MYFest 2024 schedule is currently in development so below are the sessions that will be offered without the dates and times. Check back for more details or you can express interest right now to get email updates or follow @UnboundEq on Twitter. Also, some sessions can be categorized under more than one theme, but for now they are in the program below under only one of the themes.
Artificial Intelligence and Critical AI Literacies
| Session & Facilitator(s) | Description |
| Thinking Machines? Or Lying, Cheating, and Stealing Machines? Ethical Considerations for the Use of AI in Education Torrey Trust | This interactive workshop encourages participants to critically examine how and why generative AI tools were designed and what that means for their use in education. Topics of exploration include: Bias, Hallucinations, Exploitation of Human Labor, Data & Privacy, Digital Divide, Academic Integrity, and Intellectual Property Rights. As participants explore each of these topics, they will consider how to bring these critical issues into their practice and how to help prepare students to become critical AI users. |
| Leaning In and Leading With Students: An Open Pedagogical Approach to Exploring AI with Students Lance Eaton | This session will be a case study of how College Unbound worked with students to develop their institutional policy on the use of generative AI for students and faculty. From there, the session will explore through conversation, activities, and sharing how we can think and learn with students about how to critically use generative AI in general and in our respective disciplines. |
Using Generative AI to interrogate Assessment Practices Dani Dilkes | Many Generative AI conversations focus on academic integrity and preventative measures so that established assessment practices remain secure. However, it could be argued that rather than viewing generative AI as a detriment to assessment, it could be seen as a tool for revealing the hidden curriculum of assessment and identifying ineffective assessment designs (the assessments that are not doing what we think they are). This session will explore how Generative tools can be used to interrogate and improve assessment designs. |
| Is AI a threat to democracy? Jon Ippolito | In this three-part session series, we use the metaphoric structure: AI as a Growing Child. So in this first session we will describe AI’s impact on democracy as the “adolescent phase,” where it can be rebellious and unpredictable. |
| How can generative AI make new things? Jon Ippolito | In this three-part session series, we use the metaphoric structure: AI as a Growing Child. So in this second session we will discuss AI’s creative abilities as its “growth spurt,” where it begins to show its potential. |
| When should we trust AI? Jon Ippolito | In this three-part session series, we use the metaphoric structure: AI as a Growing Child. So so the third session, which we will consider the maturity stage, we talk about “When should we trust AI?” akin to trusting a grown child to make decisions. |
| Humanizing Academic Writing Pedagogies in the Age of AI: Centering Voice Heba Fathelbab and Mariah Fairley | Students often struggle to engage with academic writing, expressing feelings of disconnection, discomfort and even dislike. Such feelings may lead some students to turn to AI, often employing it uncritically in order to complete their writing assignments, thus losing their voice. Humanizing the writing classroom through centering the element of voice may offer a great way to address these concerns. In light of AI concerns in particular, voice takes on even more importance as one of the aspects to writing that may distinguish human writing from AI writing. Focusing on voice may allow students to connect more meaningfully with academic writing as a mode of communication because it can make writing more personally relevant to them and expressive of their identities. Thus, it is our belief that by humanizing the writing classroom through centering voice, students may be less likely to rely solely on AI, and rather develop more critical approaches to their writing. However, providing effective instruction for students to develop their academic writing voice can be challenging. In this session, we will provide a brief background on voice in academic writing, and then share several activities that the presenters have tried with their students to help them (a) explore voice and its importance, especially in the age of AI, (b) reflect on their own developing voice constructions, and (c) develop more ownership over their writing. |
Speculative Futures for Education Session 1 Dani Dilkes | Session 1: Worlding the Future (90-120 minutes) Higher education globally is in a state of seemingly endless disruption and change. In this session, we will spend time examining our hopes and fears for the future of education, including, but not limited to, the impact of Generative AI. We will start with micro-storytelling activities to introduce speculation and help participants start thinking about the future. Then, in groups, we will collaboratively construct three future worlds: a world of hope, a world of despair, and a world of possibility, interweaving the good and bad. |
| Speculative Futures for Education Session 2 Dani Dilkes | Session 2: Being in the Future (90 minutes) We will start with new micro-storytelling activities to introduce speculation. This session will focus on the personal and what existing in our speculative futures means. Participants will spend some time reflecting on who they are in the present and how much of that is contextual. Then we will explore the three worlds constructed in the first session. Each participant will choose a world and write a letter from the future, explaining who they are in this future, what they do. The goal of the session is to empower participants to understand where/how they will retain their sense of self in uncertain futures. |
| AI in Audio and Podcasting: What’s Been Done, What’s Being Done and What You Can Do! Kim Fox | This 1-hour workshop will address how AI has been used for audio deep fakes, but can you identify one if you heard it? Meanwhile, like all areas of generative AI, the audio field is exploding with options. We’ll survey the AI for audio and podcasting toolbox and we’ll play around with some of those tools. |
| Skeptical Approaches to AI Research Tools Anna Mills | TBA |
| AI Writing Feedback Anna Mills | TBA |
| AI and Ethics Stella Lee | TBA |
| AI and Authorship: Navigating the Ethics of AI-Assisted Writing Laura Dumin | TBA |
| AI Pedagogy Project Panel Sarah Newman and Maha Bali | TBA |
| Using Metaphors to Develop Critical AI Literacy Anna Mills, Anuj Gupta, Yasser Tamer & Maha Bali | TBA |
| Critique of AI & AI guidelines: Revealing issues in Teaching and Learning Systems Sukaina Walji & Christina Hendricks | TBA |
| AI Imaginaries: What making images with AI can teach us Mark Marino | TBA |
| Calling Dr. Frankenstein: Making custom GPT bots Mark Marino | TBA |
| Playful Prompting: A lighter approach to AI Mark Marino | TBA |
Community Building
| Session & Facilitator(s) | Description |
| Bring Your Own Book Circles Theresa Destrebecq | A Bring Your Own Book(BYOB) Circle is an opportunity for people across the globe to come together virtually to share their love of reading. Unlike a book club, where everyone brings a commonly read book, these BYOB circles invite anyone to come with any book that they have read, are currently reading, or even want to read. The event is meant to create community, inspire new reading and learning, and engage participants in unique and fun ways. Each BYOB is planned around a central theme (motivation, AI, conflict, learning, group dynamics, etc) with a unique design for each session. No BYOB is ever the same as a previous one. |
| Conflict Resolution for Healthy Communities: A Friction Lab Sam Veneruso Conflict Resolution for Healthy Communities: A Friction Lab Sam Veneruso | Conflict is something most of us shy away from, but it is also inevitable. It makes us uncomfortable and unsure, and unresolved conflict can lead to negative mental health consequences, destructive or toxic community spaces, loss of community connections members, and limitations on solutions and opportunities. But not all conflict is negative; conflict can be generative, and there are constructive ways to resolve conflict that contribute to the health of organizations, communities, teams and individuals. Join us for this conversation about how conflict manifests at organizational, team and individual levels, how and why we respond to conflict negatively, and generative, healthy approaches to conflict with the goal of transforming our understanding of conflict to create better communities. Together, we will build a framework for understanding conflict, its impact, and chart impactful strategies for resolution. We will use theory and strategy and invite lived experiences. (need to work on this description a bit.) |
| Human-Centered Teaching and Learning in Dangerous Times Kai Foster | This offering would be specifically for individuals who are working in countries/states within which legislation has been passed that limits or prohibits content related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. It will not be recorded and priority will be placed on holding space for folks to voice their feelings, thoughts, hopes, and transformative ideas given constraints which make otherwise unsafe to do so in other spaces. |
| Poems and Pedagogy: Using Poetry to Reflect and Learn in Higher Education and Beyond Sam Illingworth | This interactive session will look at poetry and how it can be used to support reflective practice and learning in higher education and beyond. |
| Voice & Silence Framework (2 Sessions with Asynchronous work) Tanja Murphy-Ilibasic | Session 1: For this session, we will be using a Voice & Silence framework to explore how we ourselves, or those we educate or support, use Voice or Silence. Our session will focus on • sharing and unpacking perspectives around productive or non-productive expressions of Voice and Silence • looking at possible personal triggers and their impact • how to design experiments to explore the Voice and Silence in our own environments Please come ready to be curious, share perspectives and start thinking about how these insights are relevant for your work. Hope to see you there! Asynchronous preparation for Session 2 Writing of experiments using a dedicated Google slide deck Session 2: In this follow-up session, we will be • sharing our experiments with each other • cross-checking the experiments with the insights from Session 1 • refining and fine-tuning our experiments to plug-and-play Takeaways At the end of both sessions, you will have a more diverse understanding of how people contribute and what they need to do so productively. In addition, you will have a collection of experiments to use for your own work environments. In this follow-up session, we will be • sharing our experiments with each other • cross-checking the experiments with the insights from Session 1 • refining and fine-tuning our experiments to plug-and-play Takeaways At the end of both sessions, you will have a more diverse understanding of how people contribute and what they need to do so productively. In addition, you will have a collection of experiments to use for your own work environments. |
| Tell our Story: Collaborative Narrative Experience Sam Veneruso and Christina Hendricks | Join us for a 24 hour collaborative writing experience. Using a prompt, you are invited to add your part of the story. This is a collaborative story with multiple authors including you. Drop in at any point in the 24 hour period and add your parts. Come back throughout the period and see where the story goes. (this needs more) |
Critical Pedagogy
| Session & Facilitator(s) | Description |
| Partnership: Collaboration and Compromise Jennie Blake | Working together as a community, reflect on frameworks around partnership to explore building connections. This session will use interactive activities to collectively explore ideas and ideals around partnership. We’ll come away with an idea of some of the practical demands, emergent possibilities and possible tensions in working in partnership across institutions, communities and cohorts and begin to create our own contextual “elegant steps”. |
| On Becoming: Building Awareness and Action Through Reflective Practices Bonni Stachowiak | This session explores reflective teaching, focusing on critical pedagogy and diverse student needs, leveraging lenses and tools (including AI) for actionable insights and fostering incremental pedagogical changes. |
| Working Effectively with People & Institutions That Are Resistant to Change (Workshop) Katherine N Yngve | This hour-long interactive workshop will introduce 3 approaches to working effectively with change-resistors & work through a case study together, with plenty of time for reflection and sharing. Outcome: lowered frustration for trainers and aspiring change-makers. |
| Si, se puede! A workshop on recognizing one’s personal power for advancing social justice Katherine Yngve | In the face of systems of oppression, it’s easy to feel down-trodden and hopeless. In this workshop, we will identify types of power, what our power-style might be, and build solidarity and mental well-being for/with one another. |
| HE4Good book circles (3-4 sessions) Catherine Cronin and Laura Czerniewicz | TBA |
| Care-full Feedback Ameen Payne | TBA |
Inter-generational & Wellbeing and Joy
| Session & Facilitator(s) | Description |
| “I’ve seen this, I love it” Jennie Blake | This will be a continuous lowkey way to capture the beautiful quotes, concepts and other ephemera we come across. You can share your favourite quotes of all time, or just drop in something you’ve seen on the day. It will be a spot to recharge and be inspired by amazing things others have found. At the end of MYFest, we could collectively create something from what we’ve discovered. |
| Readers Theater Laura Gibbs, Jim Stauffer and Heather Kretschmer | In our first synchronous meet-up we’ll get to know each other and decide what we would like to do together. People who have done readers theater before can share their experiences, and we can decide what kinds of plays we want to read together for MYFest24, and we can also brainstorm some plays we might want to write together. And, of course, we’ll read a play. Or two! |
| Wisdom of Fools: A Storytelling Project Laura Gibbs, Jim Stauffer and Heather Kretschmer | 1 Synchronous Workshop + Asynchronous Activities Nasruddin was walking along the river one day when he heard someone shouting; he looked across to the other side of the river and saw a man standing there, waving his arms. “Hey!” shouted the man. “How do I get to the other side of the river?” Nasruddin shook his head and shouted back, “But you’re already on the other side!” Nasruddin is one of the most famous “wise fools” in the world, and there are many more, from A to Z, Aesop to Zen masters. You can find the foolish wisdom of the world in stories and songs, in cartoons and jokes, in riddles and rhymes… just look; you’ll start seeing foolish wisdom everywhere! For this MYFest24 storytelling project, we invite everyone to share their favorite examples of “foolish wisdom,” collecting old stories and also creating new stories to share and learn from together. We will have a month of asynchronous activities and prompts in June, followed by a workshop in July when we can talk together about what we’ve learned and decide where we want to go next. |
| Compassionate Something Hanan Sabry | TBA |
Teaching and Learning with Imagination
| Session & Facilitator(s) | Description |
| Students as Partners in Experiential Learning (and Liberatory Scholarship) Heather M. Wright and Jennie Blake | This series will begin with a workshop, followed by three sessions will involve discussion, brainstorming, writing, and guest visits from leaders in Students as Partners pedagogy and research, and guest visits from students who are partners in pedagogy and research. |
