Spring Break is March 17-21, 2025. While CSU Online will remain open, please note that many campus services and individuals may experience delays during this time.Spring Break is March 17-21, 2025. While CSU Online will remain open, please note that many campus services and individuals may experience delays during this time.
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This interactive, comprehensive course combines both the historical and theoretical background, as well as the core skill sets necessary for the practice of professional alternative dispute resolution (ADR); specifically, basic mediation.
Students are guided through Moore's stages of mediation and will learn how these stages can be applied to actual case studies. Students will explore their own unique styles of engaging, avoiding or otherwise dealing with conflict, and are encouraged to examine how their own experiences can affect their role as an impartial mediator. There will be instruction, role plays, and discussion about the many different factors that influence conflict and its expression, such as culture, gender, age, etc.
Students will be guided through the essential skills and strategies needed to execute successful ADR/mediation practices. Coursework covers both tangible and more subtle skill sets (i.e. reframing inflammatory statements and body language interpretation, respectively). There will be an overview of the evolving code of ethical standards and business practices mediators must stay current on to meet the needs of an ever-changing society.
Successful students will leave the course with a deeper understanding of the nature of interpersonal conflict and communication, ethical standards, and will be able to apply a range of practical skills and strategies to their future experiences within the ADR/mediation field.
Bachelor's degree.
Students will need a Webcam with a microphone and speakers installed and properly working before class begins.
Amber Franzel grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado, receiving her BSW from Colorado State University and her MSW from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She has been a licensed social worker since 2008 and has field experience in Elder Protective Services both as a caseworker and supervisor, in community mental health centers focusing on intensive case management for those with chronic and severe mental health issues, and most recently, with the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, advocating for older adults in nursing homes and assisted livings. In addition to making sure resident rights are upheld, she also has an interest in nursing home culture change and promoting person centered care into health care in general. As an advocate for residents and families who may not understand the complex elder care system, she spends a lot of time in mediation sessions to negotiating ways to improve the quality of life and quality of care for residents, especially if they are not able to do so. Her professional interests relate to bioethics, navigating family complexities, working within regulations to meet patient needs, and coordination between systems to promote a high level of patient care within a complex and often dysfunctional system.