Open Pedagogy Event (11/7): Access Pedagogy

Access Pedagogy

Thursday, November 7, 2019, 4:30-6:00pm (Faculty Commons, N227)

*Refreshments will be served. (Thanks to the Faculty Commons for its generous support of this event!)

*Part-time faculty are eligible to receive a stipend for participation.

*Please RSVP by commenting on this post. Please share this invitation with your colleagues!

Despite CUNY’s historical role as an opportunity-granting institution, austerity—that is, rising tuition and numbers of contingent faculty, failing infrastructure, etc.—impacts teaching and learning conditions across the university. As we’re facing budget crises, overburdened adjuncts, and students balancing careers, caretaking, and college, how can we make ourselves accessible as teachers? What does an accessible syllabus look like? To what extent are our classrooms accessible, and what can we do to center access and equity in both in-person and online teaching? Join the OpenLab Team, City Tech faculty and staff, and CUNY colleagues at our next Open Pedagogy event, where we will discuss how we can increase access in our pedagogical practices in and out of the classroom, on and offline.

• What changes have you made to your teaching documents and practices to center access and equity, specifically thinking about office hours, handling lateness, absences, requests for extensions or make-up exams, with access in mind?
• Many Black, brown, first-generation, and other marginalized students bring experiences of educational trauma to college classrooms. What can we as instructors and advocates do to combat the normalizing, hegemonic goals of gatekeeping institutional spaces like the classroom? What resources do you make students aware of for when they need support?
• What role can open digital pedagogy play in increasing access to education? What pitfalls must we avoid to ensure access?
• How have you as staff and faculty members worked to care for both your students and yourself in spite of austerity? Are there supports on campus that you have found useful? How about support elsewhere? 

Recommended Readings: 

• Dolmage, Jay (he/him/his). “Disability Studies Pedagogy, Usability and Universal Design.” Disability Studies Quarterly 25.4, 2005. Web.
• Oswal, Sushil K. (he/him/his). “Ableism.” Kairos 18.1, 2013. Web.
• Polish, Jenn (they/them/their). “Final Projects and Research Papers: On Anti-Ableist Assignment Design.” CUNY Humanities Alliance. July 12, 2017. Web.
• Womack, Anne-Marie (she/her/hers), Annelise Blanchard, Cassie Wang, and Mary Catherine Jessee. Accessible Syllabus. 2015. Web.

Image Credit: Old Barn – Sweet Briar College by Rick Stillings is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.