This month we featured two faculty speakers, Sunaina Maira, Professor of Asian American Studies, Hooman Rashtian, Assistant Professor of Teaching in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Teaching, and Dr. Margaret Merrill, Senior Instructional Design Consultant. After the presentations, we had time for questions and answers, and a discussion of the topics raised by our presenters.

Sunaina Maira is Professor of Asian American Studies, and is affiliated with the Middle East/South Asia Studies program and with the Cultural Studies Graduate Group. Her research and teaching focus on Asian American youth culture and the politics of cultural production as well as political mobilization and transnational movements challenging militarization, imperialism, and settler colonialism. Professor Maira presented on “Fostering Engagement in Remote Classes: Dealing with Social Anxiety on Zoom,” sharing with us ways we can build micro-communities and discuss how we are dealing with Zoom fatigue in our remotely-taught classes.

Hooman Rashtian earned a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of British Columbia in 2013 and joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC Davis as an Assistant Professor of Teaching in 2016. He is the recipient of the 2020 UC Davis College of Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award, the 2019 Academic Excellence in Education Award by the ASUCD, and Professor of the Year Award by the student branch of IEEE at UC Davis in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Professor Rashtian discussed the advantages and challenges of adopting a project-based learning approach in his remotely-taught classes. 

Margaret Merrill, PhD, is a Senior Instructional Design Consultant with Academic Technology Services. She works with faculty on the strategic and pedagogically effective ways of using technology in their teaching. As her dissertation research focused on communities of foreign language teachers, Dr. Merrill enjoys helping all teachers recognize the resource that teachers are for each other. She spoke on the ATS Roadshow, an opportunity for faculty in individual programs and departments to benefit from targeted instructional design presentations and consultations. Please email [email protected] to request an ATS Roadshow for your department or team.