HASTAC Scholar Spotlight: Alexandra Thrall

Alexandra (Allie) Thrall is a doctoral student in Baylor University’s Department of Curriculum & Instruction. Allie’s research focuses on investigating the sociotechnical arrangements that could undermine or support justice-oriented teaching and learning. Formerly, Allie taught 4th-12th grades and served as a school administrator. Allie has an M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. in Global Studies and Spanish Literature from Lehigh University.

Why did you apply to HASTAC?

I have never fit neatly within disciplinary lines. As an undergraduate, I had two majors and one of them, global studies, was interdisciplinary. After college I spent years exploring various career paths, and finally decided to pursue my graduate degrees in education, which I see as an interdisciplinary field. Further reaching across disciplines, my research in education considers how technologies intermediate social studies and literacy curriculum and instruction. This might look like bringing sociotechnical analysis into K-12 curriculum, as I did for instance, in a research project that adapted Ruth Schwartz Cowan’s history of technology classic, More Work for Mother, for 4th-8th grade classrooms. Or, as I did when asking students to write speculative fiction stories based on their inquiries into how digital platforms intermediate our civic possibilities. With each focus, my research aims to think expansively about what can and should happen in any subject area classroom. 

As such, applying to HASTAC felt like a natural fit for me. My interdisciplinary work requires me to be in constant dialogue with scholars/hip across fields. In HASTAC I hope to build and grow these types of connections and collaborations. 

In this spirit, I will also unabashedly link to my own research throughout this spotlight in the hopes that folks reach out if they are interested in discussing or collaborating on related projects!

What has been your favorite course so far as an instructor or student? Why?

My favorite course so far was Media Literacy Across the Curriculum. Taught by my faculty advisor, Dr. T. Philip Nichols, the class was an intensive inquiry into media literacy’s histories, pedagogies, uncertainties, and possibilities. Media literacy education constitutes an important component of my research. Related to the learning we did in this class, my research considers if/how media literacy education can confront the civic challenges brought about by digitally mediated information. I left this course feeling prepared to draw from the many lessons this field has to offer, and to hopefully contribute to the research that will chart the course for media literacy’s future. 

What’s something that people would be surprised to know about you?

I was a gigging singer/songwriter for many years. At this point, with two young kids and PhD underway, I can’t imagine playing out again, but maybe one day I will!

What are some things that you wish you had known before you got into graduate school?

My decision to pursue my PhD was well-informed, and I highly recommend everyone do the same! I had cultivated relationships with PhD students and professors from a number of programs and universities, who I leaned on heavily for advice. Here are some distilled tidbits of wisdom:

• Apply to graduate school when you have a burning question that you really want to answer.
• Find professors and programs that share in your research interests.
• If possible, get involved in research prior to starting your program. I was fortunate enough to be able to teach a couple of units with my 8th graders while I was still in the classroom that I then drew upon for empirical data for research papers that I have since published. 

All of this has helped my transition into my doctoral work to be incredibly smooth and fruitful. I have fairly well-defined research interests, I have incredible faculty with whom I work closely, and I have been able to see entire research projects through from start to finish during my first year of my program. 

How do you envision HASTAC and higher education in 10 years? Where do you fit in?

I believe there is a widely felt need to reimagine higher education, and education broadly, based on a host of structural shortcomings. I think HASTAC could contribute to some of that reimagining, both in terms of what the program offers and in terms of what could be produced by its constituent collaborations. 

How does digital scholarship fit into your research or teaching?

My research relates to digital scholarship in that digital technologies, and their relationship to teaching and learning, is often my primary subject. So far, this has tended to take two forms. The first is research that asks how to teach about digital technologies and their sociopolitical implications. For instance, in one research project my team designed and taught a month-long unit in a 9th grade ELA class about digital activism, asking students to consider various approaches, purposes, opportunities, and limitations. The second form is research that considers the impact of digital technologies on humanities education. For instance, in one project my team theorized how the varying speculative logics that underpin generative AI and literacy education make the latter particularly susceptible to cooptation by the former – a process that we termed speculative capture. Given that digital technologies are ever-present in contemporary schooling, I find examining these relations to be a pressing need.

What do you hope to accomplish with your research or teaching?

I hope to change the world, of course! But, more modestly, I hope my research contributes to collective knowledge that helps us affirmatively assert what we want out of teaching and learning into the future. And, I hope my teaching helps to create a generation of teacher activists, who can take those affirmative assertions – those dreams – and put them to practice.

What are you currently reading, watching, or listening to?

I’ve been reading The Nature of the Book: Print and Knowledge in the Making by Adrian Johns.