Convergence Compass Online Learning Program

The Civics Credentialing System provides a system of credentials that represent pro-democracy commitments, education, actions, and recognition.

Learning Objectives

Course 1: Participants will gain an understanding of polarization and its impacts on relationships, society, and politics, as well as the conflicts and tensions that exist in communities and organizations.

Course 2: This course will help participants understand some of the ways in which our brains operate that lead to conflict so that participants are better equipped to manage conflict. It provides concrete tools to address cognitive biases like confirmation bias and attribution error. The course applies the six moral foundations as a framework to help participants understand and bridge difference in perspectives. The course also shares the research and brain science behind the full program.

Course 3: This course equips participants with the mindsets and practical strategies and skills to engage in difficult conversations, build relationships, and bridge differences. These skills include how to use storytelling to build understanding and how to transform destructive statements into constructive ones.

Courses 4 and 5: These courses provide a deep dive into collaborative problem-solving – an evidence-based methodology for transforming conflicts that enables people to go beyond compromise to develop mutually beneficial solutions that are wiser and more durable than anything they could have developed on their own, and to develop trust and relationships along the way. From conflict analysis to stakeholder identification, to convening, to relationship building, to forging consensus solutions, these final modules create a comprehensive roadmap for participants to take what they’ve learned and apply it to help their respective communities tackle divisive issues. Learning Content

Learning Experience, Activities

Learners are guided through five interactive online courses on understanding polarization, the psychology of conflict, strategies for effective dialogue, and collaborative problem-solving methodologies.

Assessment

This is a completion-based program.

Learning effort

8 hours

About Convergence

Convergence is the leading organization bridging divides to solve critical issues. Through our time-tested collaborative problem-solving methodology, we bring people together across ideological, political, and identity lines to improve the lives of Americans and strengthen democracy. For more information, visit convergencepolicy.org.