This short course is specifically designed for community engagement staff and professional facilitators who want to learn about specific deliberative engagement phases and methods and how they differ from traditional participation methods. Engage in self-paced online activities, interact in group-work and participate in live webinars to help you master deliberative process design and delivery, in order to address the most complex issues in your communities.

About this course

Deliberative democracy has a key role to play in the future social and political cohesion of Australian and global societies. If you’re keen to learn best practice methods of designing and delivering these processes, join us in this dynamic, interactive online course.

The information, activities, group work and live webinars in this course will guide you through in-depth learning about key elements to consider when designing a deliberative process. These elements include the role of the facilitator, the phases of a deliberative process, including navigating the process of consensus building and consideration of the various tools and techniques that support deliberation. Together with a cohort of your peers and guided by experts, learn to design and deliver deliberative processes such as mini-publics and citizen assemblies.

You will get to design a deliberative process from start to finish and experience the process of deliberation and consensus building in action. You will also get to know the essential underpinnings and explore new challenges such as online deliberative processes. The course has been developed in conjunction with the newDemocracy Foundation, enabling us to draw on the organisation’s extensive project experience in Australia and internationally.

Course structure

This short course will run over six weeks, taking about 25 hours of your time if you complete all of the activities, including engaging in the small group work.

We’ll take you on an in-depth exploration of deliberative democracy processes, such as a mini-public, and equip you with everything you need to know to facilitate the best possible deliberative process, when addressing the most complex challenges.

1. What, when and why of deliberative processes

Understanding the political and public trust rationale for preferring jury-style processes
The deliberative process in practice
Case studies of real-world deliberative processes and lessons learned
The latest innovations in deliberative democracy from around the world
Comparing deliberation, dialogue and debate and their purpose.

2. What to do before your deliberative process

Understanding when deliberation is the right approach
Identifying and formulating the challenge to be addressed - designing a clear remit
Choosing the appropriate level of authority for your process
Deciding how many people should participate, how often should they meet and over what timeframe
Choosing whether to hold online, face-to-face or hybrid processes
Engaging and communicating with citizens, stakeholders and experts beyond the mini-public
What is the role of the facilitator, how to choose one and when to involve someone in this role
What’s required to recruit citizens to a deliberative process?

3. Designing and delivering your deliberative process

Become familiar with the five stages of designing a deliberative process
Addressing group dynamics – building trust and managing conflict
Building participants skills – recognising biases, empathic listening and critical thinking
Designing the learning phase – interrogating information and hearing diverse perspectives
Identifying options and recommendations – reaching consensus
Supporting citizens to document their recommendations
Addressing challenges for facilitators, such as independence, time management and conflict
Encouraging ongoing feedback from participants about what’s working and what isn’t
Discovering tools and techniques for face-to-face and online sessions.

4. Closing the loop after your deliberative process is complete

Reporting back to participants about outcomes
Communicating with the wider community and stakeholders
Evaluating the process - what would you do differently next time?

This short course comprises online content you can access anytime to learn at your own pace, as well as interactive activities and live sessions with experts and course leaders. You will also be able to enrich your course experience by engaging in online small-group work with other course participants.

Learning outcomes

Critically assess detailed principles of deliberative democracy and evidence of successful deliberative processes
Evaluate the types of problems deliberative processes are most appropriate for
Understand the key stages of a deliberative process and the tools and techniques that support these phases
Develop and present a deliberative process design and engage with peers/experts to improve it
Demonstrate and evaluate the skills required for good deliberative facilitation.

Price

Full price: $1,650 (GST free)*

*Price subject to change. Please check price at time of purchase.

A discounted course price of $1,250 is available for anyone who has completed our Leading Deliberative Democracy short course. Please contact the team at support@open.uts.edu.au for further information.

Enrolment conditions

Course purchase is subject to UTS Open Terms and Conditions.

COVID-19 response

UTS complies with latest Government health advice. Delivery of all courses complies with the UTS response to COVID-19.

Who is this course for?

This short course is suitable for, but not limited to:

Community engagement staff
Professional facilitators
Anyone interested in an in-depth understanding of how deliberative democracy processes work.

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