This Instructor Spotlight installment features Dr. Christa Teston
Dr. Christa Teston is the Andrea Lunsford Designated Associate Professor of English as well as serving as Vice Chair of Rhetoric, Composition and Literacy Studies, and Director of Business and Technical Writing. Dr. Teston studies how humans navigate uncertainty in technoscientific, biomedical and media-rich domains. Specifically, she researches the evidential backstage, or all the work that goes on behind the scenes when experts attempt to corral chaos. Her first book—Bodies in Flux: Scientific Methods for Negotiating Medical Uncertainty (University of Chicago Press)—critiques the fetishization of certainty and advocates for an ethic of care that honors human fragility and bodily flux.vIn addition to this site-based research, Teston also has expertise in research methodologies. She has co-edited (with Brian McNely and Clay Spinuzzi) a special issue of Technical Communication Quarterly focused on contemporary research methodologies in technical communication.
Teston serves as the director of business and professional writing for the Department of English. She also teaches undergraduate and graduate courses that focus on how writing and rhetoric may be used to make more livable worlds. With Wendy Hesford and Shui-yin Sharon Yam, Christa co-edits the “New Directions in Rhetoric and Materiality” book series at The Ohio State University Press.
In this interview, Dr. Teston talks about her experiences with building student engagement in online learning spaces, teaching and learning challenges and affordances in light of generative AI, and guiding students through the process of leveraging technology with students in the classroom.
To download a PDF copy of the transcript for this feature, please click on the file link below.
We want to express our gratitude to Dr. Teston for agreeing to participate in our Instructor Spotlight series.
If you are interested in nominating an outstanding instructor who has invested in developing and delivering online courses, please feel free to email ascode@osu.edu using the subject line Instructor Spotlight Recommendation. Explore the full catalog of Instructor Spotlights here.
This feature was designed and edited by ASC Office of Distance Education Instructional Designers, Sarah Dove and Jessica Henderson, and work study student Zoey Nott.