Author: C.Bailey

Teaching in the 21st Century…

“We have a responsibility to ensure that every individual has the opportunity to receive a high-quality education, from prekindergarten to elementary and secondary, to special education, to technical and higher education and beyond.”
– Jim Jeffords

Students are becoming more unplugged to the traditional lecture and classroom climate, so instructional strategies are becoming more fluid and learner-centered, connecting innovated methods to link students with learning and establishing ownership over their learning. Instructional strategies are evolving from internal to external, not delaying or permitting educational and technical trends to dictate change.

Being an instructor isn’t solely about being a wonderful educator or presenting great, effective teaching and learning strategies that directs students to their mastery level. It encompasses the ability to be a change agent and visionary in advancing and progressing the future of higher education as lustrous as the past and in doing so, remaining abreast of hot topics, technical and educational trends in teaching as well as in students’ cognitive development, being an advocate, being available, supportive, and innovated for students in reevaluating and reinventing instructional strategies that aligns or supports the new-age of learners.

Teaching and learning is rapidly evolving, so embrace the power of transformation (i.e. open access, MOOC’s, disruptive technology, social media, competency based learning, and etc.). The emergence of technical trends, educational environments, and teaching strategies is leveraging these developments to make the most of students’ learning experience and decisions.

The future in maintaining the balance of non-traditional and traditional learning is adapting to innovated or contemporary pedagogical approaches while retaining the foundation of traditional methods.

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Reshape Student’s Idea of the Process of Learning | Instructor-Student Role Reversal

“Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.” – Jacques Brown

Tradition is meant to evolve, not necessarily remove. Contrary to traditional educational practices, wherein the power is instructor-centered requires a transformational effect on former traditional educational practices of learning itself, the instructors’ role, and on the learner’s disposition towards learning. Taking a step-back from traditional lecture to a non-traditional, informal view of learning; problem-based learning beings with establishing a foundation that is authentic and meaningful within the learning community, so that students realize they have the greater responsibility for their own learning. Utilizing problem-based learning approaches requires a transition from the traditional model of learning, so “relearning” and “revaluing” the learning process is vital before reshaping a student’s perception of their learning process.

I believe this form of learning provides students with creative, flexible, and imaginary licenses as it pertains to their discipline or subject to engage in activities or work that encourages a greater depth of reasoning, critical thinking, and creativity, which is optimal to learning. The process is semi-sructured, but still provides learners with an abundance of opportunities to be engaged, interact, self-monitor, increase self-efficacy, and autonomy in their learning. This learning environment creates depth learning in which entails creativity and non-traditional instructional strategies to impact and influence approaches to cognitive responses, social development, communication skills and potential opportunities that learners can not only transfer applied knowledge to real situations, but produce and construct their own knowledge in novel environments, so learning goes beyond the book and the learning community. Learners are empowered, so the power differential becomes almost concealed, thus making the student the expert in which creates confidence to take risks, make mistakes, and ask or seek help for clarification.

Learning is through discovery, social interaction, observation, and assistance or guidance, so influencing in-depth learning and engagement in prompting discussion(s) that students will process the information learned, studied or experienced by applying it, evaluating it, or comparing their understanding of it with their peers, which reinforces the peer-to-peer interaction and increases students’ involvement and participation in the course. Problem-based learning is an integral component to learning so that students are more involved and engage in the process of inquiry, investigation, and interpretation in which students are able to embark on these specific inquires and solve or create a resolution to problems or fill in the gaps and apply in actual settings or situations. So, I think re-conceptualizing traditions is a great alternative in finding a balance between tradition and non-traditional learning, so students are able to authentically demonstrate their knowledge utilizing appropriate methods suitable to the circumstances, and develop the confidence and competence to participate in meaningful learning communities or non-academic communities.

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Critical Pedagogy: A Community Conversation

“Learning is a process where knowledge is presented to us, then shaped through understanding, discussion andreflection.” – Paulo Freire

Learning involves the social construct of knowledge, so guiding students to reason democratically, continually question, and make meaning from a critical analysis of everything they learn, establishes autonomy, self-regulation, purpose, and increases the awareness of students, so that they become branches of learning, rather than objects, of the world. So, this is similar to the old adage, “Be in the world, not of the world”, which relates to dispelling conformity to social norms or patterns of the world, but be transformed by the renewing and empowering of knowledge.

There are a number of racially diverse students that are part of learning communities in which cultural capital is frequently accompanied, and commonly differ from typical norms and world-views, so it’s vital to place the need of the student as primary. Critical reflection aids in placing racially diverse students needs and considerations primary through an analysis of self or critical critique of beliefs and behaviors, so it’s imperative to acknowledge the impact of your worldview and the influence it will reflect on the construction of students’ conception of self and the forming of their beliefs formed into knowledge by discussion.

What resonated most was Paulo indicated that learning isn’t necessarily dichotomous in which it’s amiss to accept one side, because knowledge isn’t restricted to solely reason, content, emotions, or fallacies, but should seek connections between understandings, interactions, and emotions. I really appreciate Paulo’s notion that teaching isn’t about transfer, but the construction of knowledge and possibilities. As educators we are tasked with identifying students’ prior knowledge and creating environments for students to construct new knowledge or add to existing knowledge, so it’s necessary for us to understand our students’ diverse world-views in effort to make their learning more meaningful as well as identify ways they are able to learn, construct, and produce their knowledge.

Learning is a self-governing process to some degree, so we should eliminate some of the reliance on the teacher to prevent authority dependence. The end goal is to empower and establish student’s ownership on their learning, so in effort to do so, a collaborative relationship should be constructed to make learning more meaningful as it applies to their cultural background, experiences, discipline, and world-views. So, this is similar to the old adage used in the advertising world, “In order to know the consumer, we have to be the consumer”, which relates to the teachers becoming learners, and the learners becoming teachers.

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Encouraging & Collaborating Learning Differences

“If we begin by choosing to value that both ourselves and our students have a human dignity, then we have a common ground to establish a learning relationship.”

– Dale Knepper, Instructor, Fresno Pacific University

There is a unique voice in each student that represents their own experiences, logic and reasoning, stories, cultural backgrounds, ideas, thoughts, misconceptions, perspectives, abilities, and knowledge, which requires an environment to value, respect, and support their diverse voices while responding to their assorted need(s) and developing their unique skill-sets and moxie that will ultimately lead students to areas of constructing personal meaning to them.

Initiating investigation and exploration begins with The Knowledge Partner (Teacher), establishing a climate that equally values the voice of each student and develop processes for students to establish connections that promote a healthier, holistic learning climate/environment and student achievement. There are shared roles and responsibilities between The Knowledge Partner and the student in building an inclusive environment. The Knowledge Partner is responsible for accommodating the need(s) of each student, promote deep thinking, challenge assumptions or beliefs, assist in reflecting on ideas or thought for further elaboration, provide constructive feedback, and most of all encourage creativity, questioning, and reasoning. 

While The Knowledge Partner is committed to student diversity and appreciating the various learning differences, the ultimate goal is to provide meaningful, authentic activities, assignments, and materials that will aid students in connecting and engaging with the material as well as one another effectively. The Knowledge Partner works collaboratively with each student as well as each student working with one another in constructing/ creating knowledge and providing the necessary resources in to deepening understanding in content area. 

The focus of The Knowledge Partner in an inclusive environment is being aware of your own hidden biases, cultural assumptions, and stereotypes that possibly could influence interactions or interfere with students’ learning and providing students with the opportunity to develop their skill-sets, mastery, and depth of content in the specific area of focus. Overall, inclusive pedagogy isn’t solely about race, gender, or cultural backgrounds, but a compilation of everything as a whole to transition from “one-size fits all” approach, to a more “tailored approach” to the unique need(s) and voice of each student.

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Assessment… Is learning taking place?

There are a number of puzzle pieces to learning, which isn’t solely the assessment instrument, but also academic standards, specific state standards, Common Core ideas, essential questions, and instructional strategies. The common problem in K-12 is that the curriculum does not align with the Standards of Learning (SOLs). Different types of assessment instruments provide information for various decisions, but not every assessment procedure is applicable or serve some types of decisions effectively. Preparation for learning begins with lucid learning objectives, learning goals, and expectations in which is the foundation to assessment and instruction. Assessment and instruction are synchronized with three key concepts, behavior (classroom demeanor), motivation (student effort in application), and learning (student achievement/understanding/performance).

The question posed, is how do we engage on each key concept, while aligning with the SOLs without impeding on creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving? After viewing the Dan Pink video, I realized that engagement begins with self-direction, exploration, reasoning, questioning, and discovery. As Dan Pink shared a narrow focus restricts possibilities, but possibly increasing rigor on assessments will permit teachers the pathway to provide students with different possibilities as well as allowing students to construct their meaning and interpretations in the specific subject area to demonstrate their mastery and autonomy. Currently in some subjects, assessments are narrow to some extent, and mostly offer students multiple choice options, instead of options for students to demonstrate their mastery in the subject area. 

Classroom climate, instruction, coordination, and collaboration alignment provides a basis for valid assessment in understanding the relationship with learner and content. Its a system that works holistically relevant to both individual students (learning decisions) and about groups of students (teaching/instructional decisions). The cliche is “Assessment should not be for the sake of assessing”, but to add to the heavily used cliche, looking at the results/reporting to improve upon as well as a reinforcement tool for measuring students understanding. Students’ benefit as well from assessment in making informed decision(s) about their learning in which is contingent upon the teacher integrating feedback into the instructional process that provides students with stages of progress as well as providing students with the skill set in self-assessing their learning. 

Ultimately, being aware of various assessments and how it relates or align with learner performance on those particular assessments is vital as well as taking in consideration state standards and ensuring that learning objectives and student assessments align with selected standards. My personal opinion is that go assessments benefits the learner and the assessor in various ways.

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The Yoga of Learning… Mindful Learning

Yoga is a technique that one has to master and practice common or basic poses before transiting into more advanced poses. It’s best practice as a yogi to honor where you are in your practice, but know that you can work on perfecting challenging poses. Many yogis who face challenges save their issues for when they are within a group setting, which is their learning community or practicing
one-on-one with a teacher. There are a number of things to remember in practicing yoga like, being open, visualizing, being present, moving mindfully and slowly, breathing,  focusing, and letting go to name a few. When thinking of mindful learning, I think of the yoga of learning. In order to remember common techniques in yoga, you need to have repeated exposure to those techniques and practice, which is much like learning.

Cramming for a yoga class provides no long-term benefit and neither does cramming for a test/exam, the information is only stored for a limited time and fails to produce long-term learning and retention. Yoga isn’t an easy technique to master and in order to be an effective learner, one should exercise self-regulation in dismissing external distractions and identifying new methods to increase the level of attention.

Learning isn’t meant to be simplistic or easy to some degree, a little struggle is acceptable for the learner, because when the mind has to work, learning embeds better. More effort to retrieve the learning/knowledge when struggle or challenge takes place strengthens learning by that retrieval. When I think of mindful learning, I think of capturing retrieval in which ties the knot for memory and with enough retrieval access, creates pathways/shortcuts into easily accessing that knowledge. Teachers utilize this retrieval practice through assessment, which good assessment involves instant feedback from the retrieval practice effect. So, good assessment should be the core of good informed decision-making and instruction development.  Assessment aid teachers’ classroom decisions as well as provide vital information for those particular decisions.

Learning and memory consist of practice, recall, exposure, elaboration, and sleep, which is necessary to strengthen both memory and cues over an extended time period. The brain connects concepts with prior knowledge, deciphers similarities, and differences when new information is added to existing, which links learning and recall making adaptability. Much like yoga, as we master basic poses, we move to more advanced poses, with learning as we master a specific content area we transition into the next phase, and much like teaching in order to progress students to their mastery, we have to make connections with prior knowledge to construct the foundation to new knowledge.

Learners have a sense of solidarity in their prior knowledge, lack the skills or substance, and teachers have misconceptions that hinder new knowledge being useful. Essentially, knowledge can be organized, either facilitates or impedes learning, but how one organizes the knowledge influences the learning, application and execution, so link them comprehensible. Yoga an learning involves mindful learning in retrieving knowledge and skills from experiences, which are depicted from memory. More effort is applied in the practice of delayed retrieval, which reinforces retention on being able to access those yoga poses or specific content. 

Chill Break, Enjoy 🙂

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The Future of Higher Education

Students are becoming more unplugged to traditional lecture and the university environment, so institutions are identifying more innovated ways to connect students with learning and the university community. Institutions are evolving from internal to external, not delaying or permitting educational and technical trends to dictate change. Institutions are beginning to embrace the power of transformation (i.e. open access, MOOC’s, disruptive technology, social media, flipped classrooms, competency based learning, and etc.). The role of faculty is also changing and being redefined, due to the impact and growth of technology and distant learning platforms. Faculty is needed both online and on campus, so the ability to adapt is vital, and will be an essential component in decision-making as institutions transform.


The emergence of technical trends, educational environments, and teaching strategies, higher education is leveraging these developments to make the most of students’ learning experiences and choices. The future of higher education is leading more to curricula reform offering more multi-disciplinary programs in STEM majors or cross-disciplinary programs, finding balance between non-traditional learning (i.e. MOOC’s or distant learning) with traditional learning, investing in technology and apps, recreating space for increased class sizes, and finding unique ways to increase retention and enrollment rates. The future in maintaining the balance of non-traditional and traditional learning is adopting to innovated or contemporary pedagogical approaches while retaining the foundation of traditional methods.

Institutions who adopt and embrace transformation have the opportunity to support learning beyond the classroom and provide a healthy collegiate life experience for students. With the future of higher education evolving rapidly, there is potential to expand or improve learning outcomes and redefining the institution’s accountability and responsibility to students and the community. There is no absolute way of knowing the future of higher education or make certain an institutions success in the future, but the objective is to empower students, establish an inclusive environment, and strengthen transfer.

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