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Building Bridges: Tools for Social Cohesion |
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This course explores the roots of social fragmentation and equips students with tools and strategies to foster social cohesion and constructive communication within groups. By blending theory and practice, students will learn how to analyze challenges in public and personal spheres, design dialogue processes, and build teams structured to organize community conversations.
The course introduces and builds civic muscles such as deep listening, facilitation, and coaching, as well as broader change-making techniques like diagnosing challenges, strategizing, and taking action. Through lectures, skills-based labs, and a conversation project, students will practice designing and leading meaningful conversations, leveraging AI-assisted sensemaking, and creating impactful outputs to share with their communities.
This hands-on course prepares students to build civic muscles for engaging with the complexities of public life and driving positive social change.
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Instructors:
- Deb Roy ([email protected])
- Maggie Hughes ([email protected])
- Dimitra Dimitrakopoulou ([email protected])
Teaching Assistant:
- Danny Kessler ([email protected])
Meeting Time and Location:
Tuesdays
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM ET
E15-359
Thursdays
10:30 PM - 12:00 PM ET
E15-341
Credit Hours: 3-0-9
Students should leave this course with:
- A baseline understanding of why social fragmentation occurs
- Knowledge of how to foster social cohesion within a group
- Skills to form, launch, and maintain a small-scale team for social cohesion
- An initial set of tools and methods for building civic muscles for constructive communication
The course combines:
- Lectures covering key concepts based on weekly readings
- Discussion-based learning requiring pre-reading preparation
- Practical labs for building civic muscles
- Hands-on project work
| Component | Weight |
|---|---|
| Classroom participation | 35% |
| Weekly assignments | 15% |
| Midterm Project proposal | 15% |
| Final project | 35% |
The goal of this course project is to develop and run a conversation-based initiative within a defined community, fostering meaningful engagement and dialogue. The project may focus on:
- A pre-existing community where you are already an active participant (e.g., the Media Lab community or some other community you are part of at MIT)
- A new community where you seek to establish yourself as a member (e.g., a group of freshmen in Massie Hall striving for deeper engagement at MIT)
The scope emphasizes accessibility, relevance, and the creation of a brave space for participants to engage openly and honestly.
Materials for this course are adapted from the following sources:
- Organizing: People, Power, Change taught by Prof. Marshall Ganz
- MAS.S69 Constructive Communication Systems: Facilitated Dialogue, Technology, and Design taught by Prof. Deb Roy, Prof. Dimitra Dimitrakopoulou, and Prof. Ceasar McDowell
- MIT MAS.S62 Depolarization by Design taught by Prof. Deb Roy, Prof. Nabeel Gillani