Past MYFest Sessions

In our universities in South Africa, Egypt, and Canada, we have been involved in creating guidelines and other resources about generative AI in academic work, and will share our experiences, successes, and challenges. We will invite participants in the session to share their own questions, concerns, and experiences related to resources and guidelines on generative AI in post-secondary or other educational settings. Session resources and recording now available!

AI literacy is more than learning how to code. It’s about critically examining and using AI ethically and effectively. In our session, we’ll break down what it means to be AI literate and explore an AI Literacy Framework designed for educators. We’ll cover seven key areas, discuss the essential skills for each, and share practical resources. Join in for an animated discussion and prepare to dig in for some fun activities. Session recording and resources now available!

Join our workshop to see a secure, community-driven, decentralized online space in action! We are excited to invite you to our upcoming workshop, where we shall explore our journey building a self-hosted social network service, HiA Network, and why we deem such actions as crucial to how our communities engage in virtual online spaces and how we improve our data ownership and dividend. Before joining the workshop, please take a few minutes to sign up for an account on our platform [https://www.hostedinafrica.com/mysfest-with-hia]. We have created a pre workshop space for attendees so that we can start the conversation early, introduce you to our workshop set up in order to provide you with a truly bespoke experience during the session.

In this session, we will explore the current AI moment with participants from an entangled pedagogy perspective. We begin by sharing how this moment might be challenging some of the things we believe about education, and where problematic assumptions or unconvincing solutions are occurring. Using examples of institutional responses to AI, crowdsourced from participants, we will then trace where possibilities for agency might lie in this moment of complexity. We don’t promise to solve any problems, and that’s part of the point. Many educational problems cannot be solved, and we might, instead, hold those problems open in order to better understand them and find ways to negotiate them, in collaboration with others. Session recording now available!

In just 90-minutes, join us on an exhilarating journey to sample and explore the Enabling Accessible Blended Learning for Equity (ENABLE) Framework that aims to embed equity into design processes. Using the world cafe format and experiential methods, collaborate with us to improve and advance this agenda. Session recording and slides now available!

Participants don’t need to have attended the previous two. For this session, join Heather and Jennie to explore the pedagogical, research and scholarship anchors that look at elements of and impact from partnership. We will particularly be examining how these frameworks, research and pedagogies might be used to enhance social justice and liberation. Participants will be invited to bring along their own anchors, favourite pedagogical frameworks and any and all questions, reflections and musings. Session recording now available!

In this collaborative and interactive session, participants will learn the utility of imagination practice as a tool for liberation. Drawing on the works of Tricia Hersey, author of “Rest is Resistance”, participants will understand how current systems of oppression limit our ability and willingness to imagine what is possible. The goal of this session is to help participants realize what it exactly means to reclaim the dream space and how does this impact our work related to social justice and equity-minded education. Additionally, participants will understand how the power of dreaming can be used as a tool for healing and joy. Session recording now available!

In this interactive workshop, we will explore the concept of a learning sanctuary and examine trauma and agency through the lens of recent student protests. We will focus on heartful listening, a compassionate and empowering approach that emphasizes humility, community, and understanding, essential for creating a learning sanctuary. Additionally, we will discuss how trauma affects students’ lives and learning, offering strategies to help them reclaim their agency. By analyzing recent student protests, we aim to gain insights into the collective trauma and calls for justice driving these movements, enabling us to better support our students.

We will also discuss the notions of safety and discomfort in learning, exploring the meaning and implications of the pedagogy of discomfort. This includes promoting reflective spaces and using restorative practices to address conflicts and rebuild trust. By the end of the workshop, participants will be equipped with practical tools to create inclusive, supportive, and responsive educational environments that foster growth and understanding.

Join us to use sounds of the world to foster learning!

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. Session recording now available!

This interactive session will be the seeds of a participatory storytelling project. We will be considering the feeling of “freedom” when we learn. We invite everyone to attend, reflect, and share stories, which will in turn become the basis of a beautiful mosaic of narratives dedicated to liberatory learning. (All are welcome — Part 1 is not required in order to jump in on the conversation and enjoy/participate in Part 2). Session recording now available!

For details, see the MYFest Readers Theater website https://sites.google.com/view/ccreaderstheater/myfest24

All ages welcome!

This session with engage participants in the use of metaphor to develop critical AI literacies, building on the presenters’ co-authored article with the same title, published here: https://openpraxis.org/articles/10.55982/openpraxis.16.1.631 Session recording and resources now available!

This workshop will engage participants in thinking about the potential roles of students in open pedagogy and the creation of open educational resources after sharing two case studies done at UCT. There will also be interaction around shifting hierarchies and changing the traditional power balance in HE. Student partnerships are seen as a pathway to inclusion and a means to address injustice in the classroom and in course materials. These inclusive practices seem essential for future higher education to be just and sustainable. Session recording now available!

Though historically (and in popular media), Tarot has been popularized as a tool for divination, it actually provides a powerful tool for storytelling, reflection, and self-discovery. The major arcana consists of a collection of 22 archetypes that encompass major life themes including creation, stability, loss, solitude, curiosity, healing, transition, balance, justice, wisdom, patience, and hope. Drawing on radical and queer approaches to tarot, this session will introduce participants to the major arcana and the questions that these archetypes provoke. Participants will be invited to participate in a 22-day asynchronous autoethnography project focused on daily reflections, storytelling, and activities based on each of the cards.

This is a 22-day asynchronous autoethnography project focused around the major arcana of the tarot. Each day, participants will receive an email focused on one of the cards of the Major Arcana. They will be provided with a brief introduction to the card and its themes and provided with reflection journal questions related to the card’s theme in relation to higher education contexts and practices. Please click to open the page where you will find the link to access or sign up for the daily prompts.

Following the increased work to raise disability awareness, nowadays, we see many characters with disabilities in books, games, movies, and TV series. More representation is always great, or is it? In this talk, I will discuss how the current ways we present disability can be counter productive rather than empowering. I discuss how some of the seemingly innocent characters we see on Netflix or in games are still advancing harmful stereotypes. We need a shift in our understanding of people with disabilities as we call for better representation. I end this talk with real life, practical examples of positive disability representations and how they help us understand ourselves and others more. Session recording now available!

This session will start with a short intro about the different forms of meditation and a reflection on which type resonates most with you. You will also get to hear some tips and tricks for how to incorporate a meditation practice in your life, to the degree that you want/need. We will then of course meditate together. You will be guided through a gratitude meditation. Come and join us for a self case, wellbeing and joyful hour that you dedicate to your self. You can bring your family with you.

Rebecca will introduce the concepts of sociocracy and intentional community, and will describe the benefits of a governance system that is not consensus nor majority rules. She will touch on how an introduction to some of the sociocracy concepts can help students be more effective at group work. Although not necessary, you will get a little more out of the workshop if you do a little pre-reading/watching prior to the workshop. Session resources and recording now available!

Critical Pedagogy is usually rooted (and rightfully so) in the lived experiences of the oppressed. In this two-day workshop we will explore together Critical Pedagogy from the point of view of the post-colonial oppressor student. By dissecting the paradox of rich oppressor and oppressed student / Global South citizen , we will attempt to challenge the binary and explore the nuances of these intersecting positionalities in our classrooms.