Diversity Statement
Teaching a highly diverse student body has influenced my teaching methods and style. As a graduate student at NCSU, I served as a teaching assistant for four online courses in the Learning Design and Technology program, designed for a diverse population of teachers and educational technology professionals. In this program, students came from a range of ethnic and racial backgrounds. Many students lived in low socioeconomic areas and taught in K-12 schools in rural areas of North Carolina. As part of the online course instructional staff, I employed culturally responsive teaching methods to create a safe learning environment that integrated diverse student perspectives and provided multiple communication methods for students to express themselves and listen to others.
In addition to teaching, my research focus and experiences focus on inclusive technology and learning environments that enable equitable learning experiences for all students. I have obtained Universal Design for Learning certification and completed a one-year internship with the Centers on Inclusive Technology in Education Systems (CITES) project at CAST. My dissertation research study includes the voices of diverse families across the United States to capture ideas for educational leaders and classroom educators to include intersectional family voices in information, educational, and assistive technology planning, and implementation.
As a future faculty member, I would continue to contribute to diversity in teaching, research, and service. Working with graduate students from underrepresented and marginalized populations would be rewarding. More informally, I’d be happy to meet with and advise students in culturally responsive research practices that elevate the voices of people who have been historically marginalized and engage them as part of knowledge construction. Finally, I would embrace rich opportunities for collaborative projects with colleagues to provide new avenues for engaging with questions and issues of diversity across educational programs.