Vanessa Van Winkle-Ghaderi M.A. ’92 has been teaching at Virginia Tech for more than 25 years. The tools have changed. So have the classrooms. What hasn’t changed is the part she likes best. 

“I just love seeing people learn how to make sense of things,” she says. 

As an instructor and academic advisor at the Language and Culture Institute, Van Winkle-Ghaderi guides international students through English language, academic skills, technology literacy, and the less visible work of building confidence in a new academic culture. 

A Hokie herself, Van Winkle-Ghaderi earned her master’s degree in English from Virginia Tech in 1992. She’s also completed all of the coursework for a Ph.D. in instructional design and technology, a background that shows up in the way she thinks about learning itself.

Increasingly, that means helping students think carefully about artificial intelligence.

In May, Van Winkle-Ghaderi presented “Engaging Students in Strategies to Learn Actively With AI” at WickedCon, Virginia Tech's professional development conference. On Aug. 13, she’ll bring that same student-centered approach to the university’s AI Teaching Symposium, which will explore the choices faculty face when integrating or limiting AI in their teaching. 

Van Winkle-Ghaderi’s focus is practical: Students are already using AI. The challenge is guiding them toward more thoughtful and purposeful use.

“I have actually followed the students’ lead in incorporating AI in the classroom,” she says. “I simply want them to use it well.” 

For Van Winkle-Ghaderi, a polished slide or sentence matters less than what happened on the way there. Did the students practice? Did they understand the words? Did they make the meaning their own? 

“We want them to know that the process is where learning happens, not in a product,” she says. “AI can help with the process, like a partner or even a tutor, if the students know how to ask.” 

She saw that during spring semester presentations. Two students spoke fluently, without notes, using specific vocabulary to describe their semester’s accomplishments.

“I can infer that they worked with AI,” Van Winkle-Ghaderi says, “but they learned how to pronounce those words, and I fully believe they ensured that the words conveyed exactly the meaning they wanted to share.” 

Over a career spanning academic writing, public speaking, technology literacy, and language skills, the connecting thread, she says, is “coherent connection.”

“Most people can read and write and speak,” she says, “but it is challenging to communicate well, to good effect.” 

Outside the classroom, Van Winkle-Ghaderi reads, knits, gardens, and hikes. Reading opens her to different interpretations. Knitting and gardening build patience. Hiking reminds her that progress doesn’t have to be fast.

“I am a slow hiker,” she says, “but I go long distances, one step at a time.” 

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