Watching one of the LILLY plenaries, by Kevin Gannon – Pedagogy of hope in not so hopeful times, took me back to my PhD studies, classes on critical pedagogy and my reading of Paulo Freire. I know I did not imagine a future that is now the present we are living. But, what has remained the same is my spirit of hope. Despite the grim news that hits the airwaves on a daily basis.
It is attending events such as POD and LILLY, taking part in program review, that keeps the candle of hope burning, because they are all examples of wanting to be and do better.
On Monday I had a conversation with someone from Camosun College about program review. As in the interview with a member of CIEL at VIU, good communication came up as a key factor in getting people on board with the process; communication and relationship-building. Another topic that came up was the importance of having multiple voices contribute to writing the Self-Study. Without that contribution and buy-in, it’s hard for a department to act collectively on the Action Plan that comes later. Another piece of advice was to ensure surveys are conducted before focus groups (if doing both). Surveys are a good way of collecting quantitative data and focus groups allow departments to explore in greater depth, responses given in the surveys. I’ve included these pieces of advice on the program review website. It also occurred to me that it would be good to add to the website, actual quotes from NIC faculty of their experiences of going through program review that highlight the positive aspects they’ve gained from going through the processes, perhaps as part of a rolling banner.
So far I’ve watched all the plenaries and at least 20 of the live roundtable and asynchronous sessions (and plan on watching many more) and each one has been predicated on the hope of doing better, being better, teaching better, helping our students become better versions of themselves – on their terms and not some abstract definition that has no bearing on their lives. I wish all faculty at the College could and would attend the LILLY conference because they might:
- be reminded of what it’s like to be a student at a community college and the challenges some students face; there are good reasons why some students don’t turn on their cameras in online classes, or hand in work late
- explore creative alternatives to high stakes and online proctored exams that help students demonstrate their learning in authentic ways that discourage students from wanting or feeling they need to ‘take short cuts’
- explore the multiple ways of engaging students online that don’t require an instructor to be a tech guru
- experience a renewed appreciation of the value of ensuring students have equal access to learning materials and experiences and that ‘the lecture’ is not the gold standard of teaching
- think more about how to create curiosity and a positive emotional response to promote engagement (as per Flower Darby) as valuable approaches to promoting learning – it’s not always about content
- reflect on the importance of thinking about their own teaching philosophies, since that is the water their students are swimming in. If our teaching values and beliefs do not match how we teach, how we assess and how we conceptualize the learning space, students will feel the effects of that incongruity
- come to have compassion for themselves and take a step back, and as Kevin said, to act out of hope and not fear (fear of students not learning content, fear of students cheating). Everyone is going their best
I’ve been writing down thoughts and ideas that have been occurring to me over the course of attending LILLY online and here are a couple:
- I’ve been doing UDL for so long without taking enough time to reflect on the ‘why.’ I want to take more thoughtful (less scattergun) approach moving forward. UDL is like socio-cultural theory recognizes the importance of peer /community support as integral to learning. There is power in the ‘group,’ even as that can be a tough sell to some students. Teaching metacognitive skills plays a part in helping students understand this. One point I was wondering about though – UDL emphasizes the value of the group, less on the individuated, and you’d think this would translate well for students from more group-oriented cultures. Yet in collectivist cultures, the teacher is often seen as the expert and the guru, so how do we help students from those cultures see the benefit of learning from their peers? It is something I’ve pondered for many years and continue to struggle with. Something to research – UDL across cultures. Also, in the plenary session the focus was on using Bloom’s taxonomy, yet the importance of understanding the power of the emotion in learning (or not learning) was recognized. I’m wondering why more is not talked about indigenous and other learning taxonomies. I’m thinking here of LaFever, Marcella. (2016). Using the Medicine Wheel for Curriculum Design in Intercultural Communication: Rethinking Learning Outcomes
- The most inspiring presentations have mostly been the ones where the skills / ideas being taught were reflected in how the presenters conducted their presentations / sessions; a good lesson in how we can teach in ways that promote curiosity and engagement – two essential keys for learning.
A couple of out of the many activities / strategies talked about that I intend to use:
“Ooops tokens” – While I tell students there are strict deadlines, I do allow latitude when life doesn’t go as planned. But, that has meant a student has had to acknowledge something’s up. I know this is a reason some students do not always ask for that extension / help, particularly students used to learning contexts where the rules are strictly applied. I like the idea of giving students a couple of ‘get out of jail free’ (not a good analogy) cards, especially when everyone is experiencing higher rates of anxiety, some of which can be hard to articulate.
Another idea is the “plus one strategy.” This would be great to incorporate into faculty workshops / learning sessions. I’ve gained so many insights this week – some reconfirming I’m on the right track or at least the track I want to follow; some completely new insights. If I thought I had to act on all of the ideas at once, I’d likely want to go and hide under the duvet. The ‘plus one strategy’ would be a great way of helping faculty who have fears or reluctance about rewriting learning outcomes, internationalizing / indigenizing a course outline, see that it’s okay to start out small. As the Chinese proverb says, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Leave a Reply