Comment on Remembering why we do what we do by Shaun Respess

I think it’s important that you really keyed in on the ethical ramifications of various disciplines (being an ethical scholar myself). Unfortunately, these conditions require a more plural direction and often more work than many would like to allow. Rigidity and modeling appear to be safer and potentially easier for some, which may be why some of these concerns are left out. Another distinction that I would like to pull out of your post is the difference between “knowledge” and “understanding,” in regards to the soul as you call it. Understanding is a method and a destination that we typically do not push far enough for similar reasonings. When we accept knowledge as the final or penultimate step for embracing a problem, then I believe that we sell ourselves and others short. Great post.

Comment on People-feelings by Shaun Respess

Your sentiments ring true for many of us. Eliminating emotion takes out a substantial part of the learning experience. Making ourselves vulnerable and allowing ourselves to be excited at appropriate times can send a powerful message in and of itself to our students. Being sensitive to the variety of emotions they experience during the course of their education also allows us to connect with them beyond the information and to adjust our methods to better suit their needs. Leaving the course strictly to objectivity already involves particular emotional choices, and further robs both the instructor and students of a more full educational experience.

Comment on Teaching for the 21st Century – Connecting the Dots by Sevda

Thanks for the post, Bailey. I totally agree what you said here, but I am not sure if the reality would be the same as Chris said. Yeah, if students cannot apply whatever they learned in the classroom to real-world problems, we cannot say that learning process was successful enough. Students should find some new ways to solve those problems or create some solutions to solve them, instead of bringing up some memorized information. And we are the people who can make that difference in the education system as educators as you said.

Comment on Just do your (art)work! by Patrick Salmons

Sarah, I really enjoyed your discussion. Your students do not understand how lucky they are in terms of having a teacher that creates these creative assignments. I think what is happening is very similar to what happens in many classrooms. Students are not creative, they do not want to be. I found that engaging with them throughout the semester, but even then some of my students are uninterested. Yeah solving a single problem is, pardon my English, problematic. We need to get involved!

Comment on Questioning Status Quo, Revisiting Role of Education by nedamoayerian

Thank you very much for your thought provoing post ,Yousef. I totally agree with you that each of us has the “potential” to question the status quo and maybe the power to change the structural inequalities; however, I am very skeptical of our current educational system with its neoliberal perspective. I think unfortunately, we are moving more and more towards training automatons who mono-functionally try to solve technical problems rather than targeting the roots through a holistic approach.

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Comment on What is school for? by britthip

I also disagree with some of his points. The one that stood out the most was the first one. This idea of flipped classrooms puts a heavy burden on students to learn on their own time. I couldn’t imagine having to learn organic chemistry or physical chemistry on my own. The most you could do with the flipped model would be to review the lecture and re-listen to the same example that didn’t allow you to connect the dots in the first place. At worst, the student uses Wikipedia to mostly inaccurately simplify a potentially complex idea. I feel that students need to have a bulk of their introduction to new information be inside a classroom, or at least with someone who is readily available to re-explain a complex topic in a new way. This “innovative” classroom design puts the bulk of learning on the students, and their collaboration with others who may actually understand or may be completely wrong.

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