POD Network Conference 2022

I spent several nice days at the POD Network conference in Seattle in mid-November. The days were unusually sunny and the weather was brilliant for November. It took me about an hour each day in each direction on the bus and light rail. I have taken the bus many times to Seattle, but this was a first for daily commutes. I still love taking the bus.

This was the first face-to-face event I had attended in about three years. How strange to be absent from the conversations around schooling, learning, and teaching in small rooms at conferences! I really, really miss the community and the conversations.

I was able to have a number of conversations with Chris Lott. I have known Chris from the #ds106 community from years but it has only been in the last two years I have worked with him at UW. And this conference was the first time I was able to share some physical space with him. Wonderful.

I also had lunch with Chris and Darcy Janzen. Darcy is the director of the Tacoma Teaching and Learning space. I had not seen her in several years and it was nice to have lunch together.

As usual, the highlights are about people and not things. I was able to have some coffee and donuts with Robin DeRosa. How wonderful!

I also bumped into Megan Kennedy from Glendale Community College. While we have known one another for many years, we have not often had the chance to just sit and chat. Megan is an instructional designer and the co-director of the Center for Teaching & Learning.

I attended the following workshops and presentations at the conference.

NOVEMBER 16 • WEDNESDAY

Half-day Workshop- Equity-Centered Community Engagement: Enacting Strategies for Justice, Solidarity, & Advocacy
Drawing from the scholarly literature of critical race theory, intercultural communication theory, and social-constructivism, this pre-conference “train-the-trainer” presentation will deconstruct normative views of “excellence” in academic-based community engagement and then reconstruct a new pedagogical paradigm of critical service-learning. Specifically, the equity-centered principles of justice, solidarity, and advocacy will be operationalized to enact a better way forward and new conceptual model to guide higher education professionals and faculty in their creation of curricular and co-curricular service-learning, activities, partnerships, collaborations, assessment, and scholarship.

NOVEMBER 17 • THURSDAY

2:00pm – 2:45pm – Towards a Relationship-Rich Education: Improving Culture, Student Success, & Faculty Development
3:00pm – 3:45pm –  Re:Thinking Virtual Faculty Learning Communities
4:00pm – 4:45pm – Who Tells Your Story? Reflection and Agency in Documenting Teaching

NOVEMBER 18 • FRIDAY

9:00am – 9:45am – Re:Claiming Our Joy through Intentional Reflection, Dialogue and Choice
10:00am – 10:45am – Re-Imagined Educational Development: Micro-sessions to Re-Ignite Our Burned Out Colleagues

11:00am – 12:15pm
KEYNOTE: From Robin DeRosa – Supporting to Steering: Why We Should Stop Underestimating Teaching & LearningCenters

2:00pm – 2:45pm – Developing a Teaching Innovation Incubator: Thinking Outside the Box
3:00pm – 3:45pm – Mobile-Mindful: Teaching Development Re-imagined
4:00pm – 4:45pm – The art of the workshop: Re-enchanting your gatherings

NOVEMBER 19 • SATURDAY

9:00am – 9:45 – Communities of Practice: Modeling transformative and equity-minded professional learning
10:00am – 10:45am – Thinking with Things: Creating Effective and Engaging Classroom Experiences
11:15am – 12:00pm – Collective Wisdom: Using Storytelling to Address Instructor Teaching Challenges

This was a good workshop that pointed to helping faculty find a voice in their work as educators. It is hard to get past the traditional “portfolio” that faculty are supposed to tun in to demonstrate their competence and reach tenure. Too many syllabi and teaching philosophies. Not enough of the path travelled with the ruts, the bumps, the accomplishments and actual demonstrations of those. I gave a presentation once titled, “Show Me Your Work” and there was some of that in this workshop. Many of the participants said, “Yes, we need to both document and share” the work faculty do both to show administrations that they are doing the work, but as a way for other faculty to grow and learn from their experiences.

4:00pm – 4:45pm – Recalibrate, Revive, Rebuild: Redesigning Teaching Centers in Community