This page details selected workshops that I periodically offer to the general public and by request to specific institutions or groups. If you would like to offer one of these workshops to your institution or group, please contact me. If you would like to learn more about my consulting offerings, including developing custom workshops, please visit my consulting page.

Signature offering: An Introduction to Neurodiversity for Educators

Learn more on my Neurodiversity in Education page.

Why should we embrace accessible course design? On the potential of accessibility and the problems of “retrofitting”

Why should we embrace accessible course design? The concept of “retrofitting” can help us understand the stakes of accessible design by revealing the consequences when we do not consider disabilities and other differences when designing our courses: Retrofitting, or the addition of new features to older systems, often results in some amount of access but in a way that can lack basic dignity. This talk will introduce participants to the concepts of accessibility and retrofitting, the role these ideas have played in disability advocacy and politics, and how accessibility and retrofitting play out in our classroom teaching contexts. As new rules for the Americans with Disabilities Act Title II come into effect, requiring educational materials in public education to be accessible to people with disabilities, we will explore how creating accessible materials and accessible learning experiences more broadly is not just an issue of compliance but an opportunity to work towards educational equity. Learn more

Three directions for inclusive and accessible course design

Accessible course design strategies can make course content usable by a variety of students (including students with disabilities) without additional modifications or accommodations. In this participatory workshop, instructors will explore three related inclusive design strategies that will help them set goals for moving their courses toward greater accessibility. Participants will first learn about the accessibility of electronic materials: How can text, documents, images, and video be formatted so that it is easy to perceive by people with disabilities and more accessible for all students. Second, participants will explore the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, which suggests designing learning for a variety of student motivations and communication methods. Lastly, participants will discuss the principles of “mobile-aware” course design, or design strategies that make sure students can easily use course materials if a mobile device is the only or easiest device for them to use for course work. Learn more

Teachers as Learners: An interactive workshop

Teachers have a diversity of learning needs and preferences, just like the students we teach. Some have disabilities, some are working and teaching in languages other than their first language, and some are balancing teaching and learning with a wide variety of life circumstances and responsibilities. Yet teachers are not often given a space to consider themselves as learners, and reflect on how the way they learn impacts their teaching, scholarship, professional development, and mentoring. This session will give instructors an opportunity to consider questions like “What is my relationship to disability and Neurodiversity as a learner and as a teacher?” and “How can UDL and accessible design support me as a learner and teacher, just as it supports my students?” Learn more

Re-imagining academic integrity without surveillance

Remote proctoring and other academic surveillance technologies sell themselves as “academic integrity” tools. When we look more closely at these products, we see how they compromise relationships between students and instructors by encouraging a “pedagogy of suspicion” and rely on difference as a proxy for wrongdoing, leading many instructors to avoid them. However, decisions surrounding academic integrity and technology are never simple. Participants in this workshop first review some of the documented harms of surveillance technologies like remote proctoring and plagiarism/AI detection to individual students, the classroom community, and to educational institutions. Participants explore the framework of “harm reduction,” which aims to help learning communities avoid the worst harms of surveillance technologies while balancing other legitimate needs. Learn more

Disability Rights vs. Disability Justice for Educators

Have you seen the phrases “Disability Rights” and “Disability Justice” and wondered what they mean? Even though these phrases are often used interchangeably, the framework of Disability Justice actually emerged as a critique of Disability Rights. Disabled activists of color coined Disability Justice to denote an approach to disability activism that is explicitly intersectional and focused on the experiences of multiply marginalized disabled people who are less likely to be included in a legal or rights-based framework. This workshop will provide participants an overview of the emergence of Disability Justice and current areas of Disability Justice activism, along with some commentary on how Disability Justice could transform educational spaces. Learn more