Presenter: Cassidy A. Tawse-Garcia and Dr. Maria Lane

Description: This workshop explores the key concepts of the emerging field of Co-Education -- a non-hierarchical knowledge generation and sharing pedagogy, and its usefulness and applicability in the lecture-based class form, most often present in required general education courses at UNM. Participants will learn about the core ideals of co-education, explore peer-based education using case studies, engage in discussion on the challenges of/and affordances for implementing experiential methodologies in lecture-based courses, and the advantages and pitfalls of using co-education pedagogies in higher education spaces.

Zoom link: TBA

Panelists: Michael Lechuga, PhD (Assistant Professor), Evan Ashworth, PhD (Lecturer III), Cassidy D. Ellis, PhD (moderator), Tomide Oloruntobi, MA, Naadiyahtu Iddrisu, Olivia Roe, MA.

Description: Though Critical Communication Pedagogy (CCP) developed within the Communication Studies field, it contains essential pedagogical skills and socially-just values for instructors across disciplines. Many instructors may already be drawing upon some of the core tenets of CCP without realizing it. Our panel will enable attendees to recognize and articulate these aspects of their teaching, while introducing new ideas to broaden their perspectives. Through centering CCP, panelists will discuss the salience of self-reflexive teaching practices necessary to ensure that our classroom spaces are community-oriented and socially just. Attendees will strengthen their capacities to articulate their positionalities and identify the significance of lines power in classroom spaces.

Zoom link: TBA

Individual Panel Presentation Details:

1. Title: Tested Ways to Make Your Online Course More Closely Mirror Your F2F Teaching 

   Presenter: Dr. Judith McIntosh White (Associate Professor) 

   Description: Most objections to online instruction focus on its inferiority of face-to-face (F2F) instruction, e.g., low levels of interaction between instructor and students and among students. In this session, the presenter shares what she has learned in 16 years of teaching online with regard to making online courses more closely mirror F2F teaching through "extreme" instructor presence and use of video student-to-student interactions.

2. Title: Utilizing "Essential Questions” to Guide Online Courses

   Presenter: Phil Cioppa (Graduate Assistant, Chicana and Chicano Studies)

   Description: We often begin to serve as an online instructor without realizing that we are offering a great deal of information and little, if any time for processing. This presentation will provide participants with an understanding of how to create critical “essential questions” and an appreciation of how to align assignments, lectures, and Zoom sessions in response to the “essential question” within the context of an online course. Participants will come away with conceptions of how to create more effective classes in which students experience enhanced opportunities for critical thinking. They will also be invited to share and critically reflect upon their own teaching expertise and styles.

3. Title: Using Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools in The Classroom

   Presenter: Dr. Karla Kingsley (Associate Professor)

   Description: Participants will learn about generative artificial intelligence for educative purposes: what it is, how it can be used to support learning and instruction, and its potential benefits and drawbacks for educators and students. Although generative artificial intelligence is being used in the fields of business, computing, science, and entertainment, this presentation is specifically geared toward education. We will explore the digital and cultural transformations of using AI in education, including its impact on copyright, plagiarism, and cheating, as well as what it offers in terms of supporting learners with diverse needs, providing individualized feedback, and increasing access to the curriculum.

Zoom link: TBA

Presenter: Jet Saengngoen

Description: This workshop aims to enhance participants’ knowledge of teacher feedback by introducing them to the theoretical foundations of teacher feedback and student learning through social constructivist and sociocultural lenses. Additionally, the facilitator will encourage participants to engage in discussion about multiple factors that impact how feedback is perceived by students. Other issues of teacher feedback such as written versus verbal feedback, positive versus negative feedback, and product- versus process-oriented feedback will be introduced. Lastly, participants will collaboratively complete a worksheet that will help them design a teacher feedback process that promotes student learning in their classes.

Zoom link: TBA

Panelists: Anh Nguyen, Chelsea Roe, Emerson Armstrong, Inusah Mohammed, Lian Kim, Olivia Roe, Sandra Wood, Tomide Oloruntobi (moderator)

Description: This panel focuses on (dis)embodied pedagogy, which is defined as spaces where instructors’ bodies are repressed, masked, and placed in the background to meet the expectations, faces, and imaginations of the audience. (Dis)embodied pedagogy acknowledges the complexities of bodies and identities in classrooms and beyond, recognizing them as sites of contestation, negotiation, and, importantly, affirmation. By discussing this topic, this panel hopes to open a conversation for creating a space for diverse bodies in US Academia and empower all of us.

Zoom link: TBA

Panel: Humanizing Math Education (SL)

Panelists: Austin Bell (moderator/discussant), Daniel Havens, Jose Garcia

Description: Humanizing yourself as an instructor helps draw out in students, even the initially reluctant ones, a willingness to actively participate. Humanizing efforts help to strengthen a sense of local community within one’s field of study, empower students, and facilitate the growth of their relationship with their disciplines. In this session, our panel addresses key questions, including: How do we foster meaningful relations with our students? How does humanizing ourselves lead to a more productive and inclusive learning environment? How does humanizing our classroom environment help our students and ourselves embrace struggle? What does it mean to unify our students on the topic of their success?

Zoom link: TBA

Presenter: Naif Masrahi

Description: In this workshop, attendees will learn theoretically and practically about The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) framework. The presenter will explain key elements of the framework and how it can be practically applied to enhance students’ learning in English Language classrooms. The first part of the workshop will focus on the theoretical part of the topic – defining and explaining the meaning of incorporating media in English language classrooms and illuminating the theoretical framework of NAMLE. The second part will be a practical in which participants will apply the framework according to their students’ needs (context and level).

Panelists: Natalia Toscano, Gustavo Garcia, Ana Milan Hinostroza, Florence Emily Castillo

Description: El Puente Research Fellowship is a transformative program utilizing culturally relevant pedagogies, curriculum, and praxis for first-generation, and working-class students beyond the traditional classroom. We drew upon Chicana/Latina feminist epistemologies of plática and convivencia to share our program experiences and teaching implications in a sociological teaching journal. These practices facilitate relational and collective environments that allow students to learn from one another, to embrace their cultural wealth, and to build authentic relationships. We engage in a communal plática to reflect upon the experience of collective article publication and share how we navigated discipline-specific journal demands as unapologetic scholars engaged in decolonizing practices.

Zoom link: TBA

Individual Panel Presentation Details:

1. Title: Facilitating a Conversation about Critical Race Theory

   Presenter: Zachary Ramsey

   Description: The presenter will share pedagogical lessons learned from facilitating discussions about critical race theory in the context of teaching EDUC 1120: Intro to Education. Attendees will leave with a concrete example of how they can facilitate conversations about the intersection of critical race theory and their field of study. The presenter will provide example guiding questions that others can use in their classrooms to introduce students to the importance of critical race theory to learning, scholarly development, and engaged citizenship.

2. Title: Using Freire's Critical Pedagogy as a TA at UNM

   Presenter: Ramona Malczynski

   Description: This session will cover some of the key principles of critical pedagogy according to Paulo Freire and other educators who have built upon his work. The presenter will provide examples of how she implemented aspects of critical pedagogy as an introductory physical geography laboratory TA despite the existence of pre-determined learning objectives and activities. These aspects include encouraging critical thinking, having more egalitarian classroom interactions, and consistently seeking students’ feedback. She will also address possible limitations of implementing aspects of critical pedagogy as a TA who is perceived much differently than professors, especially as a TA of marginalized identities.

   Zoom link: TBA

Mini-Workshop Details:

1. Title: Experiential Education in The University Classroom

   Presenter: Noah Mertz

   Description: After working at an outdoor school for two years, returning to the traditional classroom has been a shock for this presenter. His time as an educator, coordinator, and curriculum designer in unorthodox and explicitly experimental pedagogical spaces solidified in him a conviction that mainstream approaches largely fail to fully engage the whole learner in a robust, dynamic learning process. The goal of this session is for participants to gain an understanding of the guiding principles of the experiential education approach, the value it brings to balance out more traditional post-secondary pedagogical approaches, and at least one concrete idea of how to incorporate experiential education in their classrooms.

2. Title: Connecting the Head and Hands in Statistics

   Presenter: Daniel Kowalczyk

   Description: Statistical literacy is an essential skill for all students, but many students approach statistics uneasily or with trepidation. In this session, a Statistics graduate student shares a hands-on/heads-on activity that captivates and engages students towards an understanding of how data and data interpretation have been a part of everyday life from past to present, and how knowledge in this domain may serve them personally, academically/professionally, and in civic life.

3. Title: Grappling with Linguistic Biases in the Classroom

   Presenters: David Páez; Lauren Boulanger; Audriana Sauceda

   Workshop Description: Linguistic biases are cognitive distortions based on the perceived deviation of language usage from an accepted “standard." Like most other cognitive biases, linguistic biases are unconscious and present in every person. These biases are often indices of deeper social issues, including judgments of intelligence, character, classism, and racism. As educators, one of our missions should be to help mitigate linguistic biases and their effects on our communities. Based on research on cognition, linguistic variation, bilingualism, linguistic judgments, and effective teaching strategies, we offer practical tools and protocols to minimize and avoid linguistic biases in the classroom.

   Location: SUB Room TBA

Panelists: Leola Paquin (Assistant Professor) (moderator/discussant), Martha Medina, Alexis Scalese, Kimberly Blake, Sierra Ramirez, and Madeline Mendoza.

Description: In this panel presentation, five graduate students will share their approaches to creating critically engaged learning communities. By the end of this session, attendees will be able to describe captivating online approaches to student learning; articulate examples of the importance of personal experiences as a vital tool in learning and teaching; provide examples of how to foster an environment that accounts for diverse student narratives; and describe mentorship strategies that focus on equity for students in transition.  

Location: SUB Room TBA

Individual Panel Presentation Details:

1. Title: How to Effectively Develop Interactive and Inclusive Online Courses Based on Instructor’s Teaching Philosophy

   Presenter: Moonsun Choi

   Description: This presentation focuses on how graduate teaching assistants can effectively develop interactive and inclusive online courses that are driven by their own teaching philosophies. Attendees will learn how they can incorporate their own teaching philosophy into the online shells created by lead instructors and how they can create visually effective and culturally engaged presentation slides. Further, the presenter will offer practical approaches for facilitating learner-centered online teaching and fostering critical thinking skills, transparency, balance, and fairness. Specific examples for each will be provided in the presentation.

2. Title:Digital Media & Learning Goals: How to Conscientiously Incorporate Media in Curricula

   Presenter: Dayna Diamond

   Description: Digital media assignments, when designed with attention to the ways in which selected forms of media support learning goals, become more meaningful for pedagogy, student learning, and evaluation. This presentation offers practical strategies for incorporating digital media projects into assignments and lesson plans in ways that are well aligned with learning goals.

   Location: SUB Room TBA

Mini-Workshop Details:

1. Title: Giving Control Back to the Students in a Workshop-Based Classroom

   Presenter: Léa Briere

   Description: Following Fernand Oury’s competency belts pedagogy, the presenter will share an alternative way of teaching and assessment that focuses on students, and is adaptable to a lot of different subjects. Using this pedagogy, the instructor creates workshops that students participate in as many times as needed for them to validate the objectives. These workshops are created to help the students work on different aspects of the objectives, and are completely autonomous, meaning they can be done without the help of the instructor. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on how they might adapt these alternative options to their own classes.

2. Title: Student One Day, Teacher the Next: Navigating Our Dual Identities as Teachers and Graduate Students in the Classroom

   Presenter: Hannah Garver

   Description: The key theme of this presentation is the dual role graduate student teaching assistants balance as both teacher and student, as well as how each influences the other. In this session, the presenter will discuss teacher identity as it has been conceptualized in educational research, how the development of this identity differs for graduate teaching assistants who teach in universities, and how her own identity as a graduate student influenced her work as a language teacher at UNM. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on their own dual identities and consider how they influence their classroom practices.

3. Title: Forming Classroom Management Best Practices from the Graduate Student Perspective: Teaching Tools, Modalities, Cultural Competency, and Teaching Moments in Spanish as a Heritage Language Classroom

   Presenters: Maria Vielma and Jorge A. Hernández Jr.

   Description: How do educators define classroom management? More specifically, how do graduate students who teach languages and cultures with minimal to no experience in a classroom setting come to define and practice classroom management? In this session, two graduate student instructors of record for Spanish as a Heritage Language provide a holistic definition of classroom management; discuss the impact of their identities on management struggles and strengths; explore misconceptions instructors may have about managing behavior; and propose best practices (e.g., leveraging cultural competencies and teaching moments). Participants will be encouraged to reflect on how these ideas apply to courses from their own disciplines.

   Location: SUB Room TBA

Panelists: Sarah Worland, Samuel Ewusi Dadzie, Genevieve Woodhead, and David Andrés Páez Acevedo, Dr. Julie Sanchez (Director of Assessment) (moderator).

Description: This interdisciplinary panel will provide teaching and assessment insights from the perspective of a shared graduate student work experience. Current graduate students will discuss lessons learned, helpful hints and ideas from their graduate student work as an instructor and as a graduate assistant in the Office of Assessment. Attendees will leave with an understanding of UNM’s assessment process, learn assessment skills, and identify ways to utilize rubrics and assignments to plan course materials. Further, participants will be invited to reflect upon how the experiences and ideas shared in this session might inform their pedagogical approaches in the future. 

Location: SUB Room TBA

Individual Panel Presentation Details:

1. Title: Into the Deep End: Strategies for Building Effective Courses and Maintaining Your Sanity

   Presenter: Dr. Breanna Griego-Schmitt (Teaching Faculty, UC Student Academic Choices)

   Description: Graduate students are under a lot of pressure to be the best at everything they are asked to do. How can they balance those demands while also being an effective educator? This presentation will provide students with strategies to help manage the demands of being a graduate student and an effective instructor. The presenter will share the top ten strategies that helped her survive and thrive during her time as a graduate student at UNM.

2. Title: Switching the Discourses Around Online Graduate Teaching: Possibilities for Growth

   Presenter: Lyounghee Kim

   Description: Online teaching is often considered easier than in-person instruction because of the perception that online instructors are commonly considered just ‘graders,’ not actual ‘instructors’ in higher education. These discourses create the illusion that online teaching is an easy job that does not require high quality input from instructors. Moreover, these discourses may discourage online graduate instructors from effortfully crafting their courses, impede deeper pedagogical engagement with their students, and their professional growth as teachers. My question is “what is a better way to think and talk about online teaching?” “Is there anything that we as graduate online instructors take away from online teaching experiences?” “If so, how?” This presentation seeks to animate attendees around these and related questions.

3. Title: Developing Reflective Teaching Practice

   Presenter: Peter Njagi Mwangi

   Description: This graduate instructor shares how reflective practice led him to make his classes more engaging. In this presentation, he will reveal what happened when he began to involve students in selecting study topics and evaluation strategies, especially in his Swahili 101 class. Further, he will share some of the testimonies his students gave when they implemented these changes together. Attendees will be encouraged to reflect on how these strategies might apply to courses in their own disciplines.

   Location: SUB Room TBA

Mini-Workshop Details:

1. Title: The Role of Metacognitive Activities in Teaching Design: Examples From Linguistics and Spanish Coursework

   Presenters: Eva Rodríguez-González (Associate Professor), Rosa Vallejos-Yopán (Associate Professor) and Érick García-Pineda

   Description: Abundant research has acknowledged the role of metacognition in facilitating learning in high school and undergraduate college courses. In this mini-workshop, as the presenters share their research on metacognition in Linguistic and Spanish courses, participants will learn about the use of metacognitive surveys when performing individual and collaborative course activities/assignments; reflect on the potential impact of integrating metacognitive activities in teaching design and intervention; and consider metacognitive questions that prompt the identification of strategies used before, during and after completing course activities/assignments.

2. Title: Approaches to Curriculum Design Based on Course Content and Course Modality: The Case of a UNM General Education Spanish Language Course Under the Lenses of Global Diversity and Inclusion

   Presenters: Laura Cruz, Alessio Piras, Eva Rodríguez-González (Associate Professor)

   Description: Presenters will describe the nature and design of prompts for presentational and interpersonal Spanish speaking and writing assignments for discussion of social justice topics as applied to Hispanic communities. Further, they will compare and contrast the design of such activities in face-to-face and online course sections of the same course and illuminate the value of these prompts in promoting students’ critical thinking and inquiry skills.

   Location: SUB Room TBA

Presenter Name(s): Peng Yu (Senior Lecturer), Zhen Yu, Motomi Kajitani, Gulnara Kussainova.

Description: This panel will discuss three major topics: 1) Strategies to balance academic studies and teaching as graduate students; 2) Effective approaches to lower undergraduate students’ learning stress in the classroom; and 3) Ways to address students’ diversity in the classroom. Panelists will share their own strategies to balance study, work, and life through meaningful professional development and sharing of resources. Additionally, they will demonstrate fun and effective classroom activities to make learning a fun experience for undergraduate students, such as making learning materials relevant to college life and connecting students with global communities.

Location: SUB Room TBA

Individual Panel Presentation Details:

1. Title: There I am! The Power of Testimonio and the Pedagogy of Possibilities

   Presenters: Jackie Cusimano, Mia Sosa-Provencio (Associate Professor), Ybeth Iglesias, Helena Omana-Zapata

   Description: In Fall of 2015, Professor Sosa-Provencio taught a required course for future teachers and transformed it into a 'Testimonio Curriculum Lab'. This class brought high school and university students together through the self-reflection lens of testimonio (a Latin American rooted practice of the use of one's story to promote social justice) and allowed all involved to discover their multiple literacies. This presentation explains the purpose of the Testimonio Curriculum, how it has evolved over the years, and the ways in which it has been opening doors and building a bridge that connects confidence and social justice with students' multiple literacies.

2. Title: How My Training in Community-Based Research Influenced My Teaching Practices

   Presenter: Ivette S. Gonzalez

   Description: In this session, the presenter shares actionable takeaways for a student-based teaching practice influenced by the documentary linguistics principles she has acquired in her training in linguistics. As with fieldwork, group discussions are based on real problems related to participants’ lives, promoting decolonization topics, and cyclic methodologies that allow for constant evaluation and change. In her experience instructing intermediate-upper-level Spanish classes to heritage speakers, she has found some similarities between these speakers and those of an endangered language, which drives her to use the same ethical and technical standards in both language data collection and student instruction.

3. Title: Eliciting a Response: Getting the Results We Need

   Presenter: Peninah Wolpo (Lecturer III, UNM Los Alamos)

   Description: This presentation will focus on helping instructors "let go" of their presentations enough to allow for student voices and interactions to be instrumental in building the lecture. Many instructors focus on "getting all the information out" but are challenged to facilitate student interaction. From revising slides to using white/chalk boards, from asking students to do the work for you to knowing when to step in and give the answers, this talk seeks to provide practical strategies for lecturers who need ideas for allowing students a place in the lecture beyond the proverbial "are there any questions?" at the end.

Location: SUB Room TBA