I really enjoy reading your post! Course design and development in higher education definitely need some rethinking and improvement. Some courses are designed to let students complete several specific goals each semester, and in the end students can happily graduate on time. But the consistency of all the courses are equally important. It would be a great idea to present the freshmen with the full connection of all courses prepared for their following four years and let them know, from the beginning, that all knowledge are actually connected. Hopefully through this way we can help students build a strong bond between new and old knowledge while encouraging them to see the whole world as a big picture and explore more outside the classroom.

Like the word cloud! The words in it don’t strike me as “old school” as much as “diverse.” We all learn differently, and for some people, repetition works. But the different ways of learning don’t always seem to be reflected in the way we teach or evaluate. It’s something to be mindful about as instructors.

I agree with Carlos that what we seem to lack is time. When short on time, people take shortcuts, and mindlessness seem like a easy route right? We just need to pass the test, and whether we forget the material afterwards seems inconsequential for the time being. I wish that school wouldn’t seem so rushed all the time, to be less like a diploma factory and more like an educational institution.

I know a number of people who got perfect scores on TOEFL and yet could not speak English at all! What happened? It seemed like as long as they followed a “test formula,” they’ll get a superb mark on the test and yet fail in actual practice. On the other hand, there are those who may not get a perfect score on the same test, and yet have a much wider facility of the language because they learned and practiced in different ways. Just which set of people did a better job learning? Just what exactly was this test trying to evaluate? I’m rather convinced at this point that instructors should explore various evaluation methods for not only the results, but also the learning process and various aspects of learning. A single “final mark” seems rather pointless, and can be detrimental to the confidence.

After reading your past experience, I feel like most of my middle school and high school teachers practiced mindless teaching since it was much easier for them. They believed mindless teaching is the most efficient way to handle all the exams. However, the students’ imagination and curiosity are greatly hindered, so are their thinking pattern and the way to understand the whole world around them. It is quite easy to solve exam problems with what we learn from the class. But a high score cannot help you deal with the real life issues. Mindful teaching and teachers should be much appreciated!

Thanks for sharing your personal story. Teachers can only provide us the basic knowledge and some limited experience. As students, we need to take advantage of these basic information and then explore the world in front of us on our own. It takes interest, courage, passion, persistence and perspiration, instead of burying inside between books and simple instructions. I’m glad that mindful thinking works so well in learning a new instrument, and you can definitely achieve more with this golden rule.

LikeLike

Your experience in that class sounds like an ideal classroom. Where the teacher and students are both learning and contributing to the knowledge gained. A classroom where each individual may contribute to the learning outcomes and no one person is the holder of all the knowledge or a gatekeeper of said information. Hopefully, technology will make classroom environments like the one you described a reality instead of an option that is never practiced or encouraged.

It’s hard to step out the comfort zone since it’s so comfort to stay in it. Haha

I really like the story you posted about your parents using the smart phone. It’s exactly a great example of how self-teaching happens in our daily life. In my opinion, it is quite important that you showed them how wonderful a smart phone is. And this motivated them to explore more by themselves. Sometimes people just need a little push from outside to step out.

I really like the idea that learning should not end when “formal” education ends. To me, formal education improves my ability to learn. And then a lot of learnings happen outside the classroom and school.

The motivation for learning must be diverse for different people and also for different subject. I would say I am learning my major because I want to be prepared for my future career. Of course I am involved in some other learning process just for fun.

P.S Mind Gym is an excellent excellent name for a learning & development consulting company.

First of all… I appreciate your pessimism. I often feel pessimistic as well as I try to respond to our readings. I think you brought up a great point in saying “readings and videos seem wonderful in theory, but they just gloss over the problems.” We’ve talked in class about how lectures can be inspiring, but aren’t often effective at teaching, and that’s how I feel about a lot of these readings. Langer says that she’s going to talk about the why, but not the how. I feel like the how would be really helpful. The people that do talk about the how often do so in a more idealized sense, and don’t offer a realistic plan for how to implement change.

I totally agree with you when you talk about professors that start classes a little differently. Sometimes just jumping straight into the lesson promotes the idea of just trying to get the class over with, an in a sense encourages mindlessness. I find it helpful to be able to take a step back and think about the material from a different perspective in order to absorb the knowledge in a more meaningful way.