As book bans continue to rise across the United States and challenges to academic freedom grow at an alarming rate, this webinar brings together researchers and scholars who will share their experiences and discuss the support that is needed in education across the country. This webinar will highlight the realities we face, but also plot a map to possible solutions.  

Start: 8 AM, PST / 11 AM, EST / 4 PM, BST

End: 9 AM, PST / 12 PM, EST / 5 PM, BST

Panelists

Pengfei Zhao

Pengfei Zhao has an interdisciplinary background in inquiry methodology, sociology, and cultural studies. In her theoretical and methodological work, she draws from a wide spectrum of theories—from critical theories to contemporary pragmatism, feminism, and post-colonial studies—to formulate a praxis- and social justice-oriented qualitative research methodology. She develops scholarship on critical ethnography, feminist and narrative methodology, participatory action research, and mixed methods studies, and addresses key methodological issues in the tradition of critical qualitative methodologies such as validity, ethics, and translation. Her writing responds to the ontological, epistemological, ethical, and methodological challenges of conducting qualitative research in a politically troubled and culturally diverse contemporary world.

Dr. Renee Rice Moran

Dr. Renee Moran is an Associate Professor of Literacy in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at East Tennessee State University and serves as Co-coordinator of the Master's of Reading Program. Prior to entering academia, she taught for a decade in the public schools of California and North Carolina in K-5 classrooms. Her research interests include using qualitative methodologies to better understand the integration of science, literacy, and computation and the impact of policy on teacher decision making. 

Natalia Ward

Natalia Ward is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the East Tennessee State University. Her focus is on preparing teachers to work with multilingual students and to effectively teach literacy. Previously, she taught English as a Second Language and English as a Foreign Language in the United States and Russia. Her research interests include equitable literacy education and assessment for multilingual learners, online synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning, and education policy enactment in local contexts.