Critical Conversation with Dr. Deniz Ortaçtepe Hart
Event Details
Speaker: Dr. Deniz Ortaçtepe Hart, University of Glasgow, UK
Date: October 21, 2025
Time: 10-11 AM PDT
Location: Virtual via Zoom
Organized by the Global Research Collective on Anti-Oppressive Language Education
Please join us for this public talk featuring Dr. Deniz Ortaçtepe Hart from University of Glasgow, UK.
All welcome!
Kindly RSVP for this event to receive the Zoom link.
Dr. Deniz Ortaçtepe Hart
Deniz Ortaçtepe Hart is a Lecturer in the TESOL programmes at the University of Glasgow, UK. Before coming to Glasgow, Dr. Ortactepe Hart worked at the University of Leeds (UK), Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (USA), and Bilkent University (Turkey). Her research interests are language learner and teacher identities, intersectionality, and social justice language education. She has published in Language Teaching, Intercultural Pragmatics, Teaching and Teacher Education, Journal of Language Identity and Education, System, TESOL Quarterly, and Language and Intercultural Communication. Her book entitled, Social justice and the language classroom: Reflection, action and transformation was published by Edinburgh University Press (EUP) in 2023. She’s currently co-editing a book, Intersections of Language and Environmental Justice: Exploring Pedagogy, Art and Activism, to be published by EUP in 2026.
LLED Arts-Based Educational Research Gathering: “Seeing and Being Seen”
Event Details
Date: October 23, 2025
Time: 9:00-10:30 AM PDT
Location: Multipurpose Room (PCN 2012)
LLED Arts-Based Educational Research Gathering: “Seeing and Being Seen”
LLED will soon be hosting our first informal Arts-based Educational Research (ABER) gathering of the year! We continue to do this in the Department to advance this important area of research, scholarship, and teaching. All faculty, graduate students, and staff are invited to attend regardless of whether you are currently engaged in arts-based research or are just interested and want to experiment with arts-based work, find inspiration, seek collaborations, and so on.
As such, we are excited to invite you to our upcoming interactive session titled “Seeing and Being Seen.” Those attending this session will be given an opportunity to play with invitations to engage with collaborative arts-based reflective activities – if they so desire. Likewise, if you have a story or experience you would like to share about your practice as an artist-scholar and/or your inspirations, please feel welcome to bring it to the discussion.
Please note that at this session, we are also thrilled to warmly welcome our new ABER GAAS, Yi Luo and Matt Clarke!
Public Talk: Maddalena Vavassori
Student Agency in Context: A Multi-Informant Exploration of Classroom Interactions
Speaker: Maddalena Vavassori, PhD student at University of Parma, Italy
Date: October 23, 2025
Time: 11AM-12PM PDT
Location: Digital Literacy Centre (PCN 1226)
Abstract
This presentation introduces my ongoing doctoral research, which focuses on the role of student agency in secondary school education. Student agency is increasingly recognized as a cornerstone for shaping schools as spaces of meaningful student participation, given its relevance for motivation, self-regulation, and engagement. However, the literature shows inconsistencies in both theoretical and methodological approaches, leaving important aspects of the construct underexplored. My research explores this gap by examining the interactive and relational aspects of student agency, with particular attention given to how it is shaped by teachers’ beliefs and behaviours, as well as by peer dynamics in the classroom. The talk will discuss the preliminary findings and open questions emerging from this work, with the aim of reflecting together on how student agency can be effectively understood and supported in classroom contexts.
Bio
Maddalena Vavassori is a PhD student in Educational Psychology at the University of Parma (Italy). Her research interests include student participation, school climate, classroom interactions, and emotions, with a focus on secondary education. Together with her research team, led by Professor Luisa Molinari, she contributed to the design and implementation of the ASPIRE intervention, developed and carried out in schools to foster active student participation and agency.
LLINK Presents: Dr. Sara Davidson (SFU) – Indigenous Literacies and Storytelling
Event Details
Speaker: Dr. Sara Davidson, Assistant Professor at SFU
Date: October 21, 2025
Time: 5-6PM PST
Location: Virtual via Zoom
Please RSVP to receive Zoom details and supplementary reading materials.
Indigenous Literacies and Storytelling
Please join us for this special LLINK: Literacy & Libraries: Investigating New Knowledges event featuring Dr. Sara Davidson from Simon Fraser University, an Assistant Professor with the Faculty of Education. This talk is for educators interested in exploring Indigenous literacies, as Dr. Davidson will be sharing an exciting forthcoming chapter of hers.
We welcome our LLED community and others to join and learn with us!
Kindly RSVP for this event.
Dr. Sara Davidson
Sara Florence Davidson (sgaan jaadgu san glans) is a Haida/Settler Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. Her research focuses on Indigenous literacies, pedagogies, storytelling, and research methodologies. With her father, Robert Davidson, she is the co-author of Potlatch as Pedagogy: Learning through Ceremony and the Sk’ad’a Stories, a picture book series which is based on family stories and highlights Indigenous pedagogies and intergenerational learning. Before joining SFU, Sara worked in Teacher Education at the University of the Fraser Valley and UBC and in the K-12 system in Whitehorse and Haida Gwaii schools.
For more on Dr. Davidson’s work and to purchase her books, please see the following links:
Sara’s Instagram (book recs!): https://www.instagram.com/sarafdavidson?igsh=MWp4ZGp1NzF6M2E4
Dr. Davidson’s personal website: https://saraflorence.ca/
Dr. Davidson’s SFU page: https://www.sfu.ca/education/faculty-profiles/sdavidson.html
Portage Press link: https://www.portageandmainpress.com/Contributors/D/Davidson-Sara-Florence
About LLINK
This webinar is brought to you by LLINK: Literacy & Libraries: Investigating New Knowledges, designed by Dr. Amber Moore and Dr. Melanie Wong. LLINK is a part of the online Master of Education in Literacy Education Program and the Teacher-Librarianship Program (Certificate and Diploma). Both of these programs are housed within UBC’s Department of Language and Literacy Education (LLED). LLINK is a series of multi-access events for both of these online programs that connect literacy research to practice in K-12 classrooms and school libraries. We also warmly welcome others in our larger education community to join our events. For more information on these programs, please see:
- Master of Education in Literacy Education Program: https://pdce.educ.ubc.ca/med-literacy/
- Teacher-Librarianship Program
- PDCE link: https://pdce.educ.ubc.ca/diplomas-certificates/teach-libe/
- LLED link: https://lled.educ.ubc.ca/programs/libe/
LLINK is expertly supported by the Graduate Academic Assistant (GAA) for the Online MEd in Literacy Education Program, Yi Luo. Yi is a PhD student in LLED who is interested in children’s literature, multimodality and social justice education.
Congratulations to Dr. Candace Galla on being appointed as a UNESCO Co-Chair
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Candace Galla on being appointed as a UNESCO Co-Chair, alongside Drs. Shannon Bischoff and Mary Encabo Bischoff at Purdue University Fort Wayne (Indiana, USA). The official location of this UNESCO Chair is Purdue Fort Wayne.
UNESCO, the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, is a network that brings together academic and research institutions that are leading efforts to address global challenges through education, the sciences, culture, and communication.
This prestigious designation is a collaborative partnership with UNESCO to advance knowledge in rights education for marginalized language groups through research, education, and community engagement.
Congratulations, Candace!
Karin Schmidlin
Research
Student agency, design education, project-based learning (PjBL), simulation-based learning, complexity
Biography
Karin is a passionate educator with over 19 years of experience teaching User Experience (UX) Design at the post-secondary level. She holds a Master of Digital Media (MDM) from the Centre for Digital Media in Vancouver and currently teaches design-focused courses at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Northeastern University (Vancouver Campus), and the University of British Columbia’s School of Information, serving both the graduate Library program and the undergraduate Minor in Informatics.
In conjunction with her teaching endeavours, Karin is pursuing her doctoral degree, with a research focus on fostering student agency in complex design simulations. Her work explores how immersive, collaborative learning environments can empower students to take ownership of their learning. The University of Waterloo honoured Karin with an Excellence in Teaching award in 2017 for her dedication in the classroom. In addition, Karin is an avid reader and drinks copious amounts of black coffee.