My COML graduate work has shed light on the changes in how we communicate and treat each other in our post-COVID society. Past coursework within the teaching concentration has poured the foundation for my decision to build a communication course for my capstone project that is rooted in relational communication. While I'm not claiming that communication in society has deteriorated, trends point to a lack of civility, tolerance, and appreciation of conflicting viewpoints. This lack of civil discourse is the problem I am trying to tackle with my capstone project. 

My goal is to reintroduce the basics of civil discourse by engaging students in three schools of thought; personal reflection and debrief (through the lens of values and ethics), engaging with and analyzing the impact of multimedia (as an individual and as a part of a group), and thriving with partners and in small groups (with a focus on debate and social capital). 

The historical significance of civility will also be a focus of the course. I want to provide context to the concept of civility throughout time. First, we will look at civility from an Aristotelian perspective. Aristotle saw civility as a form of friendship, which he understood as a mutual feeling of good will. Aristotle believed that humans are capable of promoting another persons’ interest without regard for our own (Mintz, 2016). The next stop on the timeline will be George Washington’s list of civility and decent behavior, loosely based on a set of rules composed by French Jesuits. Lastly, a more modern take from the Johns Hopkins Civility Project, where we will examine the 25 rules of considerate conduct with an emphasis on connecting with others at work, home, and daily encounters (Forni, 2002).

The priority of the course is not to examine why communication between us has changed but to meet the students where they are now and present opportunities to learn about and model civil discourse moving forward. Moreover, I feel most comfortable with employing a professional teaching version of Social Penetration Theory, as I believe learning occurs between people (and students) developing deeper intimacy with another person(s) through mutual self-disclosure (Griffin, 2012). 

There is also the opportunity to explore theories that cause a lack of civility. As mentioned, I do not want to play the blame game as popular culture is quick to blame politicians, social media, and an entitled younger generation. However, a lack of civility can be connected to mass communication theories such as cognitive dissonance and spiral of silence. Spiral of silence is the tendency of people to remain silent when they feel that their views are in opposition to the majority view on a subject (Davie,  2010). Whereas an example of cognitive dissonance would find oneself engaging in behaviors that are opposed to their actual beliefs due to external expectations at work, school, or in a social situation.

Personal Reflection and Debrief

There will be a focus on the importance of values from the student's perspective and understanding others' values. The teaching theory of bell hooks aligns with my values. The engaged pedagogy theory believes in the importance of the holistic well-being of teachers and students. The EPT focuses on students' development as humans, not just as learners. hooks believes that our work is not merely to share information but to share the intellectual and spiritual growth of students (Dannels, 2014). To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the hearts of students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin. I intend to wrap this theme throughout.

In addition, I am including an overview of ethics. Particularly dialogic ethics, which assumes the importance of the meeting of communicative ground that gives rise to a particular sense of good and is simultaneously open to learning and emergent insight (Arnett, 2017).

Engaging with and analyzing the impact of multimedia

Films, music, theatre, videos, Ted Talks, and content that can be ingested through social media provide opportunities for students to engage with dissenting or new points of view. With current video and browsing habits often supporting most recent trends, I would like to introduce an environment of celebrating differences. As a former executive in a multimedia profession, I have personally contributed to works that unite end users while shining light on a world or community different from our own. There are many feature films that have healthy communication themes as their foundation, a list of which I will look to build an assignment around.

Thriving with a partner or in small groups

Regarding workplace or social situations, the concept of social capital and networking is a valuable tool. Flap (1995, as cited by Lin, 1999) defines social capital as a combination of network size, the relationship strength, and resources possessed by those in the network. I would like to extend this learning further as civil discourse becomes an essential life skill when navigating job searches, leading teams, and building a professional portfolio. 

Additionally, a deeper look at the concept of debate and argumentation is an important activity in the course. As a former debate coach, one of the most valuable and transferable skills to daily life is for students to be able to research and speak to both sides of an argument. This is a learning opportunity to understand opposing points of view and to appreciate that people often have them. I also wonder if I can incorporate ethical pluralism, in that many truths are sometimes partial and sometimes conflicting, but it does mean that, at least in some situations, there is not just a single truth (Hinman, 2012).

Experiential education as a guiding focus

While exploring these themes, the concept of experiential education will run throughout. I have career experience working with a company that designed experiential educational conferences for teens worldwide. As a facilitator and curriculum developer, I witnessed first-hand the accelerated learning that occurs when an education environment is focused more on doing and debriefing rather than sitting and getting.  

I have always believed and taught by the platinum rule; Treat others the way they want to be treated. You respect where the other person is coming from and allow them to share what they want without judgment. Moving beyond judgment opens us to varied experiences, situations, and relationships with other people (Wood, 1997).

Proposed Artifact – Communication Course Design with Syllabus

As I build the syllabus for Civil Discourse, I intend to wrap a diverse group of engaging modules and assignments around my three communication themes. My target audience is second-year undergrad students that have taken introductory communication courses. As civil discourse is the focus of the course, assignments, activities, and assessments will include a considerable amount of group work, in-class discussion, and individual reflection.

Included within the syllabus artifact will be a curated reading list, feature films to explore, and videos to analyze. While specific learning outcomes are still under consideration, some of the units I am exploring to support my communication themes include active listening, virtues, debate and argumentation, podcast creation, and a diverse set of discussion board prompts.

During my years teaching in a high school classroom, I enjoyed being the sponsor for visiting exchange students. These students saw the world through a different lens and often had dissenting views regarding domestic societal topics. Unlike their American counterparts, the teens from overseas often took a pluralistic approach to issues. They were very interested in other points of view and would accept that more than one perspective could be correct. It was in the spirit of this encouraging attitude combined with our discouraging trend of declining civility that helped inspire my artifact choice. 

The pluralist assumes that we will continue to have  moral disagreements for the foreseeable future and that, given the shrinking character of our world, such disagreements will become increasingly unavoidable (Hinman, 2012). If our disputes continue, the need to work with our young adults to practice civil discourse becomes an essential calling for higher education.

The other relevant dimension that shaped my decision to build a civil discourse syllabus was ethnocentrism. We are growing closer to living in a polarized society, regrettably influenced by our politicians of questionable ethics, drawing us in opposite directions from compromise. If ethnocentrism is characterized by people's tendency to view their own group as being the center of everything and to judge other groups based on its standards (Lin, 2003), we need to start practicing to find common ground.

It is no coincidence that my project was greatly influenced by my current profession and healthy team dynamic. I work for an education technology company that supports K-12 students and teachers. We build supplemental curriculum in different languages that inspire students to master state-mandated standards, with a focus on learning recovery. As a member of the executive staff, not only do we have the responsibility for guiding the company, but we also must efficiently collaborate internally as a team of leaders with strong personalities and impressive CVs. 

My project of creating a civil discourse syllabus is not only aligned with my company's mission and values, but I intend to share my project with the executive team to provide an opportunity for professional development for those interested in learning more about civil discourse. We do not currently have a civil discourse gap within our company culture, but we do have a diverse team with significant differences in age being our most likely source of tension. In a company with digital natives and digital immigrants, having a shared understanding of civil discourse and its history is relevant to both my workplace and project creation. 

When it comes to limitations on my project, I suspect that managing bias will present a challenge. I will be presenting the topic of civil discourse to groups of students in their early twenties, all of whom are coming to campus with personal biases. With a course encouraging the sharing of personal values and structured argumentation, creating a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment free from the prejudice of prejudgments will need to be a priority for me.

References

Hinman, L. M. (2012). Understanding the diversity of moral beliefs. In Ethics: A pluralistic 

approach to moral theory (pp. 25-60). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Lin, Y. R. (2003). Ethnocentrism, Intercultural Communication Apprehension, Intercultural  Willingness-to-Communicate, and Intentions to Participate in an Intercultural Dialogue  Program: Testing a Proposed Model.

My goal in applying to the COML program was to prepare myself for a transition from a K-12 classroom and Ed Tech career to working with communication students in higher education. The courses I experienced during the program re-energized me as a learner and educator. 

I knew I wanted to honor this journey by building my own communication course, with my artifact being a comprehensive syllabus that would be the foundation for a course I would ultimately like to teach. Taking elements from my COML coursework, I set about finding the right fit. I knew from the start that it was unlikely I could find a communication course that had not been taught elsewhere. Still, when I discovered that there appeared to be very few courses focused on civility, particularly those politically neutral, I felt I had stumbled on a topical and relevant need.

Motivated by segments of what I considered the most impressive examples of syllabi, along with previous coursework and areas of communication study that I resonated with, I am proud of my final artifact. I feel that the course, as designed, could be put in front of students with proper preparation.

Examination of the application of the theoretical grounding

The trending lack of civility, tolerance, and appreciation of conflicting viewpoints in society today was the catalyst for my project. This lack of civil discourse is the problem I was attempting to address. Woven throughout my course planning was the concept of relational communication. My course was less politically motivated as it focused on understanding our motivations and how our words and actions impact others. I looked at the evolution of civility through the study of values, ethical behavior, communication theories, multimedia, argumentation, and workplace dynamics. With so much territory to cover, I focused the modules of study around four pillars; personal values, practicing civility, civil argumentation, and civility in the workplace.  

A few specific sections of the artifact I am particularly proud of are the syllabi statements about civility in the classroom and the description of the course assignments. From there, I enjoyed building each module with read, view, write, and discuss elements.

Ethical impact/concerns

My course specifically asks young adults to look at communication ethics, dialogic ethics, pluralism, ethical decision-making, and cancel culture. To reintroduce empathy into the classroom, I asked students to share a meaningful life story to shed light on how we all have challenges and how those can unite us. A respectful classroom environment and safe space are essential if open and honest civil discourse is to occur.

I also ask for open conversation about the reasons for incivility between genders and cultures. The heavily discussion-based course is intended to be in the hands of a skilled instructor to maintain a level of decorum, avoiding the trap of privilege, ethnocentrism, or other cultural blind spots.

Technical lessons learned

The primary technical takeaway from the capstone project is a greater understanding and comfort level with designing a portfolio website, which has evolved throughout the COML program. I intend to use my portfolio/website to introduce myself to potential college or university hiring teams. In addition, I have more knowledge of video editing, blog writing, and promoting myself using digital media. For this capstone project specifically, it was beneficial to analyze and choose suitable video clips and films to supplement learning.

Limitations

My challenges were mostly personal, as I was also concurrently taking ORGL 530 and working a full-time executive job…and my daughter is getting married on 12/11/22. 

Additionally, as I was building my course, I originally designed it to be an eight-week course. However, after realizing an undergrad course would require 16 weeks of curriculum, I decided to stick with my eight-week version, as it could be sold as a “tease” for the longer version.  

Another aspect I appreciated from my GU instructors throughout my ten courses was an assignment calendar that complemented the syllabus. Since the goal of my artifact was to explore civility, rather than get caught in the weeds designing a fake calendar, I decided to summarize what all of the assignments would be in the body of the syllabus using my read, view, write, discuss format.

Other key takeaways

The concept of “trust the process” was reiterated throughout. Now that I am at the end, there is no way that I could have done all that was required without the proverbial road map. I can see now how it has come together, although at times I felt on my own. However, I suspect it might have been the point all along.

Revisions or suggestions for future iteration

I initially fell slightly behind due to the workload of life but felt that I had proven my dedication to COML to Dr. Cunningham over the past two years and that I would get myself caught up and ready. I’m happy to say that I was able to do so. For most of the COML program, and in life, you get out of it what you put in. The format of the modules allows time for reflection, mistakes, re-grouping, and having fun exploring what ignites your passion for the program.

Having a connection with the instructor you choose to sign on with is also a recommendation for future students. Even though I could not make the teaching internship happen, I connected with Dr. Cunningham from the handful of courses I experienced under her leadership. Having that comfort level while feeling like I did not want to let her down drove me to the finish line.