All Faculty who have taken part in past CITE PD and research opportunities are welcome to join a CITE Affinity group this summer to keep learning and collaborating with colleagues!
Please read the description below carefully. To sign up for an affinity group, please complete the form below by April 30, 2025.
Affinity Group Goals
The purpose of these groups is to have spaces where faculty can engage in…
- Collective sense-making about issues of relevance to contexts / disciplines
- Discussions on 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
- Looking for opportunities to better align artifacts to learning goals
Time Commitment
Synchronous Meetings
- Orientation / First meeting: Tues 5/27/2025 4:30-6:00p
- Attend as many group meetings as you can: Each group/facilitator will provide a set of 6 meeting dates (on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays) between June and July. These will differ from group to group. Details will be added as facilitators confirm dates.
- Research + Affinity Group Fair: Wed 8/6/2025 10a-12p
- Attend and/or share-out about your research grant’s progress or the progress being made within your affinity group!
Asynchronous Activities
- Pre-work: When you sign up, you will receive a digital reading and/or a “getting started” document from the group facilitator!
2025 Available Affinity Groups
These are the groups that will be facilitated this summer. In the sign-up form, you can express your preference(s).
- Digital Humanities
- Modeling + Simulation
- Assistive Tech and Special Education
- AI in Ed and Teacher Ed
- Early Childhood
- Creative Coding, STEAM, and Teacher Education
- CITE in Bilingual & TESOL
- Equitable CITE Praxis
- Research + Dissemination
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!
Summer 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.
Summer 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.
Summer 2025 Meeting Dates: TBD
Facilitator Contact Info: Spence Ray ([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.
Summer 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.
Summer 2025 Meeting Dates: TBD
Facilitator Contact Info: Mindi Reich-Shapiro ([email protected])
Creative Coding, STEAM, and Teacher Education
Goals: Scratch is a globally used educational tool that seeks to increase access and eliminate gaps that have limited creative computing opportunities for educators and students in traditionally underrepresented communities. This particular affinity group will look to engage in rich conversation around a collection of resources and potential case studies that leverage Scratch, as well as other creative coding and STEAM approaches to promote equity and culturally responsive learning experiences for students of all different backgrounds.
Summer 2025 Meeting Dates: TBD
Facilitator Contact Info: Anthony Negron ([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.
Summer 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.
Summer 2025 Meeting Dates: TBD
Facilitator Contact Info: Ifeoma Nwoke ([email protected])
Research & Dissemination Track
Goals: The aim of this group is to support the CITE research community in addressing pressing challenges and problems of practice related to ongoing grant-funded projects. By seeking feedback on research design (ranging from methodological approaches to specific protocols), we can refine our work and strengthen its impact. We also aim to coordinate and make tangible progress on conference submissions, ensuring that our findings reach a broader audience. This group’s plans include preparing for and delivering a presentation at the CITE research fair, showcasing our ongoing practice, and fostering further collaboration and exchange of ideas.
Summer 2025 Meeting Dates: TBD
Facilitator Contact Info: Anthony Wheeler ([email protected])
