The Leading with Our Values gathering centers community norms that aim to make participation in this virtual gathering less fraught. Our values are based on community care, confidentiality, consent, accessibility, partnership, and inclusivity.
Please visit the Values document to read our full values statements and learn more about actions we, as a community, commit to taking in order to put each of these values into practice.
For us, community care means extending consideration and thoughtfulness to those who are already within our community or potential community members, with particular care given to marginalized community members. Community care means shifting the focus of care away from individuals caring for themselves onto the group pitching in and sharing the work of caring for us all, together.
As outlined in our Call for Proposals, we are committed to the safety of the presenters and participants of this gathering. Because DEIA work is under heightened scrutiny, all participants will be given options to protect their identity. All members will also be asked to support each other’s confidentiality by not identifying any participants or presenters of the gathering without their explicit consent. You’re encouraged to adopt the principle that “stories stay here, lessons leave here.” This means that you should share what you learned, but not specific stories, and only attribute it to the person you learned it from if you have their explicit consent. These are real colleagues with careers at stake!
Accessibility is the practice of making information, activities, and/or environments sensible, meaningful, and usable for as many people as possible. We aim to co-create an accessible virtual gathering for those with disabilities, chronic illnesses, or other circumstances that make accessing single-channel communications or information challenging. To do this, we are proactive in using and offering tried and true accessibility best practices, while being flexible to incorporate new practices, as needed and feasible.
We believe that accommodations are not a burden, and we work to collaboratively navigate access needs conflicts in partnership with participants in the virtual gathering. We recognize that accommodating one person may directly conflict with the access needs of another person. We perceive this conflict as an opportunity to utilize creativity and compassion in supporting all members of our community.
For us, inclusivity means designing activities and virtual gathering sessions to engage, include, and challenge all participants. This gathering explicitly aims to include newer educational developers or those who do not usually present at conferences. We define an inclusive learning environment as one in which participants of all identities and backgrounds can thrive.