Dawn Lee (she/they)
Faculty Professional Development, DEIB Coach and Consultant
San Francisco, California, United States
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Dawn Lee, PhD (she/they) is a professional development specialist and equity strategist with a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies and an M.A. in American Studies. She is the Faculty Director for Professional and Organizational Development at De Anza College and faculty in Asian American Studies at San Jose State University. Her prior roles in higher education include Interim Associate Dean of Students at UC Berkeley and Director of Asian Pacific American Student Development at UC Berkeley. She sits on the editorial board for the History & Perspectives Journal for the Chinese Historical Society of America. She is also an independent consultant and coach and specializes in equity, inclusion, and belonging projects, including confidential executive-level coaching. Her full bio can be found on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnleephd/
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What we’ve learned: Teaching Introduction to Asian American Studies Courses Online
The rapid shift from in-person to online teaching during the pandemic forced faculty to quickly rethink methods of teaching Asian American Studies. The stress and confusion experienced by many faculty were compounded by increased anti-Asian violence. The need for Asian American Studies became clear for so many, as these classes became a lifeline because they provided faculty and students time and space to process these layered traumas. The growth and expansion of online courses also open more access for people to take Asian American Studies courses.
As COVID begins to wane, we would like this workshop to process some of how we rapidly pivoted our teaching. In particular, what were the pedagogical lessons learned in this rapid shift? What did we try? What worked and what failed? As we consider the activist and community-based roots of Asian American Studies, how do instructors create and curate counterpublics of care for our online students? In particular, as our students bring questions and concerns about increased anti-Asian violence into asynchronous discussion spaces, what practices can we incorporate to decolonize the online classroom and make space for a collective politics of hope?
This workshop intends to create space for Asian American educators to share experiences with, approaches to, and considerations for teaching Asian American Studies online. Panelists will share some of their early experiences with this rapid shift, things they tried, and what has stuck over time. They will also share their pedagogical approaches and course organization considerations for their introductory-level online Asian American Studies courses. Then organizers will reflect on instructional strategies they would like to try in future online courses. Participants are encouraged to bring their course outlines and ideas to share and workshop. Time permitting, participants will come away with ideas for teaching, organizing, and ways to use some common educational technology tools and apps for teaching Asian American Studies online.
Asian American Studies in the Consulting Sphere
The resurgence of anti-Asian hate during the COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed calls for greater understanding and awareness of Asian Americans in the U.S., particularly in non-academic spaces. Inquiries from companies, nonprofits, government agencies, and other organizations for virtual trainings on ways to stop anti-Asian hate and workshops on understanding the history of discrimination against Asian Americans saw unprecedented growth. While Asian American Studies professors heeded some of these requests, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) consultants–many of whom who had long been providing workshops and trainings for and about Asian Americans–stepped up to deliver many of these virtual trainings and meet demand for general education on Asian American history, culture, and contemporary issues.
In this workshop we hear from two consultants who have utilized their training and education in Asian Americans Studies about how they’ve created more accessible forms of Asian American Studies to their clients, and in the process, expanded the relevance of Asian American Studies to the general public. The speakers will share examples of projects, workshops, and partnerships in which Asian American Studies-related curriculum was designed and delivered, and the impact of these efforts, especially on Asian Americans who had never enrolled in Asian American Studies courses in college. By exploring the meaning and impact of these efforts, we may begin to understand the crucial ways broader forms of Asian Americans Studies are being created outside of the academy.
Dawn Lee (she/they)
Faculty Professional Development, DEIB Coach and Consultant
San Francisco, California, United States
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