a GOOD discussion feel like?
 What is dialogue and intergroup
dialogue?
 How do we organize for effective
dialogues?
AN EXPANDED DEFINITION
OF INTERGROUP DIALOGUE
A social justice approach to dialogue…
foregrounds both societal power relations
of domination- subordination, and the
creative possibilities for engaging and
working with and across these
differences. Cultural differences are
contextualized in historical and existant
social power relations. The approach aims
to move beyond seeing these differences
as divisive, and to collectively generate
newer ways of being powerful without
perpetuating social inequalities, and
building bridges for social change.
Such an approach, therefore, can be used in
mixed groups that are not defined along
any particular social identities but allows
for a consideration of different social
positionalities.
UW INTERGROUP
DIALOGUE INITIATIVE
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Call for more courses focusing on racial and
ethnic diversity
Failed attempts to pass undergraduate
requirement
Innovations at departmental levels
Demands from students for more
substantive and meaningful engagement
with issues of diversity and social justice
Current initiative
 FIGs, Gateway courses, Early Fall Start
 Student and faculty leadership
development
 On-going curriculum development,
research and evaluation
3 CRITICAL IDEAS FOR
DISCUSSION & DIALOGUE
1.
Analytical and Knowledge Lens
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2.
Conditions for discussion and dialogue
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3.
Integration of multiple sources of knowledge, and
conceptual and theoretical frameworks
Characteristics of learning environment that can
provide meaningful participation and
engagement (cognitive and affective)
Processes for discussion and dialogue

Learning, communication and interaction
processes that can enable invigorating, respectful,
honest and challenging reflection and dialogue
DIALOGUE…
or DEBATE
Dialogue
•collaborative
•win-win
•listening to understand
•introspection
•searches for strengths
•open-ended
•connection
•oppositional
•win-lose
•listen to find flaws
•critique
•close-minded
•search for weaknesses
•separation
Debate
WHAT IS DIALOGIC
COMMUNICATION?
An exchange of perspectives,
experiences, and beliefs in
which people speak and listen
openly and respectfully. . . . In
dialogue, participants speak as
unique individuals about their
own beliefs and experiences,
reveal their uncertainties as
well as certainties, and try to
understand one another.
WHAT IS DIALOGIC
COMMUNICATION?
… a two-way communication
… seeks to ensure clarity in
understanding
… strives to build on the on-going
conversation instead of introducing
completely different topics
… searches for the different threads in the
group discussion—similarities,
differences, different levels, modes, and
other ways of relating ideas
… affirming and supportive
… challenging
BUILDING BLOCKS
OF DIALOGUE
Suspension of
judgment
Active(Deep)
Listening
Reflection
& Inquiry
Identifying
Assumptions
SUSPENSION
OF JUDGMENT…
* Developing an
openness
* Being aware of our
judgments
* Holding them softly so you
can hear the other person
DEEP
LISTENING…
*
Paying attention
* Focusing on the moment
* Not getting lost in our own
head trips
IDENTIFYING
ASSUMPTIONS…
*Peeling an onion to
get to different levels
of understanding
* Making assumptions explicit
* Being aware of what we don’t
say because of our
assumptions
REFLECTION
AND INQUIRY…
*Inquiry, coming
up with questions
based on your
reflection
* Inner reflection
* Being clear what it means to you
* Slowing down, taking in what’s
been said, thinking through
What is your
responsibility as a
discussion leader/
facilitator to foster a
climate related to each
building block?
SPIRAL MODEL OF
ACTIVE LEARNING
5. Apply in action…
4. Strategize
next steps,
practice skills,
plan for actions
2: Look for patterns
and themes
1: Start with
experiences
of participants
3: Add new information
and theory, readings,
analogies