Cristina Lopez
Senior Educational Technology Consultant
I joined the Digital Media Center (DMC) in March 2005. I coordinate the TEL Seminar Series and Digital Teaching Workshop, provide individual consultations for faculty members, and teach the occasional short course. I am also part of the publications team, which produces and writes Web-based and print materials that provide information about and publicize our programs and services. As a member of the publications team, I write feature articles about how faculty campus-wide use technology in their teaching in innovative ways. Interviewing faculty for the articles has greatly enriched my understanding of the potential of teaching technologies, and I enjoy publicizing the accomplishments of faculty who have worked with the DMC.
Background
My background is in communication, with a more specific focus on rhetoric and cultural studies. After earning my Ph.D. from The Ohio State University, I accepted a visiting position in Communication and Media Studies at Macalester College in St. Paul, where I taught for three years. I have also taught courses in rhetoric and in communication and culture at University of Wisconsin, The Ohio State University, and Denison University. My rhetoric courses emphasized both theory and practice, and include public speaking, argumentation and debate, theories of rhetoric, and rhetorical analysis. My communication and culture courses focused on media representations of race, gender, and class and on cultural studies of science and technology.
Interests
Teaching, whether it takes place online or face-to-face, is a communicative act. My philosophy of teaching is informed equally by my experience in the classroom and by theories of communication.
Teaching cooperative argumentation and debate at The Ohio State University was my most formative experience as an instructor. The course emphasized traditional critical thinking skills such as crafting sound arguments grounded in good reasons. But the course departed from traditional debate because the goal was not to "win," and therefore defeat people with opposing viewpoints, but to find common ground and reach consensus. Teaching the skills necessary for engaging in cooperative debate can be a challenge, particularly because so many students have been socialized to believe that learning is an individual and competitive pursuit, and that "knowledge" is something to be acquired and memorized. Moreover, the issues we debated in the course are not only controversial, but also intensely personal because they required students to reexamine deeply held beliefs and even their own identities. Because of this, a focus on accountability and taking seriously alternative perspectives is crucial in this kind of course. The courses I developed later in my teaching career had a stronger and more specific focus on theories of media and culture, and on the formation of race and gender. However, every course I taught emphasized the skills and outlook involved in cooperative debate.
My experience teaching cooperative argumentation shapes my thinking about teaching to this day, and the pedagogical issues involved are relevant in any classroom, whether class activities take place face-to-face or online. While my interest in technology in teaching is broad in its range, I am specifically interested in using tools to promote collaborative learning guided by critical thinking skills and and a spirit of cooperation and collaboration.
Contact Information
| E-mail: | clopez@umn.edu |
| Telephone: | (612) 626-6639 |
| Office: | 212 Walter Library |
