Innovating Civil Discourse: An Instructional Design Hackathon

How do we motivate people to use civil discourse skills in everyday life?

How can we help people overcome the tendency to abandon civil discourse practices in a heated conversation, or to abandon the conversation altogether? This hackathon invites undergraduates, graduate students and young scholars from Boston area colleges and universities to design a game that helps users engage with difficult, contested, or uncomfortable conversations. The term "game" is used loosely, in the hope that participants will draw on the world of play and games for inspiration, making exercises and experiences that are engaging, educational, and fun. The more innovative and experimental, the better! We’ll also ask participants to share how their game can be used as a learning tool, as part of a lesson plan or a classroom resource.

To help participants get started, we have two suggested topics where we see this problem of motivation manifesting saliently. These are ideas to help get you started, but you are also welcome to propose your own topic. 

1. Fix a toxic digital space. Sidechat — the anonymous, location-based forum active at universities such as Harvard, Tufts, Northeastern, and BU — is where a lot of campus discourse actually happens, and a lot of it isn't positive. Design something that applies real conversation skills to this space (or any other digital platform like Reddit or Instagram), or that helps users see the pitfalls of these platforms clearly enough to engage more productively. Build the game or experience you wish every friend and classmate had played before they ever logged onto Sidechat.

2. Activism vs. deliberation. Activism and protest are a huge part of how young people engage with political issues, so it's no surprise that many aren't particularly enthusiastic about civil discourse as a means for social change. Engaging with people who hold opposing opinions can feel like a waste of time, or worse — a distraction from the fight for what's right, draining, or even harmful when much is at stake. But diversity of opinion is what makes a movement effective, and engaging across deep divides is what sustains a democracy. These kinds of engagements hold significant opportunities for growth, both for a movement and the individuals within it. How do you ensure there is room for dialogue and difference in activist spaces? Can you stay in the fight for what you believe in and still talk to people who disagree with you? 

Schedule

The event will run across four days. Over the weekend, participants will decide on a topic, design a game around it, and build towards presenting it live to our panel of judges. Participants will have space at the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics and access to the pedagogy staff from 1–5pm each day. During this time, participants may work with their team and ask staff questions during dedicated office hours. Of course, participants are more than welcome to keep working outside those hours too.

Friday, October 2nd:

• 1:00 - 2:30pm: Kickoff. You’ll be forming your groups, and attending a presentation from our team. We'll walk through the Big Question, the two starting topics above, and how judging will work. We will also have some Center experts available to share their expertise on civil discourse from theoretical and applied standpoints. Come with questions prepared, as we’ll be ready to answer them!
• 2:30 - 5:00pm: Work time! You are welcome to work at the Center. This is also your opportunity to sign up for Sunday play-testing. Our team will be on site, and you are open to think through your idea with us. We’ll also have some snacks available during the afternoon.

Saturday, October 3rd: The Center will be closed, but you will work independently as a team. We suggest the Student Center.

Sunday, October 4th:

• 1:00 - 2:00pm: The Center opens at 1:00pm. Feel free to come and continue building your prototype.
• 2:00 - 5:00pm: Playtesting office hours. Run your game with our team and gather feedback. All groups are required to attend. A sign up sheet will be provided on Friday; each group would be allocated a 20-minute time slot.

 Monday, October 5th: 

• 1:00–2:00pm: Make some final touches with your team.
• 2:00pm - 4:00pm: Final presentations to our panel of judges, with 10 minutes allocated to each team.
• 4:00–4:30pm: Judges deliberate.
• 4:30–5:00pm: Winners announced, plus snacks and mingling.

Meet the Judges 

Betsy Miller, Adjunct Faculty, Pepperdine Straus Institute of Conflict Resolution & Harvard Law School
Betsy teaches at Harvard Law School and Pepperdine’s Straus Institute for Conflict Resolution.  She is a sought-after strategic advisor and keynote speaker who has synthesized decades of experience working in the government, private sector, and academia into a skillset that is steeped in the ability to see and leverage multiple perspectives simultaneously. This is the foundation for her expertise in Polarities, which explores the importance of a Both/And Mindset when faced with opposites that need each other over time to succeed.  Betsy created and taught the first-of-its-kind Polarities and Leadership course at Harvard, and prior to that spent 15 years teaching Negotiations at Georgetown Law School.  Betsy has litigated and negotiated at the highest levels, served as Chief of Staff to the D.C. Attorney General, as Nominations Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, is an ICF-certified leadership coach, and a nationally recognized voice on Both/And thinking.

Ashley Olafsen, Community Growth Manager, Lovable 
Ashley is a Forbes-featured 4x founder passionate about helping people and businesses unlock their full potential. She previously led community programming at Harvard Innovation Labs and now drives community growth at Lovable, having personally advised over 500 founders on funding strategy, pitch refinement, go-to-market planning, and sales strategy. At Visionaria Consulting, she built high-performing sales funnels that drove over $2M in revenue for a leading content creator; earlier, as co-founder of MOVE, she spent eight years designing empowerment workshops and summer programs for young women.

Eliza O’Neil, Senior Curriculum Developer, Constructive Dialogue Institute 
Eliza is Senior Curriculum Developer for the Constructive Dialogue Institute where she builds online dialogue resources for educators. Previously she was a program director for Seeds of Peace, where she ran dialogue and facilitation programs and trainings for educators and young adults across the US. Eliza has taught at experiential semester schools in Maine and Colorado, led wilderness trips around the world for high schoolers, developed leadership and social-emotional learning resources for educators across the US, and led dialogue and mediation trainings for teachers, law school students, and teenagers. At its core, all of this work has centered around bringing together communities who might otherwise never meet to forge connections and learn from difference.

Why it's worth your weekend

This weekend is your opportunity to invest meaningful time to build a meaningful product, with direct access to Harvard and external experts who have been working on this problem in their everyday careers. You’ll not only leave with a working prototype and a portfolio-worthy product, but memories and time spent with students across Boston who care about these issues as much as you do. 

This event is for undergrads and grad students alike, whether you're into building games, curious about how people learn, or just tired of watching good conversations dissipate online and in person. You don't need a background in game design or civil discourse, just a willingness to spend a weekend building something innovative and meaningful. 

We will work with the winning team throughout the year to build out their prototype into a full-fledged product that will be included among our flagship resources. Every winning team will also be featured on our website and social media platforms.

Still deciding? Read about the last hackathon below!