Dear HEIS Community,

Welcome to our February issue of HEIS News, a newsletter for our Higher Education Interest Section (HEIS) members, other TESOL members, and all professionals who work in the field. I hope you are all doing well, and that your new year is off to a good beginning.

This issue has three articles and one book review. The first article is, “A Reflection-In-Action Assessment Design in MTESOL Professional Practice Unit” by Anna Filipi and Marija Dedic, from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. The second article is, “I, Human—What Role for Human Teachers in a Tech-Driven World?” by Daniel Clausen from Nagasaki University of Foreign Studies in Nagasaki, Japan. The third article is “Speaking: A Fun Way to Assess” by Elif Yasin Holocsi from Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University, School of Foreign Languages, in Ankara, Turkey. For the book review, we have Shaden Attia of University of Western Ontario, in Ontario, Canada, who writes about the book Critical race theory in education. We hope you enjoy these articles and book review.

TESOL 2022 International Conventional & English Language Expo, an in-person and virtual convention taking place from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, will be taking place from March 22 to 25, 2022. One session that you can plan to attend for the Higher Education Interest Section (HEIS) will include an academic session, “Social-Emotional Learning Supportive Classroom Management”. Co-chair electsMelissa Ferro, PhD, and Deany Goode, MA, moderate a panel of Higher Education Interest Section (HEIS) members in a discussion about social-emotional learning and supportive classroom management to inform and support colleagues in the future of our profession. Presenters for the HEIS academic session include: Deany Goode, Metropolitan Community College Kansas City-Penn Valley, Kansas City, Missouri, United States; Melissa Ferro, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States; Allison Yasukawa, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, California, United States; Collin Blair, Lansing School District, Lansing, Michigan, United States; Klára Lancová, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic; and Peggy Semingson, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, United States.

Another session that may be of interest to you is the HEIS intersection session together with Program Administration Interest Section (PAIS), “Keeping a Balance Between the Needs of Students and Faculty”.ESL program administrators in higher education try to balance the needs of students and faculty. During the pandemic, administrators supported both groups with remote versus in-person learning, different time zones, technology, and course scheduling. Panelists discuss these areas in their own programs and invite participants to share their experiences. Presenters for the HEIS Intersection session are: Maria Ammar, Salt Lake Community College, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States; Pamela Smart-Smith, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States; Brad Teague, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States; Angela Hakim, King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Jennifer Despain, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States; and Rosario Giraldez, Alianza Cultural Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay; and Meredith Moore and Cornell Menking, Baylor Global Gateway Program, Baylor University, Waco, Texas, USA.

In addition, we will be having a HEIS meeting for all TESOL members to attend while at TESOL 2022. We hope to see you and talk to you more about HEIS and how you can contribute and participate!

When you have time, I hope you all will take some time to post questions, news, or comments about current happenings in the TESOL world to our HEIS community board in MyTESOL. We enjoy seeing your postings, especially when it starts an important discussion that gets others talking, thinking, and moving.

We hope to improve member engagement through HEIS News, our HEIS community board in MyTESOL, and HEIS webinars. We welcome your involvement in any of these areas.

Best regards,

Maria Ammar

Past Chair, TESOL Higher Education Interest Section