COVID-19 Support Committee
In consideration of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on division members as well as on the public we serve, Div. 24 established an informal committee to provide information and to help division members stay connected to each other. The work of the committee has included the dissemination of information via email announcements and the management of Zoom video meetings every other Wednesday at 4 p.m. Eastern, the first of which took place on April 29.
Among the information items and notices distributed was the “New York State Bar Association Health Law Section COVID-19 Report,” which was the product of a prodigious effort by a task force led by division member and past-president Mary Beth Morrissey. Bi-weekly video calls have variously consisted of open conversations, a focused discussion on the topic of our ethical responsibilities to the Other during the pandemic, and a special panel on the pandemic and systematic racism in which four of our members and students commented on their own community-based research and experiences as persons of color. Video meetings are planned to continue at least through the summer. The committee members are Cacky Mellor, Dennis Wendt, Don Jones, Fred Wertz, and Gary Brill.
Critical Pedagogy Special Interest Group creates new Teaching Otherwise podcast
This has been a busy period for the Critical Pedagogy SIG. At the 2020 midwinter meeting in San Diego we sponsored a “hackathon” dedicated to developing new resources and strategies for research methods instruction. The concept of a hackathon is that participants of various stripes all come together to tackle a problem and work to produce something during a dedicated block of time. We were glad to have many division members join in to develop resources related to indigenous methodology, syllabus development for new teachers, and re-envisioned ethics instruction.
Coinciding with the hackathon, we (Brady Wiggins, Joseph Ostenson, Joshua Clegg; SIG co-chairs) launched a podcast, Teaching Otherwise, “a podcast exploring teaching in psychologyopens in new window”. We draw on philosophy, history, and the human sciences broadly to critique and explore alternatives to the assumptions and practices undergirding mainstream psychology teaching.” Early episodes have explored teaching under quarantine and confronting power structure in the classroom.