“The Inside Debate session with Dialogue Vanderbilt Civil Discourse Lab was beneficial in encouraging my students to voice their opinions and participate actively. The facilitation strategies used during the session taught students to differentiate between people and their positions, enabling them to maintain a more neutral perspective when listening to and engaging with diverse viewpoints. As a result, I observed increased student participation compared to a typical class discussion on a Monday morning. I also noticed that even for students who did not participate as a speaker, they were also willing to share what they learned during the debriefing.”

“I found chairing an insight debate to be a deeply insightful experience. Being a chair challenged me to simply sit and listen, rather than plan what I would say during my speech. I particularly enjoyed seeing the energy and passion of the group grow throughout our discussion, and I appreciated being able to use the reflection section to improve my chairing abilities. Overall, being a chair is an incredibly fun experience that I would highly recommend to people of all viewpoints, ages, and levels of experience with dialogue!”