DesignEd Workshops, Events, & Community

In this interactive workshop, participants explored narrative medicine as a framework for helping students listen more deeply, reflect more critically, and engage more ethically with the stories of illness and healing.

Drawing on the foundational work of Dr. Rita Charon, the session invited participants to practice key narrative medicine methods and consider how to adapt these tools for a range of health sciences courses. The session also considered how critical race theory’s method of counterstorytelling invites students to recognize the ways race, power, and lived experience shape whose stories are heard, believed, and acted upon in healthcare settings.

Presenter: Dr. Brooke Covington (PhD) is an Assistant Professor of English at Christopher Newport University, where she is also the Academic Director of the Center for Community Engagement. Her scholarly work sits at the intersection of narrative medicine, community-engaged pedagogy, and public memory. She is a contributing author to Narrative Medicine: Trauma and Ethics (Vernon Press, 2024) and has facilitated narrative medicine workshops for academic and community audiences. Her teaching and research are grounded in a commitment to storytelling as a form of knowledge, advocacy, and care.

In this session, Johann Walter (our Digital Media Designer), guided us through what AODA is, who needs to implement it, and what implementing it can look like. He also shared resources that can help us make our work AODA compliant.

Presenter: Johann Walter

Dr. Cathy Richardson Kineweskêw discussed her goals as the Chair of Indigenous Healing Knowledges at Concordia University. Her work focuses on decolonizing the classroom through dignity-centered practices, working in circle, centering Indigenous and marginalized knowledges, and exploring how to attend to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendations. She also emphasized cultural safety and creating inclusion and belonging in classrooms and workspaces.

Presenter: Dr. Cathrine Richardson Kineweskêw

As instructors, we often have a vision of how we want students to engage with us, with the material, and with each other. Then, we get to the classroom, and students don’t always engage in those ways. In this session, Dr. Cait Kirby used the window of tolerance as a framework for understanding how emotional dysregulation can result in a lack of engagement. Discussions included strategies for leveraging structure to support student regulation and promote engagement.

Presenter: Dr. Cait Kirby

Reflections are commonly used as a graded or non-graded course activity. This session explored the benefits, challenges, design considerations, and practical examples.

Presenters: Dr. Anushka Ataullahjan, Assistant Professor, School of Health Studies, Western University
Najmeh Keyhani, FHS Curriculum Specialist

Join us for a peek into how other faculty members are using AI in their teaching. You'll also get the opportunity to try some tools yourself.

Presenters: Dr. Andrews Tawiah
Najmeh Keyhani
Julie Whitehead

This session applied decolonial and Indigenous lenses to evidence-based healthcare and explored intercultural counseling strategies.

Presenter: Dr. Jaris Swidrovich

A detailed overview of academic considerations, student absences, plagiarism, AI, and exam policies.

Presenter: Dr. Andrew Johnson

This session examined how curricular choices impact students from equity-deserving groups, with scenario-based problem solving.

Presenters: Dr. Tal Jarus & Dr. Hiba Zafran

What is it? Why do we need it? Ways to incorporate IPE into courses.

Presenters: Dr. Laura Brunton & Najmeh Keyhani

Presenters: Dr. Sean McWatt & Najmeh Keyhani

Presenters: Najmeh Keyhani, Julie Whitehead, Dave McNulty, Gelila Ayele