Communities of Practice and Care

communities-of-practice-and-care.png


Expressions of Interest:
Community of Practice: A group of instructors who “interact, share, and participate in a particular cultural practice over time, [and who then] develop their understanding about the practice, about who they are, and about what they know in relation to the community and its goals” (Jiminez-Silva & Olsen, 2012, p. 335).

As we navigate our current and rapidly-evolving teaching and learning landscape, we are opening a community of practice and care on the topic of AI in teaching and learning. These conversations will be approached through the lenses of digital pedagogies, accessibility, and the ethics of AI. This community is open to educators across campus, including instructors, graduate students, and parafaculty educators engaged in teaching and learning.

Theme: Big Questions & Challenging Conversations about AI and Teaching/Learning

Time Commitment: Every two weeks for 60 minutes, beginning Friday, September 22, 2023 from 10:00 - 11:00 am Mountain Time

Facilitated by: Mandy Penney (she/her), Lead Educational Developer, Digital Pedagogies and Access and Mauricio Rivera-Quijano, Educational Developer, Online Design and Delivery

A note from Mandy: I am a cis, white, queer, and disabled settler working across place, space, and times. My work at the U of A is situated on Treaty 6 land - a traditional gathering place for diverse Indigenous peoples, including the Cree, Blackfoot, Métis, Nakota Sioux, Iroquois, Dene, Ojibway/Saulteaux/Anishinaabe, Inuit, and many others. I live, work, and raise my family on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Chonnonton peoples, on land governed by the London Township and Sombra treaties of 1796 and which is today colonially called London, Ontario. I am unwaveringly committed to the ongoing work of Indigenizing and decolonizing academic institutions and returning land to Indigenous stewards across the nation-state we now call Canada and beyond. In order to talk about the role of artificial intelligence in teaching and learning, we will keep Indigenizing and decolonizing practices at the forefront of our relationships, conversations and collaborations.

Format: We will gather virtually through Zoom.

Sessions will be synchronous online, low-stakes, and collaborative with semi-structured supportive conversations. Decisions regarding preparation (e.g., pre-readings, reflections, etc.) to be determined by participants.

Possible Topics: Working together as a group, we will decide the key themes we will address in our community. Some possible topics include the following:

  • Data, privacy, and surveillance
  • Accessibility and equity
  • Algorithmic bias
  • Climate impacts
  • Framing conversations about AI in the classroom

Capacity: Since communities of practice work best when they are smaller, each CoP/C will be capped at 12 participants. However, we are open to developing further CoPCs in the future where there is an interest.

If you would like to take part in our Winter Term 2024 Community of Practice and Care, please email ctl@ualberta.ca