Category: Week 3 – Anti-Teaching/Mindful Learning

I didn’t grow up playing a lot of video games, and still now I don’t play many.  But on school mornings if we got up and ready in time, my brother, my neighbor, and I used to play Mario Kart … Continue reading →

While completing the readings for this week regarding mindful learning, there were several things that came to mind. As someone who has practiced mindfulness outside of the classroom, the thought of bringing it into an academic setting seemed a bit strange at first. However, this thought was followed by a question regarding why learning is […]

As I transition from some of my last years as a student to a hopeful professor, I have come to realize the commitment issue that I may face from my future students. Michael Wesch discusses this commitment issue; for example, he mentions in his anti-teaching article that students are more likely to ask administrative questions versus exploratory questions. If students are to…

In this week, we were introduced with new topics in GEDI — teaching and learning. Ken Robinson’s TED talk and reading articles criticize the traditional in-class teaching. Ken Robinson talked about the importance of regarding individuality and creating learning environment. The article “Anti-Teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance” echo the TED talk, Michael Welsh also … Continue reading Demystify Demystification about Learning

How does one learn? How do we all learn? In an exercise in class, we were instructed to come up with six words to indicate how we feel we best learn. “Learn” is not a simple prospect, and each group of six words, while exhibiting patterns or trends, were different. One student may not learn […]

In our second class, we watched an interesting TED talk and debated about whether we should keep standard tests and what are the best ways to evaluate learning process and the qualification of students for college or graduate programs.  It was a good discussion, even though I agree with many of the opinions about why … Continue reading GRAD 5114: Thoughts about Standard Test →

After participating in the class discussion and reading the article on Mindful learning by Ellen Langer, it is clear that Mindful learning is actively engaging in the learning process by paying attention at the present and noticing new perspectives, and being sensitive to contexts. Here I will discuss how mindful learning helps engineers to participate … Continue reading Mindful Learning and its need for 21st century engineers →

“We should teach strategic principles for dealing with chance, the unexpected and uncertain, and ways to modify these strategies in response to continuing acquisition of new information. We should learn to navigate on a sea of uncertainties, sailing in and around islands of certainty. ‘The expected doesn’t occur and [the gods] open the door for […]

I have a difficult time watching the video Michael Wesch’s students put together titled “A Vision of Students Today.” Why I find it difficult to watch is because reading statements like “I Facebook through most of my classes” and “I spend 3 ½ hours a day online” make it seem as if the students saying … Continue reading Who’s Leaving Whom Behind?