Designing Kind Educational Practices - Upcoming Workshop

23 May 2024

Visiting research fellow, Dr Wajeehah Aayeshah, University of Melbourne will run a workshop on 'Designing Kind Educational Practices on 29th May. All welcome. 

Dr Wajeehah Aayeshah, University of Melbourne has joined ISS21 and Collective Social Futures as visiting research fellow for two weeks and will lead a workshop on Wednesday 29^th May 10.00am -12.00 mid-day in collaboration with Dept of Sociology & Criminology, ISS21 and Collective Social Futures in Askive GO1. Participants are welcome to join in-person on the day.

Learn more about Dr Aayeshah and the upcoming workshop below,

Dr Wajeehah Aayeshah

Wajeehah Aayeshah is a Lecturer in Curriculum Design at the Arts Teaching Innovation (ATI), University of Melbourne. An academic geek, she develops meaningful learning experiences and investigates co-creation of teaching and learning. Her research explores designing safe pedagogical spaces that are inclusive, safe, and brave. Her current project 'kindness in pedagogy' explores kind academic practices. These include engaging 'Students as Partners', ‘joyful teaching’, and creating ‘equity-driven academic culture’. She also collaborates with artists and game designers to produce creative narratives. Her interdisciplinary publications range from research articles, book chapters, to short stories and games.

Some of Dr Aayesah's creative academic ventures include; https://www.academicchronicles.net  , https://academictears.itch.io/game 

Workshop: Designing kind educational practices

In this session, we would explore and develop our understanding of the shape of kindness in educational settings. Participants will be required to reflect on their experiences and practices of kindness. This reflection will contribute to a discussion about pragmatically embedding kindness in everyday educational life. For this, we are going to use a ‘Framework of kindness’.

It is based on real-life examples of students and staff in higher educational settings. Grounded in pedagogy of kindness (Denial 2019), this framework takes the immersive practices of ‘decolonisation of education’ (Brown, Kelada, & Jones 2020) and the idea of ‘Restorative Practice’ (Morisson 2015) and applies it to all relationships within the academia. 

To offer an education which is ‘inclusive’, ‘recognises prior knowledge’, ‘cultural capital’, and considers different needs of participants, and partners, we need to create eco-systems within academia that are kind. The Framework of Kindness in academia is a step to do so. It does this by acknowledging the challenging aspects of our eco-system and identifying ‘pockets of healing’ where positive change is gradually happening. I hope that this workshop itself would be considered as a ‘pocket of healing’ as well.

Photo by Mei-Ling Mirow on Unsplash