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Academic Coursework

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The two Core Courses focus on democratic discourse and democratic deliberation in general, in relation to citizenship, engagement, participation, justice, and critique. These courses lay the groundwork for your engagement in civic, social, political, community, and global issues and concerns. In AL 110 you learn to see writing as a social practice, a way of exploring toward greater understanding, and a means of communicating with others. You learn techniques of research, of organizing and presenting arguments, of translating ideas and perceptions from one context and audience to another, and of reflecting on your own learning and communication processes. In AL 210 you learn about democracy as a political concept and about deliberative democracy as a way of bridging differences in perspective in order to arrive at more fair and more inclusive policies. Each course also immerses you in a particular topic related to questions of justice, equity, and democratic process; you undertake both critical and creative projects aimed at increasing your understanding of and engagement with some of the challenging issues we face as a society and as a globally-interconnected world. The overarching objective of both courses is to provide you with opportunities to develop as writers, thinkers, and scholars, particularly around questions of the relationship between social and political formations, their implications, and their effects.