Wrapping up summer at the Pedagogy Lab with Dr. Gunn
After the success of last year’s Pedagogy Fellowship, we continued this summer with a new, brilliant cohort of fellows. They worked on audio projects under the umbrella of this year’s theme, “Unruly Bodies,” and created works on topics like fatphobia, feminism and the state in contemporary Egypt, mindfulness techniques in higher education classrooms, the politics of Pride celebrations in Texas, and disability justice. Keep an eye out for their projects, some of which are already posted on our Soundcloud!
We have continued to develop projects with our established partners, as well — our keynote speaker for last year’s pedagogy conference, Dr. Nicole Truesdell, is working with us to create an audio series and workbook on utilizing emotional technologies of anger in and in recognition of the self. This series is particularly useful for scholars of color working to develop an empowering relationship with their own anger, life path, and academic careers. The project, titled “Rage to Heal,” will launch this fall.
In the future, we want to create more open access tools and resources meant to engage learners across multiple platforms: audio, short videos distributed on social media platforms, downloadable curricula and activities, and lesson plans. This cyborgish focus on digital access and media is in part a response to the climate of education, in which teachers are searching for new methods and mediums to deliver content that is crucially important for navigating today’s world: information about race, gender, and the histories and futures of our country. This information, becoming increasingly contentious and unavailable in public spaces and schools, will be something BBQ+ can provide, open access, to anyone seeking it. In this effort, we have begun constructing a website that will host our OER library that will see continuous additions from scholars adapting their work for open access distribution. Our continuing mission at the lab is making the work of pedagogy, OER, and curriculum legible and desirable for scholars and teachers, placing emphasis on pedagogy publications, OER creation, and pedagogical craft.