Watching the recorded webinar for topic 4 (Design for Online & Blended Learning), I am aware of the privileges I bring from my background area of expertise. Teaching in, and administering an applied program, so many of the principles described explicitly by Dr. Marti Cleveland-Innes are intuitively and implicitly part of my practice.
In normal times, we have a few courses which are lecture-based (fashion history, for example), but even yet we incorporate as many applied activities and assessments as possible. Most of our courses are hands-on, many project-based. With 15-person cohorts of maker-types, we can’t avoid knowing when our students are bored or disengaged. When the pandemic hit, we were one of the few programs that were allowed to resume in-person instruction. We transitioned anything we could online, and were very conscious and purposeful about it (in part, because we had to justify every in-person learning experience in mountains of paperwork).
I recognize the stuckness* of a teacher-centred approach – we have some stuckness in our department as well – generally older instructors who are teaching courses in the ways they have always been taught. When I first started teaching, I had the same stuckness. With these team members, it’s so hard for them to even comprehend that transmission does not equal reception, integration, and future application. There is no appetite for study, experimentation, or reflection – but these long-term team members are valuable parts of our team otherwise, and for their knowledge in a niche area. One ongoing challenge in my leadership skills is honing strategies to meet these instructors where they are, and build on their strengths – as Dr. Cleveland-Innes says, we don’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Preparing for a job search, I’m painfully aware of how bad I am at dropping names and theory into descriptions of my practice – even when what I do aligns with theory and best practice. I’m great at creating a culture of learning, collaboration, evaluation, and creative courage. My superpowers: emotional intelligence, excellence orientation, openness, authenticity, imagination. Do I get better at name-dropping, or do I try to find a work culture that will appreciate my approach?
*nod to Annika who told me about an activity she does with her students – collaboratively creating a digital collage to better know their ‘stuck’. I love this.
