To skip to a particular category click on one of these buttons. The seminar, conducted largely online, will explore current world trends and possibilities. Scenarios for the 21 st Century will be used to establish a framework of three destinations we could plausibly reach within the next half century. The Public Deliberation project at Oakton Community College was designed both to introduce faculty members to the process of deliberation developed by the Kettering Foundation through the National Issues Forum, and thereby to promote deliberation among faculty, staff, administration and Board of Trustees, and to provide Honors students an exposure to deliberation that would foster their critical thinking skills, develop civic awareness, promote community, and increase awareness of public policy issues. Oakton Community College enrolls about 11,000 commuter students in day and evening, baccalaureate and career programs.
Assignments involve critical analysis and synthesis of course materials.
Students review aspects of style, audience, and structure, as well as the conventions for documenting sources. The course is structured around five public deliberations. The instructor moderates the first two of these, and students moderate the final three. Most of the time in class will be spent in discussions, whether in small or whole groups. Considerable collaboration will be expected.