Managing Politically Charged Classroom Conversations Through Technology

As a professor of U.S. history, I’ve never hesitated to discuss politics in the classroom. Politics is stitched into nearly every historical event. History for me is full of insights and lessons, and I love teaching students how to see the connections between our past and present.

Still, I know today’s rancorous political environment makes discussing politics in any setting hazardous. If I do not approach conversations in my classroom intentionally and thoughtfully, I may have an adverse effect on my students’ ability to learn important lessons. This is why I turn to technology to help guide those conversations and separate personal feelings from academic analysis. […]

Technology can anonymize discussions and foster an understanding of the importance of analyzing ideas and their implications, rather than pushing an agenda. We can use a whole host of platforms to accomplish this separation between feelings and analysis, but in my classroom, I’ve used Top Hat. […]

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