Using a Headshot Assignment to Incorporate Critical Theory Into Photojournalism Classrooms

This case study uses a diversity and critical thinking exercise in a photojournalism class to show how journalism educators can incorporate race and gender conversations about ethics and judgment into traditionally skills-oriented courses. It is crucial that journalism students learn how to apply their skills properly in an era of social unrest, inequality, and dwindling media trust. Democratic citizenship and journalism are intertwined, but often the bigger ethical conversations are left out of skills-oriented courses. This can lead to a disconnect between the skills themselves and the responsibility of practicing the skills, especially when it comes to matters of power and representation. The field of photojournalism remains predominately White and male, which makes it all the more crucial for students to interrogate their own biases to ensure ethical coverage of their communities. The assignment asks students to make 36 portraits of strangers, and the subsequent classroom exercise has them confront their inherent biases by looking at the demographics of the people they photographed compared to the general population. Data for this case study consist of observations of the classroom conversations and a reflexive journalism exercise the students completed afterward. Findings indicate this exercise is a successful way to introduce racial and gender considerations as part of photojournalistic ethics and judgment. Students initially neglected to think about representation and diversity in their selection of people to photograph but afterward said they could effectively incorporate reflexivity into their work in an effort to provide more representative imagery and confront their own biases.

ESPO and Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education Section Symposium: A New Normal in Teaching? Incorporating Unconventional and Creative Ideas Into Gerontology Curriculum

This symposium is intended to highlight novel, applied examples and classroom activities in gerontology curriculum. In accordance with the AGHE gerontological education competencies, these authors will provide insightful and fun connections to arts/humanities, popular culture, technology, and current events to inspire conversation, interest, self-reflection, and empathy in the classroom. The first author will discuss social media (e.g., TikTok) as a segue to difficult classroom conversations regarding negative stereotypes and ageism in society. Presenter two will discuss cross-field educational connections between music education and gerontology. Next, presenter three will put present a unique activity regarding technology, homeownership, and retirement with a competitive flair. Presenter four utilizes documentary to encourage empathy in nursing. Finally, presenter five will present a timely class debate regarding United States political office and ageism that is sure to create lively and relevant conversation.

Considerations in Curriculum Design for Teaching About Race and Racism in Gerontology

The recognition of structural racism as a public health crisis has enlarged the breadth and depth of discussions of the unique “Isms” in higher education classrooms. A significant number of undergraduate or graduate level gerontology programs participate in the delivery of training through instruction on the topics of aging, gerontology, or long-term care administration to future labor market participants. Absent from these classroom conversations, however, has been an analysis of how syntax, the analytical vocabulary, and other framing of such conversations can impact learners. While these educational programs provide highly critical information on disease, illness and injury prevention, self-care, population health, and other topics, professors can also introduce perspectives on race, racism, and how they may be related to the delivering of care to the aging population. Specifically, this session will introduce an example of curricular design for the identification of structural racism in the operation of long-term care institutions.

Repair Practice in the Classroom Conversations of Indonesian EFL Students

This study examines repair practice by English as a Foreign Language ( EFL) college students to address the understanding problems that may cause communication breakdowns in classroom conversations. Conversational data were elicited from 40 second-semester students performing jigsaw and information gap communicative tasks. Using the conversation analysis theory and methodological approach, the recorded and transcribed conversations were analyzed to scrutinize the frequency and types of repair strategies, trouble sources, and repair outcomes. The findings show that to address the understanding problem, the EFL college students employed 11 other-initiated repair strategies: Open-class or unspecified strategies; WH-interrogatives; Partial repeat plus WH- interrogatives; Repetition or partial repetition; Candidate understanding; Correction; Request for repetition; Non-verbal; Asking for definition, explanation, translation, example, or spelling; Explicit display of non-understanding; and Request to speak up. These other-initiated repair strategies were triggered by the presence of lexical, semantic content-related, and sequential/speech delivery trouble sources. Attempts to resolve the understanding problem were conducted by a set of repair outcomes, including Repetition, Acknowledgment, Repetition or acknowledgment plus expansion, explanation, and/or translation, and Repetition or acknowledgment plus translation. The study provides language educators with new insights on how EFL learners deal with understanding problems in communication so that they could respond appropriately to the repair practice initiated by the students.

Conversation Analysis Tool as an Effective Means for Teaching the University Courses of English and World Literature

This paper aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Conversation Analysis Tool in the context of teaching world literature to senior students majoring in English philology. The authors present their experience of undertaking a three-month online course “Constructive Classroom Conversations: Mastering Language for College and Career Readiness,” hosted by Stanford University, and discuss the benefits of applying this tool at universities. The study describes the basic mechanisms of the Conversation Analysis Tool aimed at developing specific communication skills in students of English for Speakers of Other Languages. The central research question is whether this method is as feasible for teaching literature as it is for language classrooms. The authors demonstrate their takeaways from applying this technique in teaching world literature, namely, analyzing literary dialogues in different classroom activities. The research findings indicate that the Conversation Analysis Tool is an efficient method for the formative assessment of senior students in the world literature classroom. This technique helps students reveal the pragmatic features of fiction dialogues, the writer’s narrative intentions, and the reader’s expected reception. The suggested method also demonstrates students’ progress in the studied topics and identifies possible gaps in mastering the educational content. The significance of the study extends beyond the specified context, as the search for novel instruction techniques targeted at improving communication skills in the 21st-century globalized world is relevant for any educational sphere. Consequently, the research findings of this paper can be applied in different teaching settings.

Encouraging College Student Democratic Engagement Through a Collaborative Voter

Drawing on challenges I experienced when teaching a political communication course, I designed an upper-level undergraduate course with the objective of developing students’ civic competence and democratic engagement. The major class assignment, which is the focal point of this best practices essay, was a four-step collaborative voter mobilization project designed and executed by undergraduate students. I use research, classroom conversations, and student observations to discuss four best practices for encouraging students to participate in electoral politics: (a) fostering political efficacy, (b) peer-to-peer learning, (c) experiential learning, and (d) learning through reflection. This essay breaks a four-step collaborative voting mobilization project down into easily implementable steps for those seeking to inculcate attitudes and behaviors that foster democratic engagement whether that be in schools, universities, or within the broader community.

Conversation Analysis Tool as an Effective Means for Teaching the University Courses of English and World Literature

This paper aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Conversation Analysis Tool in the context of teaching world literature to senior students majoring in English philology. The authors present their experience of undertaking a three-month online course “Constructive Classroom Conversations: Mastering Language for College and Career Readiness,” hosted by Stanford University, and discuss the benefits of applying this tool at universities. The study describes the basic mechanisms of the Conversation Analysis Tool aimed at developing specific communication skills in students of English for Speakers of Other Languages. The central research question is whether this method is as feasible for teaching literature as it is for language classrooms. The authors demonstrate their takeaways from applying this technique in teaching world literature, namely, analyzing literary dialogues in different classroom activities. The research findings indicate that the Conversation Analysis Tool is an efficient method for the formative assessment of senior students in the world literature classroom. This technique helps students reveal the pragmatic features of fiction dialogues, the writer’s narrative intentions, and the reader’s expected reception. The suggested method also demonstrates students’ progress in the studied topics and identifies possible gaps in mastering the educational content. The significance of the study extends beyond the specified context, as the search for novel instruction techniques targeted at improving communication skills in the 21st-century globalized world is relevant for any educational sphere. Consequently, the research findings of this paper can be applied in different teaching settings.