Maha Bali, PhD (@mahabali.bsky.social)

Intentionally Equitable Hospitality as Critical Instructional Design A conversation with Dr. Maha Bali about “Intentionally Equitable Hospitality” (IEH) and how this professional development journey emerged from her earlier projects Virtually Connecting and Equity Unbound. A professor of practice at the Center for Learning and Teaching at the American University in Cairo, we were joined by professors Tom Haymes and Bryan Alexander to discuss our experiences teaching and learning with digital technologies. IEH offers opportunities to engage with marginalized perspectives, encourage critical thinking and accessibility, and create more welcoming and equitable learning spaces. We explored the many literacies needed today, including visual thinking, creating and using images, and the use of “AI” models despite their limitations, especially for language translation. Mike Caulfield’s SIFT model to assess information was mentioned and his latest version designed to use with Claude.ai. As always, we approached these issues from both ‘open’ and institutional perspectives, and in the context of our current political climate. Maha’s cake baking and decorating metaphors added the frosting to this episode. Intentionally Equitable Hospitality Series for May 2024 https://equityunbound.org/ieh-series-may-204/ Intentionally Equitable Hospitality as Critical Instructional Design by Maha Bali and Mia Zamora https://pressbooks.pub/designingforcare/chapter/intentionally-equitable-hospitality-as-critical-instructional-design/ Equity Unbound is hosting MYFest again this year! June through August 2025. The “Mid-Year Festival” (MYFest) is a “recharge and renewal experience” exploring community building, critical pedagogy, socially just education, AI in education, open educational practices, digital literacies, and activities that support wellbeing and joy. https://equityunbound.org/ MyEssayFeedback uses AI to offer students detailed and fast formative feedback on their essays under the guidance of an instructor or tutor. https://myessayfeedback.ai/ SIFT Toolbox for Claude Released: I don’t know how to explain how much this changes everything, so I’m just going to ask you to try it. By Mike Caulfield Mar 31, 2025 https://mikecaulfield.substack.com/p/sift-toolbox-for-claude-and-chatgpt https://podcasts.talkingwithmachines.com/@talkingwithmachines/episodes/intentionally-equitable-hospitality-as-critical-instructional-design