I think your shift in mindset to true learning vs. running after a grade is such a neat way to look at education. I wonder how we can push toward more of this in the undergrad setting?

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Hi. You make an excellent point, writing “Instructors should ask the question of their course: do the assignments teach more than just the assigned topic, and can I put my course topic in real-life contexts?” Vox had a great article several years ago about how we’re teaching economics wrong. As in many things, the applicability of a topic or concept in a real world example is missing from many courses — especially at the undergraduate level, but not restricted to it by any means. The other piece of what you wrote lends itself to the idea of teaching interdisciplinary. Beyond the classroom, this is the real skill that is needed for virtually all teams and projects. Thank you for your blog and I look forward to reading more throughout the semester.

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As I mentioned, I am lucky that the course material allows me this opportunity, however I can totally understand how a different course would make this more difficult. As for my students enjoying me and my class, lets hope so!

I absolutely agree- I dont think we have to revolutionize these classes, but I think small tweaks can go such a long way!

Just to add a bit in this regard, people who are developing their research proposals and research plans are switching to blogging, networks like researchgate to develop their idea into a plan using the inputs from the researchers in their field, which I think is definitely a good start.

You are absolutely right, which was kind of the point I was making- I am in a fortunate position in that I have no choice but to build and foster communication. However, I think its still important to think about how we can foster at least sooooommmeeee of this connection in those other courses.

I completely agree. Perhaps it helps to write freely first elsewhere, and then tweak it to be something you are comfortable with being permanent.

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Hi Farha, I appreciate your question how many times can a student fail, and similarly to students being heterogeneous, programs can also be highly idiosyncratic with their views on failure and what qualifies as successfully crossing a hurdle. Some programs have a higher appreciation of failure and some seemed more designed for students to fail. Do you feel like the other students are in similar positions? Do you feel like your colleagues in other departments/programs are fairing differently? I feel that my experiences in Engineering were more similar to yours, but that in my Public Health program and in Planning things are different. Failure is also very much a part of the work world, and learning how to fail and recover is a skill, so in some ways the programs that don’t encourage and support students through failure are almost certainly setting some students up for this outcome when they leave the walls of our campus. I look forward to seeing how your questions evolve over the course of the semester.

I honestly kind of overlooked this factor. Keeping this in mind, it kind of begs the question, are we placing emphasis on the wrong things in the hiring process?

I agree with you. There are a number of logistical and ethical issues pertaining to the use of smart apps and web portals. But my point is not emphasising the usability of these apps and portals but the importance of shared learning. As anything which can be described as smart needs a human input too. Moreover, networked learning can happen more efficiently if we use these apps and web portals but what more important is the sharing of information between the diverse groups.

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