Strengthening Dialogue in Higher Education Classrooms – Essential Partners Workshop, June 3–4, 2026

Essential Partners offers a two-day Dialogic Classroom workshop for higher education faculty (June 3-4, 2026) to improve class discussion quality, create inclusive environments, foster curiosity-driven learning, and strengthen community belonging. Led by Harriett Hayes and Karen Ross, the training equips educators to facilitate productive discussions on divisive topics like the Israel-Hamas War, race and history, partisanship, gun rights, and gender identity. Research shows measurable outcomes, including better content retention, constructive participation, social-emotional competency, dialogue across differences, and community connection. The workshop teaches adaptable building blocks for dialogic classrooms applicable to various formats, addressing faculty needs for concrete strategies creating intellectual spaces where students explore complexity, listen across difference, and develop civic skills. This training advances NCDD’s mission by strengthening dialogue pedagogy in higher education, providing evidence-based approaches that honor both academic rigor and relational dimensions of learning, and building faculty capacity to prepare students for thoughtful, collaborative engagement with disagreement essential for democratic participation.

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Essential Partners is offering a two-day Dialogic Classroom workshop for higher education faculty on June 3-4, 2026, providing tools and techniques to improve class discussion quality, create more inclusive environments, foster curiosity as the driver of learning, help students feel connected to the school community, and create cohesive class environments while improving academic performance. Designed specifically for higher education instructors across disciplines and institutional types—from humanities to STEM fields, community colleges to Ivy League universities—the workshop equips educators to lead more open, productive discussions about divisive issues, including the Israel-Hamas War in Gaza, race and history, partisanship and democracy, gun rights, and gender identity. Essential Partners' research has documented measurable outcomes from the Dialogic Classroom approach, including better retention of course content, more consistent and constructive class participation, greater social and emotional competency, the ability to hold conversations across differences, and a stronger sense of community belonging.

The workshop teaches building blocks for dialogic classrooms that can be adapted to various course formats and teaching styles, whether big lecture halls or small seminars, in-person or online. Led by Harriett Hayes, Dean of the Rhodes School of Arts and Humanities at Bridgewater College, and Karen Ross, Associate Professor in the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, the training provides practical skills for creating classroom environments where students engage constructively with complex, contested topics. This approach recognizes that higher education faces particular challenges in fostering dialogue amid polarization, with faculty often uncertain how to facilitate discussions on topics where students hold deeply divergent views shaped by identity, values, and lived experience.

The Dialogic Classroom framework addresses urgent needs in higher education for pedagogical approaches that prepare students to engage in disagreement thoughtfully and collaboratively. As campuses navigate tensions around controversial issues, faculty need concrete strategies for creating intellectual spaces where students can explore complexity, listen across difference, and develop civic skills alongside academic knowledge. Essential Partners' model provides structured yet adaptable methods that honor both academic rigor and the relational dimensions of learning, recognizing that students' ability to engage diverse perspectives strengthens both educational outcomes and democratic capacity. The workshop offers scholarship opportunities based on financial need and potential for community-level impact, with certificates available to support requests for professional development credits.

To register for the June 2026 Dialogic Classroom workshop for higher education faculty, visit https://whatisessential.org/events/2026/06/dialogic-classroom-higher-ed-faculty-june-2026