Scholarly Practice and Assessment
UNC System Common Ground Collaborative
Building a Systemwide Community of Practice
The UNC System Common Ground Collaborative is a funded scholarly teaching initiative that brings together faculty from across the UNC System to strengthen dialogue-based pedagogy with disciplinary teaching. Participating faculty contribute not only through their individual courses, but also through peer review, shared reflection, documentation, assessment, and the exchange of teaching practices across institutions.
Through these activities, the collaborative fosters cross-institutional collaboration and contributes to the broader scholarship of teaching and learning.
Course Development and Implementation
Funded by Common Ground, participating faculty either enhance an existing course or develop and teach a new course that integrates dialogue, discourse, or debate as a structured component of student learning.
Developmental Peer Review
Participants engage in developmental peer review of course materials developed by fellow faculty members participating in the collaborative.
Knowledge Exchange
Participating faculty share what they learn through Common Ground webinars, including course outcomes, instructional approaches, challenges, and lessons from implementation.
Course Documentation
Following implementation, funded faculty submit a brief course write-up documenting goals, implementation, and outcomes.
Student Learning Assessment
As part of the collaborative’s scholarly focus, participating faculty administer an IRB-approved post-course student survey designed to assess changes in key student learning outcomes, such as:
- Students’ confidence in oral communication
- Their ability to engage constructively in academic disagreement
- Growth in evidence-based reasoning and argumentation skills
Survey findings will be aggregated across participating courses and may contribute to future research and publications related to the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Systemwide Research
Common Ground sits within a broader body of faculty-led inquiry into dialogue, free expression, and teaching across the UNC System.
Measuring Outcomes
During the 2026-27 academic year, the third faculty-led survey examining the culture of free expression is scheduled across nine institutions, documenting students’ attitudes toward speaking freely in classrooms and among peers.
The Constructive Dialogue Institute is also working across seven UNC System institutions to inform and measure attitudes and further map existing resources, building on work by the UNC Faculty Assembly.
Faculty Leadership on Civil Discourse
The UNC System Faculty Task Force on Civil Discourse, formed through the Faculty Assembly, published Civil Discourse and the University of North Carolina in June 2026. The report examines curricular and co-curricular work already underway across the System and recommends an approach that draws on faculty expertise, respects faculty and student agency, builds communities of practice, and continues System-level research.
Publishing New Research
A group of 20 faculty members representing most UNC System institutions is collaborating on new scholarship related to civil discourse, with several publications now in development. Current areas of interest include:
- Faculty and student response to the UNC System launch of an organized civil discourse initiative
- Civil discourse pedagogy
- AI and civil discourse
A separate group will focus on developing op-eds for broader public audiences.
Faculty interested in joining an existing writing group or developing a new article are invited to contact commonground@northcarolina.edu.