OpenMind is now the Constructive Dialogue Institute. Join us as we work to build inclusive cultures and engage constructively across differences.

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For Faculty

Use our free online tools, teaching strategies, and classroom exercises to improve student engagement, foster belonging, and facilitate academic discussions about challenging topics.

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Free Online Tools

Our primary offering is a free online program called Perspectives. This supplemental resource allows learners to explore the inner workings of the mind and the psychological roots of our ideological differences.

The program provides students with insights to better understand themselves and others and equips them with skills to engage in constructive dialogue across differences.

Students who complete the Perspectives program:

  • Become better able to recognize the limits of their knowledge
  • Improve at critical thinking
  • Become better at conflict resolution
  • Increase in warmth towards others who hold different viewpoints
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Flexible & Customizable

Customize the Perspectives program’s settings to meet the needs of your course.

You can use the full program, or you can “build your own” experience by selecting which lessons you’d like your students to complete. You can also decide whether to include peer-to-peer conversations, and you can set your students' learning schedule.

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Research-based & Adaptive Lessons

Our research-based lessons weave together psychological concepts with interactive practice scenarios. Each lesson is adaptive, tailoring itself to meet learners where they are.

Lessons take approx. 30 minutes to complete and can be assigned as homework. Our instructor guide provides tips on how to easily implement lessons into your course. Each lesson includes graded quiz questions to test comprehension. 

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In this lesson, students:

  • Experientially learn about the two systems in our mind: automatic and controlled thinking.

  • Discover common cognitive biases that affect our reasoning, and how this leads people to interpret the same information differently.

  • Gain a practical technique to challenge their cognitive biases and gain more control over their thinking. 

View full lesson

In this lesson, students:

  • Explore the underlying psychology behind our moral values and beliefs.

  • Examine how morality develops and why it differs across cultures and individuals.

  • Reflect on their core values, how their values influence the issues they care about, and what life experiences influenced their values and beliefs.

In this lesson, students:

  • Explore the differences between a growth and fixed mindset.

  • Discover the value of intellectual humility: the ability to recognize the limits of our knowledge.

  • Gain a set of practical techniques to move away from binary thinking towards nuance and complexity.

In this lesson, students:

  • Explore five benefits of engaging with diverse perspectives.

  • Hone their skills to determine "when to draw the line" on engaging across differences.

In this lesson, students:

  • Discover misperceptions they have about people who are different from them.

  • Learn and practice five specific techniques for engaging constructively across differences.

In this lesson, students:

  • Examine the role of contempt in our culture and the danger it poses to society.

  • Gain techniques to "break the cycle of contempt."

  • Uncover what leads conversations to be especially toxic in online settings and how they can overcome these challenges.

In this lesson, students:

  • Learn and practice key skills from cognitive behavioral therapy to gain more control of their emotions in the heat of difficult conversations.

In this lesson, students:

  • Gain a set of practical skills to navigate difficult conversations effectively, including setting an intentional goal for conversations, active listening, non-judgmental questioning, moral reframing, and identifying common ground.

  • Learn how to "troubleshoot" difficult conversations when they start to go awry.

Explore the Program

4 Peer-to-Peer Conversation Guides

Our optional peer-to-peer conversation guides provide students with the opportunity to practice their skills with a partner. These 45-minute conversations provide accountability, build social connection, and offer students a chance to apply their skills in a live setting. Guides and exercises are included within the program.

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Data-Driven Outcomes

The program brings rigorous psychology research to life in an engaging, practical, and accessible format. Assessments are embedded within the program to track outcomes. You can view your students' progress and quiz scores from the Instructor Dashboard.

View our latest research study proving the effectiveness of Perspectives.

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What People Are Saying

[Perspectives] is very easy to understand, and it actually held my attention the whole way through. I WANTED to learn more, and I think my peers will feel the same."

College Student

Students regularly comment in their course evaluations that doing the [Perspectives program] gave them a changed perspective that represents the most important thing they will take from my class."

ProfessorArizona State University

[Perspectives] is an excellent resource to expose students to the importance of viewpoint diversity and learning through the exchange of ideas…I will be using the program with all of my first year students and would recommend its adoption more widely."

ProfessorDublin Business School

Measurable Impact

Our research-backed solutions have a track record of creating meaningful impact for students — in the classroom, on campus, and across districts.

870+
Institutions
56%
of Learners Improved Communication Across Differences
65%
of Educators Recommend
Explore Our Impact

Results of Our Work

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University of Richmond Students Discover Value in Encountering Difference
Students thought so positively of CDI that nearly all of them agreed that every student at the University of Richmond should be required to take the program
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Developing a Shared Language: CDI at William & Mary
According to Dr. Stelljes, classes felt easier to manage and students were able to engage in these discussions with more comfort and confidence.
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Suffern High School Students Build Long-Term Skills for Constructive Dialogue
The strategies students learned and cultivated in class discussion gave them the confidence to have difficult conversations in and outside of the classroom.

Get Started

Test Drive the Program

Explore the full Perspectives program in "admin mode" to see how your students will experience it, with the added benefit of being able to skip around across lessons.

Try It Out
Sign Up

Create your free Perspectives account today to begin fostering constructive dialogue in your classroom!

Create Your Account
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