Civic Skills

Basic Civic Skills is a cumulative credential program that introduces students to key concepts concerning the common good, critical reasoning, listening, inclusive advocacy, and engagement approaches. It also allows them to practice new skills associated with these frameworks in a supervised and constructive group context. To earn this microcredential, individuals must attend no less than three (3) workshops offered by the Life Together Leadership Fellows program, totaling 6 hours of classroom work, completing all the specific tasks and exercises associated with the workshops, plus prework. Workshops in the workshop series may include but are not limited to:

1. Active Listening: Demonstrates active listening skills to understand diverse perspectives and foster the relationships needed for civic/global engagement.

2. Critical Reasoning: Identifying and evaluating information relevant to specific civic opportunities and challenges.

3. Inclusive Advocacy: The ability to craft and articulate a position persuasively within a diverse community.

4. Advancing the Common Good: The ability to engage in open dialogue on complex topics and collaborate within a diverse group to identify and advance collective goals.

By the program’s conclusion, students will better understand the role of civic skills in engaging with others productively to build inclusive solutions, a demonstrated ability to assess and understand information and positions, a workshop-practiced ability to listen to others with diverse views, the ability to distinguish between solid and false logic, the ability to identify valid information as well as disinformation or misinformation, and to design effective engagement approaches.

The Civic Skills credential demonstrates the learning and practice of core civic skills in an interactive workshop setting. Through the completion of at least three (3) workshops offered by the Life Together Leadership Fellows initiative (6 hours total of interactive workshop attendance), students learn basic theory about civic engagement and the common good, instructive frameworks that help individuals analyze information and argumentation, and important skills (e.g., active listening, inclusive advocacy, and critical reasoning) that can help students better engage in civil dialogue with others to address social issues while advancing the common good.