This section of my website is a blog (ish) experience. Here, you will see two categories of posts: in the news and in the know. In the news: I'll post periodically about new projects, initiatives, and achievements that I'm excited about. In the know: There comes a point, I think, especially for those of us …
Stay tuned! Proposal accepted for Special Issue of Language Testing Journal
My colleague Robert Randez and I are excited to be working on a commentary piece that was accepted for the 2023 special issue of Language Testing which has been dedicated to accommodations in language testing and assessment for disabled students. In this piece, we will first emphasize the importance of adopting appropriate terminology when referring …
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New Article – Assessing Outside the Box: the Open Format Assignment
I, along with my colleague and friend from Philosophy, Dr. Megan Dean, recently compiled our experiences incorporating open format assessment into our undergraduate courses. In this article we wrote for the FLTMAG, we each showcase, in detail, how we have used open format assignments in our courses. We even included rubrics we have used! I …
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Inclusive teaching workshop for teaching assistants
I was invited by the MSU Graduate School (one of my favorite campus collaborators!) to lead a session on inclusive teaching during the Fall 2021 Graduate Teaching Assistant orientation program. Here's the link to the slides from my session: Inclusive Teaching: Understanding, Navigating, and Addressing Barriers to Student Learning.
Applying the Quality Matters Rubric
Professional development alert! I completed a two-week workshop focused on Applying the Quality Matters Rubric (offered by Quality Matters and facilitated by a QM-Certified colleague at Michigan State University). I'm excited to be able to draw upon this resource in the coming year for my colleagues in language teaching as they design their online, hybrid, and blended courses. General Standard …
Accessibility for Learners with Disabilities in Foreign Language Assessment
I was recently invited to speak to instructors of Arabic and Russian about foreign language assessment accessibility for learners with disabilities as part of the STARTALK Critical Language Assessment Program at Michigan State University. I had the pleasure of answering some fantastic questions about accommodations and assessment fairness for learners with disabilities, and the differences …
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Offering Students Choice in Assessment
In the spring of 2020 (pre-pandemic), I designed a 5-week course on Race, Language, and Disability. As part of that course, I explored the concept of incorporating student choice in assessment. I developed a rubric to evaluate students' learning within critical reflections. The rubric was bare of any binding information regarding the form students' critical …
Trauma-Sensitive Teaching Practices
I just hosted a fantastic and timely discussion by my colleague Elizabeth Ablan about trauma-sensitive pedagogy for language teaching contexts during the pandemic. In fact, the Language Collaboratory (a collaborative endeavor among 5 Big Ten universities) dedicated its entire spring 2021 professional development series to discussions of how to (try to) achieve balance in COVID-affected …
Web Resource: Accessibility Basics for Language Teaching
Together with various collaborators at Michigan State, I spearheaded the beginnings of what I hope will grow to become a robust online resource for making university second and foreign language teaching more accessible. This resource is proudly housed on the Center for Language Teaching Advancement website, and takes its first step as a quick-read overview …
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Accessible Yoga at the Accessible Learning Conference
I was delighted to be able to connect the 2020 Accessible Learning Conference (ALC) at Michigan State with my talented and dear friend Ryan McGraw. I attended one of Ryan's virtual accessible yoga sessions in the summer of 2020 when I was rather pregnant and very uncomfortable, and thought that his unique approach to yoga …
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Caitlin Cornell 