Practicing Democracy: A Toolkit for Educating Civic Professionals

A civic approach to professional life is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy—the foundation of which is starting to crumble due to public distrust in government and attacks on democratic institutions. As a result, there is a growing need for colleges and universities to experiment with new ways of educating for democracy. The challenge is to figure out where to start. Practical knowledge about how to create spaces for solving problems through constructive dialogue is in short supply. Educators preparing future leaders to facilitate civic solutions need hands-on tools to help them achieve that goal.

Designed to provide a pathway to civic learning for students in all majors, Practicing Democracy: A Toolkit for Educating Civic Professionals offers practical approaches and strategies for developing students’ capacity to engage in collaborative, public problem solving. This user-friendly guide is divided into twelve lessons, each with activities focused on supporting the next generation of leaders in developing their own concepts and skills of civic professionalism. The lessons encourage critical engagement and sustained dialogue among groups of students with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. An assessment rubric is also included.

This book is co-published by AAC&U and Campus Compact. A set of online resources related to the book is available here.