3.1 Teaching in Trying Times: A Sounding Board for Pedagogies of Care

Jennifer Orpana, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Faculty of Information       
Silvia Vong, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Faculty of Information   

Amplifying the Signal: Connection, Engagement, and Civil Discourse          

The ever-shifting socio-political landscape means that students are hearing or engaged in difficult conversations in and out of the classroom. For most disciplines, local and world events are connected to the knowledge and practices in the field, and this is even more pronounced for professional programs with responsibilities related to equity work. Emotions are a part of educating the whole student and thus, it is important to engage in pedagogies of care to acknowledge their affective experiences with learning. Julé (2019) identifies the need to acknowledge feelings through pedagogies of care (e.g., compassion) while building strength and persistence in navigating difficult topics. It moves students from feelings of hopelessness to empowerment. 

This workshop will review different approaches to pedagogies of care by two different facilitators from two different but intersecting fields in professional education. This workshop is designed to be a sounding board for participants as pedagogies of care are expressed and practiced differently depending on the size of the class, positionality of the teacher, and discipline or field. Sounding boards reflect and amplify sound waves and much like that, this workshop provides time and space for discussion to sound out practices rooted in pedagogies of care.