Course Design Clinic

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Sana Illahe is an Instructor of Sociology at Virginia Tech, where she teaches Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies courses. Her research focuses on transgender communities in Pakistan, and her teaching is grounded in decolonial and feminist frameworks that center power, knowledge, and lived experience. She is committed to cultivating and honoring student voice through her pedagogy. In addition to her academic work, she is a classically trained vocalist in the Pakistani tradition, and her students will often find her in her concerts at VT.

Critical Pedagogy and Student Voice: Rethinking Assessment in the Discussion-Based Classroom

In her keynote, Dr. Illahe explores how varied assessment practices can invite students to demonstrate learning through multiple pathways while maintaining rigor and alignment with shared objectives. Drawing on her teaching in Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies—from Gen Ed. Introductory courses to major requirement such as Research Methods to electives such as Global Feminisms—she explores how centering student voice challenges traditional hierarchies of knowledge in light of decolonial and feminist pedagogical commitments. The keynote will also offer concrete strategies for facilitating discussion-based classrooms, particularly when engaging emotionally charged topics. By rethinking both assessment and dialogue, this session considers how classrooms can become spaces of shared learning, trust, accountability, and intellectual courage.

What is Course Design Clinic?

Course Design Clinic, hosted by the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), is a hands-on workshop that guides instructors through the process of building or refreshing their course.   

During the session, you will be guided through several stages of course design to include: 

• Identifying goals and learning outcomes  
• Planning for assessment of student learning 
• Designing individual instructional activities and individual class meetings 
• Organizing the syllabus and schedule

Through working with CETL and staff from partnering units, you will receive guidance on rigorous instructional design, assignment design, assessment strategies, active learning strategies, and the technological tools available to you when moving through all stages of course design and implementation, including Generative AI. The goal of this clinic is to get you to think through multiple levels of granularity for your course and complete much of the planning at once while having instructional experts on hand. You will leave the clinic well on your way to having a complete course, syllabus, and task list for implementation.