This quote by Vygotsky got me thinking. Is this actually true? In principle, I would agree, and surely this is the point of education – to help students grow into the best version of themselves. I’m not sure we always achieve that. An overly punitive and reductionist approach to teaching and assessment, despite likely coming from the best of intentions, neither motivates nor brings out the best in anyone. So, it’s good to see the movement toward a more caring and compassionate curriculum.

I heard this quote at the Vancouver Community College Teaching and Learning Seminar yesterday – one advantage of most events now being online is having the ability to step into events for as short or as long as we have time. I managed to catch parts of the first two sessions, both concerning humanizing the curriculum. There were some good ‘take-aways.’ One presenter noted of international students: In a COVID world, international students lack interactions both within and across cultures. While this is true for all students, for those who are here in Canada seeking to broaden their intercultural experiences, that’s a hard reality.

This got me wondering what we, as instructors, can do to promote peer-to-peer engagement, also because a similar concern was raised at a meeting this week. The discussion highlighted the fact that while it’s possible, it’s also complex and not easy. Some students yearn for more interaction online, and others are happy for a learning environment where they can hole up alone and work as and when they wish. Recognizing my own more introverted leanings, I also know that it’s important to push ourselves and our students to the boundaries of our comfort zones. That means encouraging thoughtful ‘alone time’ for the extroverts and ‘meaningful interaction’ for the introverts. As instructors we have the tools to facilitate that; we also need to have the courage to try new approaches to figure out what will and won’t work with each of students.

And it means having those hard conversations such as the Brave Space Conversations. It was heartening to see large numbers of both students, as well as members from across the College community attend the panel on White Privilege. In the twenty years or more that I’ve been involved in intercultural education, I know this is not a conversation we could have had – in this way – even three or four years ago.

In the day-to-day of emails, report writing, attending meetings, it’s easy to forget to take a step back to examine the progress being made. And we are making progress.

The sunshine and budding trees confirm it.