In this episode of Educating to Be Human, Lisa Petrides is joined by Maha Bali, a leading voice in digital pedagogy and open education. Maha invites us to see digital literacy not just as learning how to use tools, but as something deeply tied to identity, power, and relationships. As AI increasingly becomes part of the fabric of our daily lives, Maha challenges us to ask: what values are built into the tools we use, and how do they shape the way we connect with one another?

Maha Bali is a professor of practice at the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the American University in Cairo and co-founder of Equity Unbound, an equity-focused, open, connected intercultural learning curriculum, which has also branched into academic community activities – Continuity with Care, Socially Just Academia, and MYFest, an innovative 3-month professional learning journey. In 2023, Maha was named among 30 higher education IT influencers by EdTech Magazine. She writes and speaks frequently about social justice, critical pedagogy, and open and online education. She blogs regularly at https://blog.mahabali.me and tweets @bali_maha.

Resources:

Equity Unbound - https://equityunbound.org/

MyFest - https://myfest.equityunbound.org/ 

Socially Just Academia - https://equityunbound.org/category/imaginingasociallyjustacademia/ 

Mays Imad - Trauma Informed Pedagogy - https://tll.mit.edu/trauma-informed-teaching/ 

Chris Gilliard - https://just-tech.ssrc.org/our-network/chris-gilliard/ 

Adrienne Maree Brown - https://www.akpress.org/emergentstrategy.html 

Audry Waters blog - https://2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/ 

Asao Inoue - Labor-based grading - https://wac.colostate.edu/books/perspectives/labor/