Digital Counter-Storying Faculty Learning Community

Through a partnership with Adobe, SJSU has instituted the Digital Counter-Storytelling Faculty Learning Community (FLC). “Counter-storytelling” is a technique that elevates marginalized voices to disrupt mainstream narratives about historically underserved communities. Assignments that invite counter-storytelling enable students to connect their lived experiences to course content and learn how to record and share those stories with others.

Faculty who have participated in this FLC have expanded SJSU’s institutional capacity to create classroom environments where students feel belongingness and that their stories matter, leading to increased academic engagement and success and an enhanced ability to bring to the workplace their full selves in any career path. The Spring 2023 Showcase invited our campus community to celebrate the assignments created by Cohorts 1 and 2.

Taking place every semester, the seminar forges communal relationships and harnesses the creativity of Adobe applications, empowering educators to acquire new skills essential for centering student assets, needs, and imaginaries. Facilitated through collective and collaborative pedagogy, faculty members hone their proficiency with Adobe tools and also discover ways to work together to integrate multimedia elements into their teaching materials. 

The FLC has been led by Dr. Jonathan D. Gomez, Assistant Professor of Chicana/o Studies and Faculty in Residence for HSI Initiatives. Dr. Gomez also co-developed the SJSU + Adobe Collaboratory, which was inspired by and based upon foundational elements of his FLC model.

To date, nearly 50 faculty members have participated in this learning community, collectively impacting over 4,000 students through their assignments in their courses.