CLDE Forums 1&2

The CLDE Coalition and the UVA Karsh Institute of Democracy are convening a series of forums for educators and policy leaders to explore civic learning for an engaged democracy and make plans based on their institutions’ current civic learning strengths, challenges, and opportunities. The first forum—held December 13-14, 2022—showcased institutions that already involve all students in college civic learning and educator-policy alliances to accelerate the spread of civic and democratic inquiry in higher education. If you were not able to attend, session recordings are available.

This Planning and Action Forum—the second in a year-long series sponsored by the Civic Learning and Democracy Engagement Coalition and the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy—takes as a given that, for U.S. democracy to succeed, Americans must know how to work together across difficult differences—racial, ethnic, socio-economic, political—and collaboratively create real-world solutions to the deep seated problems that divide societies and threaten the planet.

Toward this end, the Forum examines a broad range of strategies that higher education is developing now to help college students:

probe democracy’s history, constitutional foundations, and possible futures;
gain the skills needed to bridge difficult difference; become collaborative problem-solvers; and
develop a strong sense of civic agency and responsibility.

Across plenary and concurrent sessions, Forum participants will explore:

The Political Environment—and the choices educators and policy leaders are making to champion civic and diversity learning across the political divides.
The Multiple Purposes for College Civic and Democratic Learning—and an array of high impact, evidence-based practices that help today’s diverse students achieve these goals.
Campus Examples—drawn from all sectors of postsecondary education--in which civic learning pathways currently include all students and in particular give voice to students from historically underserved communities.
Career-Related Civic Learning—strategies for building civic inquiry and purpose into students’ career studies and projects. Practical Guidance on the Stages and Phases of Including ALL Students in Civic Inquiry--seasoned leaders from institutions that now make civic learning a degree requirement will share the strategies they used to build support and achieve full participation.

The December and February forums were designed to help educators and policy leaders explore:

A Civic and Democracy-Focused Learning Framework that college educators, systems, and consortia can tailor for students, programs, and community partnerships.
Campus Examples in which civic learning includes all students and in particular gives voice to students from historically underserved communities.
Policy Initiatives that can help scale civic learning for an engaged democracy, including candid discussions about enabling vs. imposing.
New Research that details both the strong benefits of civic learning for students and the deep disparities among students who participate.
Crosswalks between K–12 and postsecondary civic learning redesigns.
Creative Strategies for connecting civic learning for an engaged democracy with other top student success and policy priorities, such as completion, equity, free academic inquiry and civil discourse, high-impact educational practices, and project-based learning.
Practical Advice from leaders in diverse settings about how their institutions moved from making civic learning available as an option to achieving the full participation of all students.

Forum attendees will receive planning tools to assess their current civic learning strengths, challenges, and opportunities and to choose priorities for planning and action.

February 6-7: A National Forum on the College Civic Learning Movement

About the Forums on College Civic Learning for an Engaged Democracy

Forum 2

Bridging the Divides, Including All College Students

The Forum also explores ways that leaders can work together, across partisan lines, to bridge societal and political divides.

Creating your institution's plan

About the first two forums

Future forums