Moderating Philosophy Statement

The goal of the deliberative issues forum is to provide an outlet for people to discuss complex issues and reach collaborative solutions. A National Issues Style of deliberation was carried out during our class in which a number of issues were discussed pertaining to sustainability. The backbone of our discussion came from the National Issues Forums article, Sustaining Ourselves, in which three different solutions were suggested to ensure the availability of resources in the future. The three options included government regulation and pressure on businesses, technological innovation and market development, and transformation of our culture. I was given the opportunity to moderate the third option, in which my group extensively deliberated the possibility of reconnecting with past American values in order to solve our sustainability crisis.  I enjoyed being the last moderator for the in-class deliberation activities because I was able to engage in multiple deliberation forums as well as observe my colleagues act as moderators prior to developing my own moderating strategies and tactics. Overall, I thought the deliberation forum was an excellent learning experience, and my group did an excellent job at finding possible solutions to a serious global issue.

During my role as moderator, I strove to create a stimulating and engaging atmosphere for the participants. I believe an interactive atmosphere is best achieved by challenging the students in their original ideas. This tactic shows students possible weaknesses in their plans and forces them to consider alternative solutions. It allows all members to understand the pros, cons, benefits, and consequences of different choices and how primary action may lead to negative repercussions. If these initial barriers are not broken, compromise will be absent from the deliberation process and a collaborative solution will never be reached. This may be a difficult task at first, so prior research in multiple sides of the issue may be necessary to formulate intriguing question for all members to grapple with.

I believe I was able to successfully implement this moderating philosophy during our in-class deliberation forums. Initially, almost all members of our group thought that the third option of transforming our culture was of little importance to overall success in achieving a more sustainable future. I posed a question to the group asking them to compare their environmental concern to their parents’, or even their grandparents’, concern for the environment in terms of sustainability. Various group members, Ryan Creedon and Megan Flaherty specifically, commented that their parents find conservation and efforts of less importance, while their grandparents seem to dismiss the issue of sustainability all together. Through discussion, we concluded this is largely due to the education we are currently receiving, which emphasizes the importance of preservation of natural resources, recycling used materials, alternative energy sources, etc. If we continue to implement sustainability programs in schools, we will foster future generations with an overwhelming and unifying environmental concern. So although this was not determined to be the single, best option to solving our current crisis, it was determined to be important to overall success.

Overall, I found the role of moderator to be an excellent learning experience because it forced me to approach a single issue from multiple different viewpoints and with varying solutions. I think the most difficult task for a moderator is to gage the participants he or she is working with at the beginning of the discussion in order to direct the conversation for all members to participate. As moderator, one can research and prepare questions or conversation topics ahead of time, but the moderator has to ultimately mold the conversation for those in the group. In future deliberation forums, I think I will be more successful in this tactic because I will have had past experience. By engaging all members of the group in a thought-provoking, exciting deliberation, I believe discovery and innovation will rise to the surface.