CITE Learning

Join a Cross-Campus CITE Affinity Group

Want to keep learning about an area related to computing and digital literacies integration? Want to connect and exchange teaching ideas with others? Join a CITE affinity group!

What are CITE affinity groups?

CITE affinity groups are spaces where participants can expect to engage in…

  • Collective sense-making about issues of relevance to contexts/disciplines
  • Discuss emerging literature/scholarship pertaining to the topic
  • Giving and receiving feedback on artifacts and implementation of artifacts
  • Brainstorming things to share with the broader CITE community
  • Look for opportunities to better align artifacts to learning goals

Affinity Groups in 2025

Below is a list of our affinity groups that are running through at least Summer 2025, with the potential to continue the work further! See the options below, and feel free to contact any facilitators of groups you’re interested in!

Digital Humanities

Goals: Digital Humanities (DH) is an expansive field that could lend itself well to your specific classroom space, transform the conversations around technology and teaching, and provide the connective tissue between language/history/cultural studies and tech dialogues. This group plans to continue to investigate the role of Digital Humanities within CITE collaboratively; Provide a space for feedback and reflection; submit to national/international conferences; have book club meetings and workshops with DH faculty; expand the network; collaboratively develop an open source practitioner-facing deliverable to share with broader CITE/teaching community. Contact the facilitator to express interest and receive our carefully crafted group starter pack!

Spring 2025 Meeting Dates: TBD

Facilitator Contact Info: Anthony Wheeler ([email protected])

Modeling and Simulation

Goals: Conduct research and produce a journal article on teacher candidates’ engagement and learning through context-specific simulations in the classroom; provide a space for continuous professional learning on integrating modeling/simulation into teacher-ed courses; and provide a space for feedback and reflection.

Spring 2025 Meeting Dates: TBD

Facilitator Contact Info: Olamide Boluwatife Ogungbemi ([email protected])

Assistive Tech & Special Education

Goals: Join our Assistive Technology & Special Education Affinity Group to connect with colleagues across campuses who share your passion for inclusive education. Together, we will explore innovative ways to enhance accessibility in our courses, fostering a more welcoming and supportive learning environment for teacher candidates. Through thoughtful discussions and collaborative projects, we will examine how we approach disability and assistive technology in our teaching, ensuring that our teacher candidates are well-prepared to create equitable and empowering educational experiences for learners with disabilities, especially in the areas of computational thinking and digital literacies. 

Spring 2025 Meeting Dates: TBD

Facilitator Contact Info: Meg Ray ([email protected])

Scratch and Teacher Education

Goals: Continuing work from Summer 2024, members of the group will benefit from having direct access to resources that have been developed and piloted within the Scratch Education Collaborative, which is an initiative that supports and engages participating organizations from around the world in a collaborative cohort experience to strengthen their organization’s commitment to, and implementation of, equitable creative computing. Other benefits include opportunities for collaboration on how Scratch can be used in your unique context as well as maintaining an ongoing community of practice.

Spring 2025 Meeting Dates: TBD

Facilitator Contact Info: Anthony Negron ([email protected])

AI in (Teacher) Education

Goals: We will continue to explore and address ethical concerns related to AI in education, helping future teachers understand both the benefits and risks associated with AI-powered tools. The affinity group will provide a platform for teacher education faculty to stay informed about the latest AI trends and advancements, enabling them to prepare future teachers to navigate the evolving landscape of educational technology effectively by workshopping faculty’s curricular AI-related activities or assignments. 

Spring 2025 Meeting Dates: TBD

Facilitator Contact Info: Aman Yadav ([email protected]) and Rosa Calosso ([email protected])

Early Childhood Education

Goals: In this affinity group we will examine the what, why and how of computational thinking in early childhood classrooms. In a technological world, how do we introduce ideas from computing into early childhood curriculum in developmentally appropriate ways? What role should technology play? We will explore the multifaceted ways in which early childhood curriculum engages children in computational thinking–sequencing, pattern recognition, abstraction, decomposition, debugging–through joyful, playful, and creative pedagogical strategies. We will discuss how to integrate technology tools such as digital storytelling and block programming into early childhood classrooms and introduce the MakerSpace as a place to explore, create, invent, tinker and design with multiple materials. 

Spring 2025 Meeting Dates: TBD

Facilitator Contact Info: Mindi Reich-Shapiro ([email protected])

CITE in Bilingual & TESOL

Goals: Members will benefit from shared resources, collaborating on thoughtful computing integration design, and deeply exploring bilingual ed / TESOL teacher education artifacts and literature. At the end of the sessions, participants will have helped lay the groundwork for a collaboratively written chapter for the Handbook Of Bilingual Teacher Education.  

Spring 2025 Meeting Dates: TBD

Facilitator Contact Info: Sara Vogel ([email protected]), Sarane James ([email protected]), and Jenia Marquez ([email protected])

Equitable CITE Praxis

Goals: The goal of the Equitable CITE Praxis affinity group is to provide space and time for faculty members to delve deeper into expanding definitions of equity. By joining such a group, faculty members can expect to engage in collective sense-making about these issues, drawing on diverse perspectives and tools, such as the Equitable CITE pedagogy framework to deepen their understanding. Through dialogue and collaboration, participants can gain insights into how equity manifests in different contexts and disciplines, fostering a more nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities for promoting equity in education.

Spring 2025 Meeting Dates: TBD

Facilitator Contact Info: Ifeoma Nwoke ([email protected])