Maureen Porter - Presentations

Northeast Conference on the teaching of Foreign Languages (NECTFL). New York, NY. This was a technologically and chronologically updated version of our podcasting presentation and the poster table display that we presented at PSMLA. We were selected as one of the top THREE presentations of the over 200 presenters at the Northeast Conference on the teaching of Foreign Languages (NECTFL)!

Council on Anthropology of Education. American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. San Francisco, CA. This peer-reviewed poster depicted the stages and essential elements of the podcasting collaborative. I showcased effective elements of this university-community-school partnership.

Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association (PSMLA). Pittsburgh, PA. In this presentation, my co-author, Spanish teacher Holly Forsyth of Fox Chapel Schools, and my graduate student project assistant, Chad Dorn, created a multi-media demonstration of both Skype teleconferencing capacity as well as Garageband-based podcasting. We demonstrated this curriculum enhancement project through which we connected fourth graders in Peru and Pittsburgh. Both groups researched elements of global climate change that were impacting potato harvests and glacial melting. During the LINCS 2008 service-learning program we worked with local NGO ProPeru and Pintacha Elementary School kids to film, record, photograph, and create the Peruvian sections of the podcasts. Our presentation was rated the "Best of the Conference" and we were honored to be sponsored as the "Best of Pennsylvania" presentation at the next level's conference in New York.

This presentation provided a brief overview of persistent gender gaps in educational participation, attainment, and leadership. Using lenses of diverse global feminisms to reframe the underlying problems, my student co-author, Muriel Zhou, and I offered frameworks to identify key actors and drivers for sustainable social change. We also talked about the importance of feminist scholarship that is engaged and interactive for generating promising spaces and strategies for actions. Our goal was to leave participants with a better appreciation of the real challenges still facing women and men around the world, as well as ways that we can work together to build local and international capacity for changing policies and improving the educational experiences of all learners.

SPRING Annual Symposium. Pittsburgh, PA. This was a featured workshop at the regional service-learning alliance. I covered current challenges in the academy and redefintions from the Boyer report that redefine scholarship. I provided workshop participants with criteria for evaluating scholarship as well as described my own modes of research and publication on the subject. I led a discussion of best practices and effective collaborations.

John Myers and I put together this summary of our joint work for FOER as well as our overall engaged scholarship for a CGSE panel entitled "Cooperative Learning - University Style: Working Collaboratively Across Programs, Departments and Schools" More information can be found at both http://org.elon.edu/nccc/slcf/2007/pre.html and http://org.elon.edu/nccc/slcf/2007/Porter%20cvita%20%20web%20links.pdf

This keynote presetnation kicked off the conference "Sense of Place: Land and Cultural Identities around the World" that was sponsored by the University Center for International Studies, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and the Pennsylvania Ethnic Heritage Studies Center. From the program notes: " Dr. Porter will share her work on sense of place and its importance in K-12 school policy and practice. She will present major issues in teaching about and fostering school environments that enhance a sense of place from her work in Germany, Peru, Appalachia, and in Pitsburgh neighborhoods. Though sense of place is a core issue covered in the PA Geography Standards, this workshop's content and materials will be appropriate for teachers in many other subjects including social studies, language arts, ecology, culture and area studies at all grade levels." The five-hour workshop was offered for Act 48 credits for those completing follow-up curriculum designs and evauations.