Outcomes

• Analyze existing AI policies and writing evaluation practices for language that may marginalize neurodivergent students  

• Describe and identify specific descriptors commonly used to critique AI-generated writing and trace their historical application to neurodivergent communication styles, including autistic writers  

• Design or adapt course policies and discussion strategies to address AI use without stigmatizing neurodivergent communication styles  

• Explain how AI evaluation language in higher education can in advertently reinforce deficit-based assumptions about diverse communication  

• Reframe commonly used AI-detection language to better support equitable, neurodiversity-affirming communication in academic settings 

Description

As generative AI enters higher education and concerns about its use in online classes increase, faculty are developing policies and teaching strategies to support equity in AI use.  Yet the language commonly used to distinguish human writing from AI-assisted writing, including terms such as flat, lifeless, mechanical, inhuman, or impersonal, often amplifies descriptors historically applied to neurodivergent communication styles, especially those characterizing autistic writers. When these descriptors become the default way of critiquing AI output, they can unintentionally reinforce narrow assumptions about acceptable academic writing.

To explore this topic, the interactive workshop intentionally includes students as co-facilitators, centering perspectives from those most often evaluated under AI policies, inviting participants to examine AI discourse, neurodiversity, and equity in online classes. Using writing courses as examples while highlighting practices relevant across disciplines, participants will identify language describing AI-generated writing and consider how these descriptors overlap with longstanding stereotypes about neurodivergent communication. We will then analyze how common AI evaluation practices, such as labeling writing as robotic, rote, or cliché, can shift attention away from rhetorical reading practices traditionally taught in composition courses that analyze rather than quickly evaluate text. 

The second half of the session builds practical strategies participants can implement. Working in breakout groups with faculty and students, participants will practice reframing language that supports diverse communication styles while addressing concerns about AI use. Ultimately, participants will leave with adaptable online course strategies for discussing AI collaboration, evaluating AI output, and maintaining equitable language practices that respect neurodiversity.

Description

Join Dr. Tina Vasconcellos, Peralta's Vice Chancellor of Educational Services, to officially kick off Day 3 of the Peralta Online Equity Conference!

POSTER: Increasing Equity and Access in Online Discussions Through Universal Design for Learning (UDL) 

Download handout: Stimulating Collaborative and Inclusive Online Discussions

POSTER: Equity by Design: What Happens When AI Meets a Digital Learning Equity Review?

POSTER: The AI-Resistant Pedagogy Studio: Designing for Human Capacity

Outcomes

• Identify barriers that impact engagement and participation in online learning environments. 

• Apply practical strategies that foster psychological safety, connection, and collaboration among diverse learners.  

• Implement facilitation practices that support sustainable participation, belonging, and equitable learning experiences.

Description

Online learning environments can create new opportunities for access, but they can also introduce challenges related to engagement, connection, and participation. When students feel disconnected, overwhelmed, or unsupported, even well-designed online courses can struggle to achieve equitable learning outcomes.

This interactive session introduces the Soul Like Fire framework for building sustainable engagement and collaboration in learning environments. Drawing on neuroscience, leadership development, and facilitation practices, the session explores how educators can strengthen trust, communication, and psychological safety in online classrooms.

Participants will examine practical strategies that help reduce barriers to participation, foster inclusive dialogue, and support diverse learning styles. The session models equity-centered teaching practices by incorporating reflection, discussion, and collaborative activities that mirror active learning approaches.

Attendees will leave with practical tools that can be immediately applied to online courses and professional learning environments. These approaches help create learning spaces where all participants feel valued, supported, and empowered to contribute—strengthening both equity and long-term engagement in digital learning environments.

Outcomes

• Reconsider how their current assignments can be restructured into labor-based grading contracts or how to adapt other equitable grading practices.

Description

What if grading could motivate learning while also promoting equity? In this interactive workshop, participants will explore equitable grading practice that shift the focus from points and performance to meaningful learning and student engagement. We will begin by examining how traditional grading systems can unintentionally reproduce inequities and discuss practical strategies instructors can use to create more transparent, supportive assessment practices.

The second half of the workshop will focus on labor-based grading and grade contracts, an approach that evaluates students based on the work they complete rather than subjective judgments of quality. Participants will learn how this model can increase student motivation, reduce grade anxiety, and create clearer expectations for success.

Through guided activities, instructors will have the opportunity to restructure and revise their own assignments, so they align with a labor-based grading framework. Together we will explore how to translate existing assignments into contract-based structures, clarify expectations for student labor, and design grading systems that reward persistence, revision, and engagement.

While especially relevant for humanities and communication courses, the strategies shared in this session can be adapted across disciplines. Participants will leave with concrete tools, example contract structures, and practical ideas they can implement immediately to make their grading practices more equitable, transparent, and student-centered.

Outcomes

• Identify equity barriers in enrichment and apply AI prompts to scaffold inclusive activities.  

• Collaboratively build a custom prototype in Google AI Studio through live group iteration. 

• Connect AI designs to human-centered principles for student belonging and faculty use. 

Description

Classrooms' enrichment opportunities often exclude diverse learners, perpetuating inequities in skill-building and belonging. This hands-on 45-minute workshop uses Google AI Studio's no-code platform to empower educators in co-creating scaffolded prototypes—scenario-based prompts with adaptive feedback tailored for equity.

The session begins with a 7-minute demonstration of an app I built, showcasing real equity applications like multilingual reflection prompts and neurodiverse access features. Next comes a collaborative 25-minute live group build: together, we iteratively construct one prototype, surfacing local equity gaps while linking design choices to human-centered principles. A 10-minute debrief synthesizes key insights on AI literacy and inclusive strategies, with share-outs and actionable next steps.

Participants leave with a fully deployable app template for their context, proven equity-focused AI prompt patterns, and strategies to advance justice in online/hybrid learning—without needing coding expertise. Ideal for educators seeking practical tools to extend elite experiences to all students.

Outcomes

• Explore how values-based leadership and coaching practices can strengthen institutional support systems for online learners and leave with practical strategies to improve student engagement, persistence, and success.

Description

As higher education institutions expand online learning, many focus on technology and instructional design while overlooking the leadership practices that shape equitable student outcomes. Institutional culture, leadership values, and support systems play a critical role in determining whether online students—particularly working adults, first-generation students, and historically underserved populations—persist and succeed.

This presentation explores how values-based leadership, combined with coaching-oriented leadership practices, can strengthen institutional capacity to support online student success. Values-based leadership emphasizes aligning institutional decisions, policies, and practices with core commitments such as access, student-centered learning, accountability, and community impact. Coaching complements this leadership approach by fostering environments where faculty, staff, and students are supported through intentional guidance, reflection, and skill development.

Drawing on leadership research and applied experience in organizational development and community-based education initiatives, this session will examine how coaching frameworks can support faculty, advisors, and student services professionals in better engaging online learners. Participants will explore practical strategies institutions can use to embed coaching practices into advising, mentoring, and leadership development efforts.

Participants will leave with actionable strategies for cultivating leadership practices that promote stronger engagement, improved persistence, and more equitable outcomes for online students.

Outcomes

• Explain the incremental, interdisciplinary, and collaborative approach to un-grading professional development

• Review different types of un-grading assessment methods

• Describe strategies for preparing faculty to respond to un-grading challenges

• Explore ways to implement this example program in their own context. 

Description

In this workshop, presenters will share insights from their forthcoming book, Preparing Faculty for Equitable Assessment: A Guide for Un-grading Professional Development. The book builds on a professional development certificate they offered to university faculty in Summer 2023. This workshop will explain their flexible approach to un-grading professional development that is incremental, interdisciplinary, and collaborative. Presenters will also offer practical instructional design steps that model equitable facilitation, un-grading assessment, and address common challenges. As a next step, participants will then adapt the example program for use in their own contexts. This workshop is for participants with some experience in un-grading and an interest in facilitating un-grading professional development. 

Outcomes

• Explain the principles of question-based pedagogy (QBP) and its relationship to linguistic justice and equitable writing instruction.  

• Compare traditional feedback models with question-based feedback to evaluate how each shapes student agency and the peer review process.  

• Apply QBP strategies to respond to student writing, centering writers’ self-identified questions and needs.  

• Identify practical classroom practices (e.g., question logs, QBP workshops, reflections) that support culturally relevant and equitable feedback environments.

Description

In Linguistic Justice on Campus, the editors ask, “What can educators do […] to build more equitable and just learning spaces for our multilingual students?” (26). One answer may lie in how we structure feedback in writing classrooms. Rather than relying on traditional peer review—where students submit drafts and receive unsolicited feedback—question-based pedagogy (QBP) invites writers to include three questions with their drafts. Peer and instructor respondents answer only those questions, shifting the feedback process from instructor-centered evaluation to writer-directed inquiry.

QBP requires instructors to redefine their role from feedback authority to active listener. This shift creates a feedback ecology that values instructor and peer voices while centering writers’ agency. To support this ecology, instructors emphasize three constants throughout the semester: question-asking, revision, and reflection (Baker et al., 2021). When students learn to ask questions about their writing, they gain control over the feedback process, ensuring responses address their goals and concerns.

Our campuses are HSIs where many students identify as first-generation and multilingual. Analysis of students’ metacognitive reflection essays suggests QBP disrupts traditional feedback hierarchies and strengthens writerly agency while fostering collaborative writing communities.

This interactive session introduces QBP as a culturally responsive feedback practice. Presenters will outline the research project and theoretical grounding in linguistic justice and culturally relevant pedagogy. Participants will compare traditional feedback with QBP, responding to a sample student essay using both approaches. The session concludes with practical strategies—including syllabus revisions, question logs, and reflections—to help instructors implement QBP in their writing classrooms.

Outcomes

• Participants will be able to mentor students in the ethical construction of chatbots that empower students and marginalized communities.

Description

Examples of AI chatbots constructed by students will be demonstrated. Highlighted will be the work of students from marginalized communities (women, BIPOC, persons with visual impairment, immigrants, returning students) and chatbots designed to serve the needs of such marginalized communities. These projects require guidance and mentoring from faculty. We begin by identifying a topic pertinent to the course, along with a targeted audience. The student creates a list of questions that the bot should be prepared to answer. In order to find the best answers, the student is given a list of experts who could be interviewed. The student also curates pertinent web and library materials. All this information is put in a file which is then uploaded on a bot-generating platform (e.g., Nectir, Playlab), the appropriate tone and guardrails are chosen, and a bot is created. The bot is then field tested with the other students in the class. Feedback is then obtained from the experts who provided much of the information. Appropriate revisions are then made. Finally, the student has to construct an introductory video, appropriate to the target audience, in order to promote use of the bot.

Outcomes

• Learn how to play and then implement interactive games for an online classroom that improve equity in learning. 

Description

In this highly interactive presentation, we demonstrate how games such as Let’s Make a Deal, Werewolf, Murdle, riddles, and mystery scenarios can serve as powerful tools for teaching argumentation, reasoning, and bias awareness. Participants experience the games firsthand, stepping into the same playful, low-stakes environment we create for students to experiment with persuasion, evidence, and strategic decision-making.

Through gameplay, participants practice analyzing claims, weighing evidence, identifying faulty reasoning, and adapting their strategies in response to new information. Games require players to interpret clues, question assumptions, and defend positions while navigating incomplete or misleading information—skills that mirror the critical thinking required for evaluating arguments in academic and public discourse. Just as importantly, many games expose the role of perception, authority, and group influence in shaping what people believe.

These moments provide rich opportunities to explore bias. Players quickly see how assumptions, stereotypes, and social dynamics influence decisions, alliances, and trust. By reflecting on these experiences, participants examine how bias operates in reasoning and argument and how instructors can create classroom environments where students feel empowered to question authority, challenge assumptions, and evaluate claims critically.

Gameplay also builds temporary classroom communities, offering a living model of how collaboration, conflict, and group dynamics shape knowledge-making. These experiences help students understand how arguments circulate within communities and how power, credibility, and identity affect whose voices are heard.

Attendees leave with ready-to-use activity guides and adaptation strategies for integrating game-based approaches that promote equitable participation, critical reasoning, and deeper engagement with argument and bias.

Outcomes 

• Explain why avoiding current events can unintentionally harm student belonging, engagement, and emotional well-being across all disciplines.  

• Integrate at least one discipline-appropriate strategy for acknowledging current events—such as check-ins, brief context statements, or humanizing announcements—into their own course materials.  

• Apply an equity-minded and trauma-informed framework to craft language that validates student experiences without derailing content or causing harm.

Description 

In the past several years, educators and students alike have weathered what feels like a series of unfortunate semesters - pandemics, political turmoil, economic uncertainty, community trauma, global conflict, and a constant churn of unsettling news. While faculty often feel pressure to stay “neutral” or stick strictly to disciplinary content, students bring the weight of the world with them into every class, from biology to business to English. Ignoring that reality doesn’t protect learning; it distances students from it.

This session invites educators from all fields to explore how small, intentional acknowledgments of current events can create immeasurable impacts on student engagement, belonging, and emotional well-being. Participants will learn why silence in times of crisis is rarely neutral, how students interpret that silence, and how brief, humanizing gestures, check-ins, thoughtful announcements, relevant examples, or compassionate framing, can open doors to connection without derailing course objectives.

Grounded in equity-minded and trauma-informed practices, this workshop offers simple, discipline-appropriate strategies for recognizing the human behind the homework. Attendees will practice crafting micro-acknowledgments that validate student experiences, reduce isolation, and build trust, even in STEM and CTE environments where such conversations might feel unfamiliar.

Because sometimes showing up authentically, briefly, and bravely is the most meaningful teaching move we can make. And even if it reaches only one student, that one moment can matter more than we ever know.

Outcomes

• Gain tips and tricks to get digital accessiblity mode in your units; 

• Identify resources for getting started; considering older adult learners and seniors; AI and digital accessibility --where the two converge. 

• Consider older learners 45+ and seniors, as well as second language speakers. If you think that you won't have any in your class or work environment-think again!

Description

Learn how to infuse digital accessibility into your department and switch the thinking from "it's clerical, IT, admin, and I don't have time," to "It's the law, it's the right thing to do, and I  can share my expertise better if I think about making materials accessible from the start." 

Think about "Just one more thing" -- Lieutenant Columbo style -- you can do for your learners, your colleagues, your family, and your friends, to make life easier and more accessible. 

Description 

Join us for a brief session to end the conference, celebrate, and outline how you can stay connected to this global equity community!