“School, then, is for teaching and learning how we can more fully build solidarities, technologies, and organizations that open up spaces for human flourishing.”
This was such a great way to finish your thoughts, and I completely agree. There is no formula in learning, no one-size-fits-all that will work for everybody, I think. I believe that it is the interactions and conversations that we engage in with people from different backgrounds and with different interests that helps us build our knowledge and skills.
Author: Michelle Soledad
Comment on Parallel lines by Michelle Soledad
Thank you for sharing your story, Iris! I could resonate with both lines that you shared – the differences we detect in our food and what Google has done for the way we now find and consume information. I too have been frustrated by my inability to truly capture the tastes from home, and one reason is that I think I could not control how an electric stove would heat what I was cooking at various stages of preparation the way I could when I cooked with flame from a gas burner. In the same way, Google has provided pros and cons to the information search and consumption process; we now have access to more information, but it can now be difficult to really do a deep dive on everything that we find.
Comment on Multi-tasking: its benefits and limits by Michelle Soledad
Thank you for sharing these resources, Hanh! Personally, multi-tasking is a concept that I find hard to relate to, mainly because it is something that I have not been able to do so far. I cannot, for example, listen to music and read/study at the same time, something that others have found particularly helpful. I agree with Jake that allowing your students to still use computers in class but setting boundaries is a good compromise; it shows students that you consider their thought process and approach to learning, but helps keep them in check as well. Great post!
Comment on The Attention Span of 140 Characters or Less by Michelle Soledad
I enjoyed reading your post, Brett! One of the most important realizations that came to me over the years is the fact that the student I was (or am) is not necessarily the same as the students before me in class. Unfortunately, without education-based guidance and resources, someone like me whose academic training is for something completely different will only teach the way I think I would want to be taught, which is not necessarily helpful, and certainly ineffective! I admire how you have decided to look beyond what your personal beliefs and perceptions are, and to really consider what students need. Great post!
Comment on Who Am I in the Classroom? by Michelle Soledad
Being authentic in the classroom is something that I share with you (not that I do not share the other aspects you shared in this post, because I do!). I find it difficult to imagine being an effective teacher and connecting with students if I am trying to be someone I’m not. Sometimes, it means admitting that I do not know everything, and that’s okay. I think your being authentic actually ties nicely with your desire to be approachable, because truth be told, I think students can spot someone who is fake from a mile away, and they will probably have no desire to interact with you if you weren’t authentic. Your students are lucky to have you!
Comment on What Harry Potter Taught Me About Teaching: Be a McGonagall, not a Lockhart. by Michelle Soledad
Rachel, you certainly had me at Harry Potter =)! And I also resonated a lot with you when you wrote “I’m willing to throw myself under the bus when it comes to explaining to students terrified of giving presentations that I too used to have a massive fear of public speaking.” In what some may regard unusual – inappropriate even – this is one of the things that I am most proud of, and what my students say they appreciate about me: that I, too, have weaknesses, and I do not know everything. Somehow, this knowledge makes me more relatable and inspires students to power through the many challenges that they have to face. I guess this is partly because I grew up mostly with professors whose aim, at least it seemed to me, was to terrify and establish superiority rather than educate. That was neither a helpful nor pleasant experience for me, and I did not want my students go through that with me. Kudos to you for being the real you in the classroom!
Comment on Experts Declare: Gaming is Good! by Michelle Soledad
This is off topic but… Colloquial Egyptian Arabic? I just have to say I think that would have been a totally awesome class!
Going back to the thoughts in your post, I totally agree with you when you brought up the idea of “an incorporation of both types of learning and teaching.” You are right, you cannot be the only one. I also believe that a one-size-fits-all intervention for effective teaching does not exist; what I do end up thinking about is the need for instructors to be sensitive to what is going on in their classroom at a particular moment, and listen to the unique needs of the equally unique individuals before them. What may work for the same course last semester may not work this semester, because the students in the class now may have different preferences and needs. How can this be done? I have yet to find out… Great post, thank you!
Comment on Brain Puzzle and Unspeakable Intension : On-line Course Learning by Michelle Soledad
I resonate with some of your experiences, Dan! I, too, took two online courses during my stay here, and I have mixed feelings about them. I liked one more than the other, and I think it was mainly because I had more opportunities to interact with both my professor and the other students in my class in the one that I liked. I guess it goes back to the fact that, at least for me, learning is very much a social activity, and I feel that I learn more effectively if I engage in conversations with other people about a particular topic, even if it is only through a forum. Thank you for posting!
Comment on (Learning About) Digital Learning by Michelle Soledad
Awesome, awesome post Rachel! I have seen this type of presentation, and I have always wondered how it gets done… now I have an idea, so thank you so much for that! I think I will have to reach out to you separately to talk more about this, or give me tips on how to go about learning it!
I absolutely agree with you that anything this awesome and cool is usually accompanied by a learning curve and the need to invest time and effort towards producing the material. At the end of the day, though, anything that will help our students learn and keep them more engaged is an investment worth making, and I applaud you for taking concrete steps towards doing that!
Comment on …but do we value what we assess? by Michelle Soledad
The number of inaudible “Yes!”-es I said in my head while reading through your post reminded me that we are teaching in the same space =). I now count assessment as one of the most difficult responsibilities of being an engineering educator, one that I admittedly have a lot to learn about. I would say that constructive alignment and reflective practice would play an important part in ensuring that assessment tools are designed appropriately, and truly assess what should be valued. It is, however, a long learning process (at least that’s what I think).
