Teaching Students to Hear the Other Side: Using Web Design and Election Events to Build Empathy in the Political Science Classroom

Abstract

Research suggests that technology in the political science classroom may enhance student experiences and help instructors achieve their student-learning outcomes. Yet, how technology may foster more empathy for opposing viewpoints—an essential characteristic of deliberative democracy—has received less attention. This article outlines an assignment that required students to use WordPress to construct a campaign website for an opposition candidate and write a paper justifying their content and design choices. After completing this assignment, students demonstrated increased knowledge of the candidates for whom they designed websites. Additionally, they displayed a greater level of confidence in the competence of those candidates and a greater understanding of why the candidates would appeal to certain voters. Students also expressed a belief that the assignment provided a tangible professional skill that they would use in the future, and they indicated that their belief in the demonstrated utility of the assignment made it more enjoyable and engaging. This assignment provides one example of how technology may be used in the political science classroom in a way that facilitates student engagement and democratic citizenship, while also helping the instructor to gauge students’ ability to apply course content to contemporary events.

Civic Engagement Scholarship: What We Can Learn from the Research

“…Digital media platforms can serve as a conduit to meaningful political engagement, and despite the tendency to reinforce tribal divisions, they can also be used to bridge ideological divides. As discussed above, Leslie Caughell (2018) found that requiring students to develop a web site for political candidates who may represent positions contrary to the students' personal positions led to increased empathy for the candidates and increased respect for differing views. Empathy is a critical skill to cultivate to improve discourse across political divides and to pursue policies that benefit those who need them most as well as policies for the collective good.…”

“…However, it is also vital for students to learn how to engage in this discourse in a way that values empathy and healthy communication over winning and undermining the views of others. Leslie Caughell addresses this topic in the article, "Teaching Students to Hear the Other Side: Using Web Design and Election Events to Build Empathy in the Political Science Classroom" (Caughell 2018). This research was conducted as part of a class titled, "Political Behavior in the American Electorate" and used web design and election events to encourage the cultivation of empathy within the classroom.…”

Showing the Other Side: What Kinds of Empathy Should Political Science Teach?

“…For example, the organization Braver Angels specifically tries to develop what they call "patriotic empathy" in their mission to depolarize American politics, engaging in activities that have the goal of moving one's view of the other side from "they are enemies" to "they have a lot to contribute." In fact, some argue that the sort of empathy that allows one to understand the perspective of the other side is necessary for a functioning democracy, (Caughell 2018;McCartney 2020). Without this skill, students may be unable to predict others' political behavior, or to reject beliefs based in misinformation or extremism.…”

“…There are others who are in favor of cultivating empathy, or at least imply through their arguments that fostering this trait is desirable. The argument that empathy is crucial for sustaining democracy would necessitate developing this characteristic broadly in the population (Caughell 2018;McCartney 2020). How else would we work to address the "empathy deficit" if not by trying to teach others to be more empathetic?…”

Why Should We Care? Teaching Emotional Competency to Support Engaged Citizenship

“…The more important point is to provide opportunities for students to see positive change resulting from people working together-a powerful antidote to the constant stream of negative messaging about division and the futility of politics. Caughell (2018) notes that students are generally ill-quipped "to understand how fellow citizens construct political judgements that differ from their own," signaling an overall lack of empathy and an inability to grasp experiences and values of others ( 659). Cuaghell has experimented in his classroom by asking students to design campaign websites for candidates who are ideologically different from themselves, an activity that helps them gain insight into how people come to have a range of beliefs and views.…”