Depends on which bridge you used ?

This was a great post! I have some of the same struggles with trying to translate some of the activities or concepts I’ve observed in classes outside of my discipline to my engineering classes. So much emphasis is made on the “right” answer that I think we’ve created an issue of students having procedural knowledge rather than concept knowledge on things that we need them to know as engineers. (I know I was guilty of this in my engineering science classes as an undergrad…) This semester though, through this class and others, I’m coming up with easy ways to implement active learning activities into my classroom so that the students are just mindlessly retaining information that they’ll lose when the semester is over. I do think it’s important to have a wrap-up moment at the end of class – another thing I don’t see in my engineering classes – where you make sure the students have the key points that they were suppose to get from the class period.

I think that there is a big difference between being on the internet and surfing Facebook and being on the internet and using Google to look up terms you might not know or extra information about a certain topic. To me using Google to do searching is just another form of learning and may help students. If you’re able to use the internet for ‘good’ during a class rather than for ‘bad’ I think that it can be extremely useful just as you found out. As the quote you provided said learning is: “the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience,…”. To me using the internet to look up extra details is form of experience and one that sounds like works well for you.

Tim nails it on the head here! The problems in education are deep and systemic; new and improved teaching methods that cultivate and put a premium on mindfulness are important but they do not and cannot address the underlying causes of the problem.

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I thought your entire response was well written and thoughtful, but I particularly identified with the end of your blog post when you said:

“That focus is so important in our everyday life. If we just go through our days without intention, without connection, without reflection, we are can be just absorbing information without context. I think that’s something that is missing in most cases of our lives – reflection and mindfulness. I know they provide me with moments of clarity, understanding, and purpose to what I’m doing, why I’m do things that way, and what that might mean or affect things in the future.”

The intention/connection/reflection is a great way of putting that. It’s actually something you could use as a writing exercise for students, not just in an effort to get them to be more mindful (although that’s obviously a goal), but also to get them to think (and be mindful) about the ways audience and purpose factor in when drafting a piece of writing.

Dude. Thanks for the idea!

I do agree that the current systemized learning structure creates a barrier for not only students but their professors. I have even found that myself to fall into that trap as a student in engineering classrooms where I walk in and just expect the professor to spew all this information at me for me to catch what I can or deem important to me because through all my years in the U.S. educational system that’s what I’m been trained to expect. But that’s not where/how learning occurs. Because of my experience, I’ve found myself looking for ways to break down that wall – to knock my student loose from that mindless way of learning – in the beginning so that, at least in my class, they know that we’re going to be learning together, that they each bring something else to the table – so that they might leave my class with more than just information but knowledge.

I just googled who is Conway and what is “alternative facts”. Haha, it is very interesting that you linked “mindful learning” to “alternative facts”. Conway is indeed very competitive in her job – never answer the question and always can find an excuse.

Great overview of mindfulness to learning, especially with how you discussed Langer’s piece. I especially liked your definition of it: “Mindfulness to learning approaches knowledge with openness to new information and perspectives, and the freedom to consider more than a single solution or a single way to approach a matter.” (I read that definition, the whole time nodding my head, saying “yes, yes that’s how I try to instruct my students.”)

I was also glad you touched on Langer’s argument (re: what we teach v. how we teach it) and agree wholeheartedly that, “the key lies in the ability of sparking the curiosity of students so that even if they don’t particularly enjoy the subject of the course, they still find it compelling and worthy of their attention.”

This part of Langer’s argument really resonated with me. I always ask my students if they hate writing, and remind them I’m there to help them improve as much as they can; if that means they only want to write well enough to get by in the context of their own personal/professional goals, I accept that. We can’t make everyone love the subject we teach, but we *can* strive to make it clear their education and what they learn is important, even if they do so begrudgingly. I know not everyone is in this camp, but I like to be honest and open with my students and ask them about their goals and what they need. A few times, students have surprised me and themselves by learning to like writing because of this practical approach.

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Katy, as professors, our mindfulness is being actively engaged with the learning community, where they are now, and reflecting the present needs of the learners and perhaps externalities. So the drinking water quality professor’s teaching will reflect the evolution of the discipline to include mindfulness of the customer and the aesthetic qualities of water. Another aspect of mindfulness may be sensitivity to trends, so the professor can plot a trajectory to allow the learners to meet their topic where it is likely to be by the time they become practitioners. Thank you for relating mindfulness to engineering practice.

I really enjoyed this post! So many good points! I loved your description of good teachers. We do need to have our own “ah-ha” moments right along side our students and I think that is definitely part of mindfullness – realizing that we do not have all the answers, that we can learn from our students, and that our models can change as well.

One of my favorite lines was “I think that the best learning occurs in classrooms and on computers and in large groups and alone and in loud conversations and silently.” Learning happens everywhere when we open our minds to what we can learn from the everyday.