Log Jam No More

Never mind why it’s been so long since I’ve posted (insert long whine here about being over-extended, distracted, and just plain tired….). It’s the first week of #OpenLearning18 and Mindful Learning week in GEDI. Causes to celebrate for sure. And as my planner helpfully notes, “Done is better than perfect.”  So……

While everyone is moving in and getting comfy with #OpenLearning18, I want to throw a couple of nuggets out there for the Contemporary Pedagogy (#GEDIVT) group:

I loved reading the posts about mindful learning this week. The after effects of Ken Robinson’s video about escaping education’s death valley really resonated with several people and I’m looking forward to pursuing those discussion threads F2F.  Jacqueline’s musings, for example, focused on how change creates friction and how the discomfort caused by that friction can then lead to resistance.  And Ashley gave us some terrific insight about the limits of (mindless) teaching in an experiential discipline like kinesiology.  In many of the posts I sensed that people generally thought “mindless” learning or the “current system” was bad, but weren’t sure what, if anything we can do to change the latter and vanquish the former. We should talk about that of course, but I’ll just say that I don’t think acceptance of the status quo is an option and that if we don’t empower ourselves to be the change we want to see, then no one else will either.

Inevitably when we talk about mindful learning a discussion of the need for “rote learning,” consolidating foundational knowledge and measuring the same ensues. As we shift our attention to assessment next week, I hope we can keep an eye on two things. 1) This recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education about how the downsides of the current enthusiasm for quantifying everything in higher ed. 2) The video by Prince Ea that Matt used to frame his discussion of how “what we teach” often overshadows “how we teach” and what we might do to change that. (Yes, I linked to Matt’s post rather than directly to the video, because you should read Matt’s post before heading over to You Tube.)

That is all.

It’s not too late to join #openlearning18 if you’re missing #GEDIVT, want more from @VT_GrATE, or are eager to explore new ideas in a mind-expanding network. Just head on over to the Open Learning Hub and we’ll get you signed up!

Greeting to all of the old, new and future colleagues connected to #OpenLearning18 and / or #GEDIVT.

And yes, I did leave amynelson.net in a terrible state of unfinished templateness for a few key weeks. But it’s fixed now, so deal with it.