Welcoming a space of true learning in our communications.

A framework for encountering uncertainty, practicing intellectual humility, and remaining curious in cultural collisions.

For Educators

Compassion & Dignity for Educators

Practice in Community

Fumble Forward

The Flourishing Academic Network

Easing social discomfort in learning.

Fumble Forward aims to empower confident and honest participation in human exchange, meaningfully reducing the intimidation that can arise with unfamiliarity or learning of new information.

“Our curiosity and stamina can be fortified to grow stronger than our defenses.”

― Donna Mejia, MFA

Originator of Fumble Forward
Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, CU Boulder Libraries
Faculty Fellow, Crown Institute

No one has all the right answers.

By embracing intellectual humility and an understanding that one might not have the perfect way to articulate new thoughts and questions, Fumble Forward invites a social agreement that allows imperfection and confusion in our exchanges.

Seeking common denominators through empathy and listening.

By humanizing each other and identifying moments of tense or charged exchange, we can redirect tension into breakthrough understandings.

Fumble Forward is a social practice designed to facilitate open and productive discussions, especially when dealing with sensitive or potentially challenging topics.

Elements of the Fumble Forward framework:

We explore, together, a series of questioning prompts to examine what we presume to be true before awarding ourselves agency to evaluate a topic. We invest in building questions, instead of relying on cultural caricatures.
We create common reference points. We learn if we have the same understanding of commonly used terms. Surprisingly, we frequently find we don’t. For example, respect, honor, and kindness can convey different expectations across different people.
We closely examine and analyze power differentials between parties.
Fumble Forward imparts de-escalation techniques and clarifies needed boundaries.
We engage a supported, humorous, and playful approach.
We co-design ways of curating cultures of care, compassion, and repair when inevitable missteps occur