Wednesday, June 25
11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
10:00am - 11:00am CDT
9:00am - 10:00am MDT
8:00am - 9:00am PDT/MST
10:00am - 11:00am CDT
9:00am - 10:00am MDT
8:00am - 9:00am PDT/MST
These concurrent sessions will take place in different Zoom rooms.
Session Description
This session aims to bring together educational developers that are interested in creating communities for faculty members to openly share their successes and failures. The relaxed atmosphere of the session will aim to create a safe space where experiences can be openly shared, challenges discussed, and connections can be made. The facilitator aims to share her own experiences for applying such approaches for faculty development (in communities of practice, book clubs, and even seminars) but also learn from the experiences of others. Everyone is invited to participate verbally or in writing via the chat. Hopefully, by the end of the session everyone will feel uplifted, equipped with a plethora of ideas and more connected.
Key Takeaways
In this sharing space, participants will have the opportunity to:
Share their own practice.
Learn from the experiences of others.
Network and connect.
Session Description
We’ll begin with an overview of the Reflection Space, a unique, asynchronous online learning community grounded in reflective writing. We’ll introduce its audience, goals, and distinctive features, then share the principles and collaborative design approaches that shaped it—developed entirely in a virtual, remote setting. You’ll have a chance to explore a sandbox version of the site and look at examples of reflective prompts. Past participants who will share their experiences and engage in an open question and answer with the audience. We’ll wrap up with a quick poll on how the Reflection Space might be adapted to build community and support instructors in your own setting. Throughout, we’ll take a flexible, participant-responsive approach, allowing you to engage verbally, silently, and in writing.
Key Takeaways
Recognize how reflection on experiences, values and practices can improve teaching and student learning.
Explore how an asynchronous online writing community can motivate and connect instructors to engage in professional learning at their own pace.
Consider how an asynchronous online writing community can serve the needs of instructors who may be challenged to participate in other forms of professional development.
Connect with past participants of the Reflection Space to explore how reflective practice impacted their practice.
Examine opportunities to connect instructors in your own context through reflection on teaching and learning.
Key Takeaways
Foster Solidarity and Community: Create a space where Arab and Pro-Palestine educational developers can connect and share personal stories, experiences, and challenges, building a sense of solidarity and community as we navigate similar tensions in our professional lives.
Share Coping Strategies for Navigating Tensions: Encourage participants to share their own strategies and insights for managing the emotional and professional challenges that arise when their values clash with institutional policies or international demands, fostering collective learning and mutual support.
Explore Responses to Institutional Silence and Hostility: Facilitate a peer-driven conversation about how participants have responded to institutional silence or hostile environments, allowing them to share ideas, resources, and experiences for advocating for change or creating spaces for dialogue.
Collaborate on Ethical Responses to Conflicting Institutional Demands: Engage participants in a collaborative discussion on how to navigate requests from institutions or clients that conflict with their personal values, encouraging the sharing of real-world experiences and approaches to maintaining professional integrity.
Session Agenda
Introductions and a brief presentation of the competency framework including a description of the development process
Guided self-reflection exercise to identify competencies that are strengths as well as 1-2 that participants would like to focus on for future development
Sketch a professional development plan
Debrief of the self-reflective exercise; generate common themes
Wrap-up discussion discussion framed by guiding questions Q&A and feedback survey
Key Takeaways
Use the educational development competency framework as a lens to critically reflect on competencies achieved and competencies that are appropriate for further professional growth within their specific institutional context.
Identify 2-5 priority competencies and the resources needed to develop them in the next 2-5 years.