Our Mission, Foundational Positions, & Vision

Mission:

The ACE Lab's mission is to fundamentally transform the field's approaches to education across the learning continuum.

Broadly speaking, we investigate (1) pedagogical and curricular innovation and (2) approaches to faculty development as they relate to the development of CSD professionals from first exposure to the field through the development of clinical specialists and scholars.

Foundational Positions:

In our work, we assert

• Critical Pedagogy > Consumption of teaching "tips and tricks"

• Inclusive Pedagogy > Gatekeeping

• Relational Pedagogy > The "Sage on the Stage"

• Liberatory & Emancipatory Pedagogy > Deference to historically racist, biased, and ableist systems

• Science of Teaching & Learning > Deference to historical practices and instructor personal learning preferences

Vision:

We envision a world in which

• The gates to the field are dismantled and our field reflects the vast diversity of the humans we serve

• Our educational practices are in a state of perpetual innovation, responding to and flexing with new advances in the science of teaching and learning, the needs of our learners, and the work of our fields.

• Our learning spaces are inclusive, relational, and reflective, allowing for deeply creative thinking and problem-solving, daring vulnerability, and transformational co-creation

To help achieve this vision, we strive to

• Create a sense of both excitement and urgency in the field at the prospect of dismantling our current educational approaches in service of building a new future

• Develop transformational-yet-implementable educational interventions with multi-layered impact

• Engage in fee-free, sustained, developmental opportunities for CSD educators