Deliberation by, with, and for University Students

Abstract

This research note about a project-based course on deliberative democracy shows how political theory, research methods, and civic engagement can be fruitfully combined. The novel course format allowed students to practice and study democracy at the same time. Our undergraduate students organized a Deliberation Day on campus and then analyzed the results. As predicted in the literature, the deliberative experience increased the knowledge of the participants, which resulted in opinion change and stimulated engagement. Moreover, Deliberation Day put the issue of student community service on the university’s agenda.