College in the Schools, Writ1301

"By necessity I began stretching my practical theories regarding multicultural teaching and learning (MCTL) and adult learning when I became director of Minnesota’s Preparing Future Faculty Program (PFF) in 2003. Originally scheduled to begin teaching in the program in 2004, I was charged with expanding the program and guiding the experienced PFF teaching staff in redeveloping a Teaching in Higher Education course and a Practicum. Reviewing teaching evaluations and student confidence survey raw data from previous years I noticed that, in sharing ideas about what could be dropped from the course, a majority of student comments addressed the diversity-focused class session, suggesting the session be improved or dropped entirely; also, the gains scores were consistently small for the survey item tracing pre-/post course confidence to address/support diversity. The student-identified deficit had to be addressed – given the deep and broad diversity of participants, the wide range of academic institutions in which they would teach, and a state course objective to provoke understanding of student diversity. The course revitalization charge, therefore, required not only support for staff in creating a rich common syllabus that could be adapted by experienced and new members of the teaching staff, according to each teacher’s practical theory but also (1) deeper understandings of our own theorizing, of MCTL and of adult learning in order to shape our common syllabi; and (2) development of individual research plans to investigate how and why changes had an impact as we personalized the common syllabi to specific teaching contexts. This article reports on how one teacher moved from the “teaching problem” of inadequately incorporation of MCTL in the Preparing Future Faculty course “Teaching in Higher Education” into the “teaching possibilities” that come with attending to practical theory, multicultural teaching and learning theory, adult learning theories, and student voices in a research-driven course redesign.
Practical theory"

Abstract
Seeking to build a relational, reflexive, dialogical, and praxis-oriented open, online learning space to engage intercultural teaching and learning, an experienced educator of future teachers and a graduate student in youth leadership developed an online seminar that embodied its content (intercultural, inclusive learning and teaching) in praxis. This paper outlines the process of designing the seminar, briefly examines how it functioned, and closes with ideas for exploration with NCL participants.

Keywords
learning spaces, participatory seminar, feminist pedagogies, social justice pedagogies, multicultural learning and teaching, universal design for learning, inclusive learning and teaching, dialogic discussion, Highlander Folk School, learning circles

How do we design an inclusive, collaborative online learning space to encourage deep discussion, analysis, and practical change in the pedagogical practices of present and future university teachers? How especially do we foster this engagement around “difficult” and “common sense” conversations? With these questions in mind, the authors explore their development of a relational, reflexive, dialogical, and praxis-oriented online learning space as a springboard for co-creation of intercultural teaching and learning knowledge and practice among education professionals. The authors draw on their locations as an experienced educator of future teachers and a graduate student in youth leadership, both rooted in social justice activism and interdisciplinary scholarship to discuss developing a seminar that (1) embodied its content (intercultural, inclusive learning and teaching) in praxis, (2) supported development of networked learning connections between learners, teachers, resources we co...