Often, there is a lag between when a student learns something in the classroom and when he or she can put those skills into practice. But communication studies graduate student Joshua Ewalt has turned that notion on its head.
After teaching several sections of Small Group Communication, Ewalt was looking for a new way to teach organizational communication that also set up an environment in which to practice the theories about which students were reading.
Then, on Aug. 9, teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson, Mo., sparking a national debate on race, violence and media.
This week, Ewalt’s class will host “Cutting Through the Noise: Your Opinion on Issues of Violence in Contemporary United States Society,” a panel discussion. Panelists include Bennie Shobe, a local NAACP chapter representative; Barney McCoy, associate professor in UNL’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications; Jan Deeds with the UNL Women’s Center; and Charlotte Evans, assistant chief with the UNL Police Department.
The event begins at 5 p.m. Nov. 5 in the Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center Ubuntu Room, 15th and S streets. The panel discussion will be followed by small group discussion circles led by the students aimed at facilitating more intimate conversation and developing further questions for the panel.
Ewalt said the idea for the panel started when, even as a communication scholar, he felt overwhelmed by his inability to navigate the wide terrain of communication that surrounded the situation in Ferguson.
“It felt like there was this imbalance,” he said. “We teach our classes that communication is the key to democracy — the importance of coming together to develop solutions for difficult situations – but then when they happen, we just don’t seem to have those skills with the art of discussion.”
So, on the first day the class met this semester, Ewalt told his students they would be organizing an event that would facilitate discussion about violence and race. Facing a group project that touched on such difficult topics, some students balked.
“I thought about dropping the class,” junior Mike Dedinsky said. “In college, you’ve got a lot to do and I figured having to organize an event would be a lot of extra work outside the classroom, that I really didn’t think I had, but I stuck with it and I’m glad I did.”
Ewalt said he expected students to push back, which was a reason he wanted them to complete the project.
“We develop this allergy to group work, which is not good if we believe that we can practice things like consensus-building,” Ewalt said. “There are serious issues with the kind of environment group work is usually facilitated in. Classes never develop an environment for group work, and they never teach people how to work in groups.
“Instructors say, ‘Here’s your group task, get it done, but I’m not going to give you any time to work on it in class.’ But the promise of group discussion is in that synergy that develops when people are working off those ideas from each other.”
Ewalt gave the class five class days to work in groups at the beginning of the semester, which also allowed the small groups to network with one another since each task was connected to the tasks of the other groups. Students handled tasks such as fundraising, marketing, speaker coordination and scheduling venues and caterers. The groups changed focus as more goals were accomplished, and thanks to their efforts, the Department of Communication Studies and Institute for Ethnic Studies signed on as co-sponsors of the event.
Ewalt said he hopes the event helps students and the audience gain new perspectives and communication skills.
“We critique communication and we critique democratic processes and we say that voting is a weak form of democracy,” Ewalt said. “We know we need stronger conversations but then we never try to practice it.
“This can help promote the practice of civil conversation, but it’s also teaching the students how to navigate the organizational terrain of life in the process of organizing this event.”
Ewalt said the class would spend the final weeks of the semester reflecting on what they gained from the experience, completing papers on the obstacles and triumphs of organizing the event, as well as the communication within the event itself.
“I want them to really think about how the environment facilitated strong communication about these difficult topics and what could have been done better,” he said. “What do we need to do to create environments for civil discussion about these topics?”
