The Value of Discourse
The Inquiry and Discourse Toolkit is intended to support faculty as they accompany students into the fray of learning in a complex and pluralistic world, one that demands deep inquiry and collaborative engagement. As beautifully articulated above, it is the responsibility of institutions of higher learning to foster the conditions that make open discourse, inquiry, and intellectual exploration not only possible but productive, valuable, and meaningful. Georgetown’s own stated foundational principles values provide us with a context from which to do this work, including:
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Academic Excellence—To advance the human project of “uncovering truth and discovering meaning,” we must approach the effort with a courageous willingness to step outside our comfort zones and bring the full breadth of our views and ideas to bear.
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Community in Diversity—We seek true community, “embracing the value and dignity of every member of our community,” a wholeness that comprises rather than erases our differences and points of divergence.
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Contemplation in Action—Given that “a spirit of reflectivity is a critical aspect of intellectual inquiry,” we work toward self-awareness and a curiosity for new and challenging ideas. Cultivating openness and thoughtfulness in the classroom and on campus serves as practice for conscientious encounters in other aspects of life.
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Cura Personalis—Freedom of expression can only be productive when coupled with a sense of “profound care and responsibility for one another, grounded in individualized attention to the needs of the other.”
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People for Others—In order to make progress in the ongoing “struggle for justice,” we will need to take risks and gather disparate wisdom from our entire community. It requires a shared commitment to seeking the common good.
What You’ll Find in This Toolkit
The Inquiry and Dialogue Toolkit and the resources curated here offer research and guidance on the importance of academic expression, deep inquiry, and dialogue as well as how to operationalize these values in effective ways. This requires attention to relationships—between students and faculty, between students and students, and between students and academic material. In order to make this compendium as practical as possible, we have divided the toolkit into the five key stages we consider to be central to the process of navigating productive academic inquiry and dialogue:
- Preparing yourself, as the instructor
- Preparing your students: Cultivating the environment
- Preparing your students: Cultivating skills
- In class: How to facilitate, design, and navigate productive dialogue and inquiry when it’s a planned part of the course, and when it occurs unexpectedly
- Reflection and iterative growth