The Sum of My Parts

Like all academics I have a many interests that on the surface look very disparate. My PhD looked at the representations of tactility in Victorian literature so I am a sensory scholar who is very much interested in how touch works, phenomenologically, technologically, and literarily. My secondary field in my doctoral studies was women’s literature and gender theory. I have taught a women’s lit course for almost a decade, at the university level, and for more than 5 years at the college level and these courses have been my most rewarding instructional experiences.

I have worked as a curriculum lead, an instructional design consultant, a curriculum and instructional consultant, and presently as an educational developer again for close to a decade in many higher education institutions. I am a curriculum nerd- there is something so rewarding about a well-crafted and aligned learning outcome. I am also very passionate about accessibility and compliance to AODA regulations and UDL (UID) principles. This connects back to my sensory scholar hat because my passion for this started as SoTL explorations of how the physical space of the classroom can exclude some and presuppose a student stereotype in terms of demographic and literal body type. Then there’s John Ruskin, a Victorian thinker, artist, polymath, whose work inspires a lot of the research that I have done and continue to do. Ruskin certainly connects to my Victorian roots but he also was an educational advocate, supporting craft and class-inclusive learning environments. He was also a passionate sustainable environmentalist way before anyone was using that kind of terminology together.

Looking at this collage of things sensory scholar, women’s literature professor, educational developer, accessibility advocate, lover of Ruskin, these don’t all seem to connect. But they do under the umbrella of pedagogy. Every one of these areas of my research, life, and interests are connected to pedagogy and supporting ethical pedagogical practices. I am interested in touch because touch allows us to relate to our learning space, learning materials, and learning technologies. In my dissertation (and monograph that I am presently working on) I focus on this intersection of tactility and learning in the 19^th century and how it relates to what we see today. Women’s literature classes allow me to put my ethical pedagogy into practice. I use active learning strategies, informed by the texts we study in the course, to engage the students and allow for a meta-analysis of how the texts are teaching and are taught. My work as an educational developer involves supporting active learning pedagogy, teaching and learning workshops and events, SoTL research, and many other instructional and pedagogical areas such as activities and assessments.  Accessibility is at the heart of all of this pedagogical support. Then finally there is Ruskin, whose work has inspired me to strive for ethical and inclusive educational paradigms, whose very didactic work and art demonstrates a lifetime commitment to education. 

So yes my parts may be complex or seemingly tangential but they come together to inform the work I do and the research I conduct. Pedagogy is the foundation of everything I do- even this blog supports that in that it gives me space to reflect on, as the name suggests, All Things Pedagogical. This is a good exercise to do as we move into the second month of the term and the calendars get tighter. What is your foundation? What supports everything that you do? Sometimes that answer is easy, but don’t be afraid if it isn’t. It’s important to find out what supports and drives you, it makes your 2 minute elevator speech that much easier to deliver and you may be surprised with what you find.