ConflictU
What is it and how does it work?
A set of online modules designed to teach introductory conflict resolution skills. It is intended for courses with a significant team project component and ideally assigned when student teams are formed. This educational resource challenges the student to lead a team of peers in a real-world situation. Like in real life, the team’s project requires coordinating a wide array of skills, opinions, and personalities. The initial decisions and conflicts the student encounters will shape both the team dynamics and the product the team makes. Students will learn the importance of finding out everyone’s views and feelings, and how to delve deeper and identify the key interests or needs that must be addressed in order to resolve conflicts constructively.
Which skill(s) are targeted?
- Apply skills and processes to resolve and manage disagreements in collaborative settings
Educator time commitment
The educator time commitment for incorporating the ConflictU course is under an hour overall. This includes requesting access to the online course, adding a few instructions to your syllabus/assignments, and, if applicable, incorporating completion data into students' final grade.
Student time commitment
There is one module to complete independently (which will take about an hour or less to complete, and one in-team activity (which will take about 30 minutes to complete together). NOTE: If used in a course context, this time should be factored into students' coursework time.
Contact eberly-assist@andrew.cmu.edu for help with incorporating this resource.
Educator how-to steps
- Determine if this resource is a good fit to your teaching and learning goals. To preview this resource, navigate to CMU's Open Learning Initiative (OLI) and click the navigation link to "Sign In". On the Sign In page, click the "CMU users sign in here" link. Once you are on the "My Courses" page, enter the course key conflictprev in the "Register for a course" text box, and click "Go". This will add ConflictU to your my courses listing. You may also contact eberly-assist for access to review this resource and determine its fit to your context.
- Once you determine it's a good fit, email eberly-assist@andrew.cmu.edu to create a version of the OLI ConflictU course/modules for your context. If for a course you are teaching, ask to have it connected it to your Canvas site (or be set up separately if you are not using Canvas). Please include the following information in your request: course number/name or Canvas site name and any other questions you have about using this resource.
- Decide when students should complete the ConflictU module(s) and then include this in the corresponding assignments/instructions to students.
See these related resources…
CollaborativeU
OLI course designed to teach introductory teamwork with a focus on basic diversity and conflict communication skills
MeetingU
OLI course designed to develop skills and strategies for managing and participating in productive meetings.