I have taught first-year English course and Research and Writing courses at UBC and UBCO since 2018.  My background is in English Literature, and I completed my master’s degree in 2014 at the University of St. Andrews.  I completed my PhD in English Literature at Anglia Ruskin University, and my research focuses on climate change in ‘New Weird’ and ‘Hybrid-Genre’ fiction since 2000.

I am curious about how problematic information – both misinformation and disinformation – spreads in a social-media and web-driven environment.  My teaching focuses on idea development and argumentation both from the perspective of a reader/consumer of information and a writer at the academic level.

WRDS 150/151 Research Area: Critical Thinking in the Digital Era​

This section of WRDS150 / WRDS 151 is focused on Critical Thinking in the Digital Era. These modules cover issues including social networking behavior and privacy, climate change denial and hyper-critical thinking, and ‘slacktivism’ and bandwagon political engagement in the 21st century.  We will read articles from scholarly and non-scholarly sources from social science, political science, and humanities backgrounds as well as watching interviews, Ted Talks, and discussion panels.  In doing so, we will endeavor to answer such questions as: does the internet still offer users a place to share and consume information honestly?  Do the harms caused by social media use outweigh its many advantages in contemporary society?  How have internet communication platforms changed political engagement and awareness?  What biases or fallacies are perpetuated by an online world?