Panel | Teaching Knowledge Translation through Plain-Language Outputs
May 5 @ 10:00 am - 11:30 am
This event is part of the 2026 Celebrate Learning Week, taking place from May 4 – 8, 2026.
In this panel and workshop, we will invite participants to work with plain language summary (PLS) writing as a proven and promising way for students to contribute to research cultures. By inviting students to experiment with different genres of knowledge mobilization, and by keeping plain language writing principles at the heart of this work, our panel will discuss how their students have contributed to an ongoing knowledge exchange project (called SHARE) via the UBC Learning Exchange and the Vancouver Public Library. Our workshop will point to different ways that student writing assessments can be aligned with the ever-present and growing need for knowledge translation (KT) capable of bridging universities and communities.
After the panel, session attendees will participate in a 15-20-minute breakout discussion on implementing plain language writing and knowledge translation genres into their classrooms.
Brief description of SHARE Project
UBC SHARE (Students Harnessing Academic Research for Exchange) emerged as a response to calls by communities in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to practice reciprocity by bringing research back to the community in forms it can use. Our presentation introduces UBC SHARE as a collaborative initiative that connects students, faculty, researchers, and community members to support knowledge exchange. The project works closely with the Downtown Eastside Research Access Portal (DTES RAP), a web interface developed and hosted by UBC’s embedded unit in the DTES community, the UBC Learning Exchange. SHARE invites students to, as part of their coursework, contribute to the DTES RAP’s growing collection of community-oriented knowledge translation formats: plain language infographics, interactive websites, data visualizations, and videos.
Our panelists have put the SHARE project into a range of undergraduate classes and learning contexts. They will speak to their experience teaching plain language writing, knowledge translation, and student research publication.
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