Breana Bayraktar

University Affiliate

Instructor

faculty development, alternative grading practices, instructor feedback practices, multilingual students, community college students, scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL)

Dr. Breana Bayraktar is an educational developer with the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning and affiliate faculty with the Higher Education program at George Mason University, where she where she leads faculty development initiatives focused on assessment, feedback literacy, ethical AI integration, equitable grading practices, and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Prior to joining the Stearns Center, she taught at the community college level and worked in curriculum development, assessment, and teacher preparation. Her research examines how relational and organizational conditions, including institutional culture, relational dynamics, and professional identity, shape teaching practice professional agency and educational change in higher education, with particular attention to how faculty navigate professional learning and how institutions can build the distributed leadership capacity needed to support pedagogical change at scale. She is co-lead on multiple cross-institutional studies, including an international investigation of instructor feedback literacy and a statewide practitioner-inquiry project on GenAI in teaching and learning. Across these projects, her work explores how transparent, collaborative, and learning-centered practices support meaningful instructional change.

Current Research

Research on generative AI in teaching and learning under the Collaborative Research on Education current projects page.

Other ongoing research projects are listed here: breanabayraktar.com/research.

Selected Publications

Building Networks, Fostering Innovation: Designing and Facilitating a Collaborative Faculty Mentor Training Program. (2026) To Improve the Academy.

Assessment as a Relational Ecosystem: What Three Longitudinal Projects Reveal Through ACCELERATE. (2026) Intersection: A Journal at the Intersection of Assessment and Learning, 7(2).

From Policy to Pedagogy: The Role of Academic Development in Supporting Educators’ Ethical Decision-Making About Generative AI. (2026). Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice. With Dayna Henry, Jessica Taggart, and Timothy Ball.

Preparing Distributed Leaders: Faculty Mentor Identity and Readiness During Institutional Change. (2026) International Journal of Academic Development.

Silos to Synergy: Statewide Collaboration as a Model for Ethical and Scalable AI Integration. (2026) Journal of Higher Education Management. With Dayna Henry and Jessica Taggart.

Supporting the Shift: Professional Development for Alternative Grading Practices. (2026) New Directions for Community Colleges. With Indigo Eriksen

Expanded Publication List

Bayraktar, Breana. 2023. “Inclusive Student Engagement Strategies and Students’ Sense of Belonging in Multimodal Learning Environments.” In Emerging Stronger: Pedagogical Lessons from the Pandemic, edited by Jeffrey Chin and Michele Lee Kozimor. Routledge. http://doi.org/10.4324/9781003316336-2.

Bayraktar, Breana. 2024. “Finding Community through an Academic Development Collective: Overcoming Constraints through Strategic Collaboration.” International Journal for Academic Development 29 (2): 255–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2024.2337227.

Bayraktar, Breana. 2025. “From Comments to Conversations: Scaffolding Feedback.” Deeper Learning Journal of Practice4. https://dljp.org/from-comments-to-conversations-scaffolding-feedback/.

Bayraktar, Breana. 2026. “Building Networks, Fostering Innovation: Designing and Facilitating a Collaborative Faculty Mentor Training Program.” To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development 45 (2). https://doi.org/10.3998/tia.8661.

Bayraktar, Breana. 2026. “Preparing for Distributed Pedagogical Leadership: Mentor Identity and Readiness during Institutional Change.” International Journal for Academic Development, ahead of print. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2026.2655919.

Bayraktar, Breana. in press. “Reading the Institution: How Faculty Interpret Context to Shape Engagement and Implementation of Professional Learning.” International Journal for Academic Development.

Bayraktar, Breana, Kim Case, Jodi Fisler, and Heather Keith. 2024. “Cross-Institutional FLCs That Support Equity-Based Pedagogy and Student Success.” In Faculty Learning Communities: Working Towards a More Equitable, Just, and Antiracist Future in Higher Education, edited by Kristin N. Rainville, David Title, and Cynthia G. Desrochers. Transforming Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Information Age Publishing.

Bayraktar, Breana, and Indigo Eriksen. 2025. “Reduced Stress through Agency and Autonomy: Community College Student Perspectives of Labor-Based Grading.” Teaching English in the Two-Year College 52 (1): 21–43. https://publicationsncte.org/content/journals/10.58680/tetyc202452121.

Bayraktar, Breana, and Indigo Eriksen. 2026. “Supporting the Shift: Professional Development for Alternative Grading Practices.” New Directions for Community Colleges, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1002/cc.70052.

Bayraktar, Breana, Dayna Henry, and Jessica Taggart. 2025. “Navigating the AI-Enabled Education Landscape: A Multifaceted Approach to Providing Effective Professional Learning and Support for Educators.” Theory Into Practice64 (4): 421–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2025.2528543.

Bayraktar, Breana, Dayna Henry, and Jessica Taggart. 2026. “Silos to Synergy: Statewide Collaboration as a Model for Ethical and Scalable AI Integration.” Journal of Higher Education Management 41 (1): 73–85.

Bayraktar, Breana, Dayna Henry, Jessica Taggart, and Timothy Ball. 2026. “From Policy to Pedagogy: The Role of Academic Development in Supporting Educators’ Ethical Decision-Making about Generative AI.” Special Issue: Generative AI Ethical Landscapes. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice 23 (5). https://doi.org/10.53761/f9hqrs77.

Bayraktar, Breana, Lisa Mastrangelo, Jolivette Mecenas, and Katherine Daily O’Meara. 2025. “Equity-Minded Writing Placement for a ‘New Normal’: Four Case Studies of Student Self-Placement (SSP).” In WPAing in a Pandemic and beyond: Revision, Innovation, and Advocacy, edited by Todd Ruecker and Sheila Carter-Tod. Utah State University Press.

Bayraktar, Breana, Kiruthika Ragupathi, and Katherine A. Troyer. 2022. Disconnect between Instructor Feedback Beliefs and Practices. July 19. https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/disconnect-between-instructor-feedback-beliefs-and-practices/.

Bayraktar, Breana, Kiruthika Ragupathi, and Katherine A. Troyer. 2025. “Building Trust Through Feedback: A Conceptual Framework for Educators.” Teaching and Learning Inquiry 13 (January). https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.13.7.

Waterfield, Danielle A., Jaira Ferreira De Vasconcellos, Meriah Crawford, Mariane Doyle, Breana Bayraktar, Dayna Henry, and Jessica Taggart. 2026. “Exploring Generative AI Use and Perceptions Among Students With and Without Disabilities in Higher Education.” Journal of Special Education Technology, June 3, 01626434261454347. https://doi.org/10.1177/01626434261454347.

Grants and Fellowships

2026-2027 4-VA Collaborative Research Grant ($19,998). Project title: “A Cross-Institutional Study of AI-Influenced Feedback Practices”

2025-2026 POD Network Research Grant ($3,200). Project title: “A Community of Practice Approach to Exploring Alternative Grading”

2024-2026 Fund for Excellence and Innovation grant from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia ($93,000). Project title: "AI in Teaching and Learning"

Courses Taught

HE 703: Higher Ed in the Digital Age

Education

Dr. Bayraktar received her EdD from Manhattanville College, where she focused on how faculty professional development influences teaching practices. She received an MEd with a focus on adult education from George Mason University and a BA in French and history from the College of William & Mary.