Pedagogies in Practice

Dr. Wesley Crichlow

Dr. Wesley Crichlow (PhD) is a distinguished Black LGBTQ transdisciplinary professor, scholar, and long-standing advocate for Black LGBTQ justice and African Caribbean diasporic communities in Canada. His research and praxis employ a substantive equality framework to examine how overlapping systems and structures of oppression shape the lives of Black LGBTQ and African Caribbean diasporic communities. His scholarship advances a multiplicative understanding of inequality, examining how the enduring colonial legacies of enslavement and anti-Black racism (ABR) shape our current understanding of the afterlives of slavery, intersecting with compulsory heterogenderism, homophobia, transphobia, and criminalization to create unequal social, economic, and legal outcomes for Black LGBTQ+ individuals throughout their lives. He teaches courses on Critical Race Theory Intersectionality, Why BlackLivesMatter (BLM), and Race and Criminal Injustices.

Dr. Kenneth Gyamerah

Dr. Kenneth Gyamerah is an Assistant Professor in the Frazer Faculty of Education at Ontario Tech University. Dr. Gyamerah’s research interests include STEM education, youth agency, education policy, comparative and international education, epistemic justice, Black studies in education, de/anticolonial education, and teacher education. Methodologically, Dr. Gyamerah's work draws on Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), participatory policy inquiry, Indigenous methodologies, and decolonizing research approaches. He collaborates extensively with school boards, educators, youth, and historically marginalized communities to co-create knowledge and inform educational policy and practice.

Dr. Gyamerah has taught and conducted research in Canada and internationally. He is a Chevening Scholar and holds a Bachelor of Education from the University of Education, Winneba (Ghana), a Master of Science in Education Policy from the University of Bristol (United Kingdom), and a PhD in Education from Queen's University (Canada). Prior to joining Ontario Tech University, he worked as Research Coordinator with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). At the TDSB, Dr. Gyamerah led the Anti-Hate and Anti-Racism research portfolio, supporting system-wide research and policy development.

Dr. Rebecca Lazarenko

Tânisi! Rebecca Lazarenko nitisiyihkâson. Nitâpihtawikosisâniskwêwin ohci Otipemisiwak Nation of Alberta. St. Albert ohci niya kayahtê, mâka Toronto wêkwâc niwîken. Nitôskiskinwahamâkêwin mâka nikiskinwahamâkosin. Ninêhiyawi-kiskinwahamâkosin.

Bonjour! Je suis Rebecca Lazarenko, Franco-Métis de la Métis Nation of Alberta. Je suis originaire de St. Albert, mais je vis à Toronto maintenant. Je suis une professeure à l’Université de l’Ontario Tech, mais je serai toujours une étudiante bien que l’apprentissage n’arrête pas avec la fin de mes études universitaires. J’apprends une de mes langues ancestrales, nêhiyawêwin, mais c’est un apprentissage à vie.

Hello! I am Rebecca Lazarenko. I am a Franco-Métis woman and citizen of the Métis Nation of Alberta. I am originally from St. Albert but I now live in Toronto. Despite being an assistant professor at Ontario Tech University, I will always consider myself a student as learning does not end with a degree. I am learning one of my ancestral languages, nêhiyawêwin, and this is a life long learning journey for me.

Dr. Anna Rodrigues

Anna is an interdisciplinary educator and multimodal artist passionate about inclusion and belonging in adult education. With two decades of teaching experience, she has designed and taught over 25 courses across three different post-secondary institutions. Her research interests include internationalization of curriculum, community-based research, experiential learning, and understanding how communities facing systemic inequities use creative practices to build collective knowledge and resist marginalization. Anna is currently working as an Educational Developer in the Teaching and Learning Centre at Ontario Tech University.

Lasandra Conliffe

Lasandra is a doctoral student in Educational Research at the University of Calgary, specializing in Curriculum and Learning with a focus on AI-mediated learning. She holds an MEd in Online Learning and an Honours BA in Educational Studies and Digital Technology (specializing in Adult Education) from Ontario Tech. Committed to the ethical integration of generative AI, Lasandra leverages innovation, inclusivity, and diversity to design equitable, diverse, and highly effective digital learning experiences that improve student outcomes.