Civil Discourse Accelerator
The Or Initiative team believes that the best tools for fostering classroom civil discourse will not be built by any single organization working alone. The Civil Discourse Accelerator brings leading researchers, tech developers, and field innovators into sustained collaboration with Or Initiative's curriculum, research, and professional development work to design learning experiences that directly address the needs of students and educators.
Or Initiative Inaugural Fellows (2026–27 School Year)
We are excited to announce the first cohort of Accelerator Fellows: three leaders whose work is already shaping what civil discourse education can look like in the digital age.
Simon Cullen
Michael Strambler
Simon Cullen and Michael Strambler are leaders of Sway, a highly effective civil discourse tool in use on over 200 college campuses. They are building a new organization, Sway Classrooms, to expand into secondary schools.
Simon is a philosopher and cognitive scientist who is Co-Founder and President of Disagree Wisely. His work on argument mapping and evidence-based reasoning underlies Sway's design, a platform he originally created with philosopher Nicholas DiBella for college classrooms.
Michael is an associate professor at Yale School of Medicine whose expertise in social-emotional learning and school-based interventions is anchoring Sway's adaptation for middle and high school students.
As Civil Discourse Accelerator Fellows, Simon and Michael are collaborating with Or Initiative’s curriculum team to adapt Sway for secondary school classrooms within our curriculum modules, pilot Sway with teachers in our Professional Learning Community, and co-develop an innovative, rigorous methodology for how Sway's AI Guide handles contested topics — including the Middle East conflict, immigration, and free speech — with the multi-narrative framing and developmental appropriateness that secondary school teachers and students deserve.
Cristin Frodella
Cristin Frodella brings over two decades of experience building and marketing ed tech programs and platforms at scale, primarily as a founding leader of Google for Education.
As our inaugural Senior Fellow, Cristin is leading the development of the Weekend Aggregator — Or Initiative's tool for helping teachers integrate curated, classroom-ready current events content into their weekly classroom routines — from prototype to wider classroom use.
She is also stewarding Or Initiative's partnership with Sway and leading the development of a landscape analysis of civil discourse and digital literacy tools in K–12 education that will be released later this year. That report will identify what exists, where the gaps are, and the key opportunities for moving the field forward with educators’ and students’ developmental needs as the top priority.
The Civil Discourse Accelerator in Year One
The 2026–27 year is Or Initiative’s pilot year for the Civil Discourse Accelerator. We’re focusing our energy on two tools already in development and ready for serious classroom testing:
The Weekend Aggregator will move from prototype to a teacher-tested, widely deployable resource, with documented usability findings, clear protocols for weekly classroom use, and a path toward its broader release.
Sway will advance its adaptation for secondary school settings with Or Initiative curriculum modules piloted in our Professional Learning Community. The collaboration will include a published assessment of Sway’s efficacy for supporting key student discourse competencies.
Looking Ahead
Beginning in 2027, the Civil Discourse Accelerator plans to open Fellow applications to researchers, technologists, and practitioners working at the intersection of civic education, digital literacy, and civil discourse. Join our mailing list for updates.
If you are doing work in related areas, we'd love to hear from you.
Contact us at orinitiative@chapman.edu.