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As I read Finding My Teaching Voice by Sarah E. Deel, I was stuck by a couple of similarities between she and I within the first few paragraphs. First, her first teaching responsibility was for three sections of an introductory biology course – I am currently a TA for three sections that are about the …

Continue reading “My Authentic Teaching Self”

This week’s readings on Problem-Based Learning (PBL) was really interesting to me as someone who is intrigued by pedagogical practices, however this is a concept that I think I would struggle with as a student and potentially as an instructor. One of the parts of PBL that I know I would struggle with stemmed from […]

Online courses sound like a very recent phenomenon due to the pandemic, and it really is – even the most anti-online professors had to transition to the online context. I bet it would be very difficult for a professor who teaches the same material for the last 20 years with minimal virtualization. However, as Todd […]

Prior to college, I had zero experience teaching and conveying information to others. This changed my freshman year of undergrad where I started working as a tour guide for my university, and later became an orientation leader. Through these positions, I learned how to convey information about the university, it’s policies, campus life, etc. and […]

“The climate of respect that is born of just, serious, humble, and generous relationships, in which both the authority of the teacher and the freedom of the students are ethically grounded, is what converts pedagogical space into authentic educational experience.” – Freire (1998). For this week’s blog post, I decided to summarize points that resonated […]

The greatest enemy in teaching is boredom. Sitting and listening, sitting and reading, sitting and pretty much anything – these are all generally boring activities. And when you’re bored, your mind wanders away from what it’s supposed to be learning. Yet this is the most common and certainly the easiest way to teach. I’m no …

Continue reading “Discovering your teaching self”

In reading and thinking about case-based pedagogy, I found myself reading the word “case” so often that I lost all faith that I knew what it meant. What is a case, and what makes it different from an example, word problem, or open-ended question? I sometimes find it helpful to try and chase the history […]

I wanted to start this post by addressing a video I just saw: ‘How microaggressions are like mosquito bites‘. Too often, I find that discussions of ‘sensitive topics’ (or insert your other favorite euphemism) happen in this uncomfortable sort of somber monotone. As if the very nature of these topics somehow necessitates a level of …

Continue reading “Inclusive Pedagogy feat. Offensive Language”

The topic of inclusive pedagogy is a very important topic to me, as I try my best in all areas of life to be cognizant and inclusive of others. The Brave Spaces / Safe Spaces article by Arao and Clemens

  Introduction: In this blog post we are going to address the issue of use of technology in the class, be it digital devices or educational tools. A thorough analysis of the pros and cons of different technologies will be done and discussed with respect to our personal experiences in academia. As a team we …

Continue reading “Technology In Education: Boon or Bane, Digital Pedagogy Team Post”

Sarah Deel’s narrative on finding her true teaching voice provided a wonderful journey through her first experiences teaching and helped me think back to my first year (last year) and how much I have continued to adapt my own teaching style. As a public speaking teacher, we are given a weekly script and overview ofContinue reading “Discovering my authentic teaching self”

This week’s topics centered around the idea of Inclusive Pedagogy, a term I was previously unfamiliar with. However, after reading more I really like that it’s a all hands on deck, community effort. Both the students and instructor have to work together to ensure that inclusive pedagogy is possible and actively implemented. While I really […]

Online education has been on the rise in the past decade and has taken the world by a storm, primarily because of its global reach coupled with interactive and on-demand learning. Through this blog post, I would like to introduce the concept of MOOCs and address the issue of MOOCs as a potential replacement for …

Continue reading “MOOC: The Future of Education Or Not”

I think many of the popular pedagogical approaches (problem-based learning, active learning, case-based pedagogies) have expanded to various learning environments and disciplines. This is a good thing, do not get me wrong, but I also tend to stumble upon conversations that talk about how some instructors struggle with implementing those in their classrooms, and some …

Continue reading “Let’s Pump the Brakes before Diving Straight into Popular Pedagogies”

This week I want to reflect on Paulo Freire’s concept of  “banking” in education and what it means to practice a critical pedagogy in the classroom. For Freire, this “banking” approach to pedagogy means treating the student as an object to be filled with ‘correct’ information. It assumes that the student is passive, only a …

Continue reading “How do We Practice Critical Pedagogy?”

Being a PhD student in engineering education, I’m regularly thinking about the many ways in which engineering education can be improved, often from the standpoint of my own experiences from my undergraduate education in mechanical engineering. I often daydream about what I’d do differently if I was the instructor of these courses, not that IContinue reading “Inclusive Pedagogy and Engineering”

The idea problem-based pedagogy (PBL) is an idea that needs to be practiced more in all rungs of education. PBL has been described as a learning style that utilizes real world problems and solutions as teaching tools. For example if a teacher wanted to teach a student about engineering, a real world problem such as …

Continue reading “Week 8 (Problem (Case)-Based Pedagogy)”

I’m going to go on a tangent for my critical pedagogy blog post, thanks to this video and interview of Henry Giroux dredging up considerations that I’ve been mulling over for the past few years. In this video, Giroux talks about the importance in education’s development of agency in children. In fact, he proclaims that …

Continue reading “Technology and Agency (Critical Pedagogy post)”

As a teacher, I pride myself on loving what I do. Draider’s (2002) article resonated with me, stating that some teachers find what they want to do at a young age. For most of my young life, I thought I wanted to be a journalist. However, it turns out that I was always the one …

Continue reading “Influential Figures: Educators.”

 I believe to prepare students for jobs that haven’t been created yet, we need to teach them how to be great problem solvers so that they’ll be ready for anything. One way to do this is by teaching content and skills using real-world case studies, a learning model that’s focused on reflection during the problem-solving […]

In “Teaching As An Act of Love: The Classroom and Critical Praxis,” Antonia Darder (2002) draws from Paulo Friere’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and the concept of teaching as an act of love is directly connected to educators who have passion for teaching to the extent that they may have had a lifelong dream to …

Continue reading “Critical Pedagogy: This is Real Life!”

This week’s readings focused on case-based and problem-based learning.  A Stanford University Newsletter on Teaching on Problem-Based Learning (PBL) proposes that “Students learn best by constructing solutions to open-ended, complex, and problematic activities with classmates, rather than listening passively to lectures.” This week’s readings led me to reflect on my own experiences with problem-based learning […]

  This week I want to focus on the question of technology in the classroom, specifically how a critical pedagogy may integrate various types of technology in the classroom. It has regularly been my experience, both as a student and now more recently as an instructor, that students feel a certain attachment to having technology …

Continue reading “Reflecting on the Role of Technology in the Classroom”

Bringing My Whole Self             My mouth went dry as I looked out at my classmates. I hovered near the podium as my professor pulled up my slides. “Okay, you’re all set,” he said. I took a deep breath and…

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I find Boostrom’s idea of ‘brave space’, elucidated by Brian Arao and Kristi Clemens (Arao and Clemens 2013, 141) particularly compelling in thinking about the issue of microaggression. Brave space is set up for accommodating/facilitating an open and assertive attempt at addressing the issues of discrimination and privilege in the pedagogical spaces. As most of […]

I think this week’s readings challenged me a bit. I’ve always enjoyed teaching and knew it was something I wanted to do professionally. I enjoy interacting with students, and to me, teaching feels like a way that I can make an impact on the lives of others. That being said, I’ve spent a lot of […]

The readings for this week’s topic made me think deeply about the teaching journey, particularly about it being a choice of how we carry our teaching practices. When we choose democratic, open-minded practices, there is always a risk involved. I reflected on the acceptance of students evaluation and how I think I should be committed … Continue reading Reflection on Critical Pedagogy →

I am discussing the article entitled “Decoding Digital Pedagogy, pt. 1: Beyond the LMS” found here by Sean Morris. The article decodes what actually digital pedagogy means and how it is practices, it adds some novel insights that we don’t usually consider.  We often imagine moving our lectures and slides online with the same configurations … Continue reading GRAD 5114: Online Pedagogy

Anaid Shaver, KJ Chew, Rifat Sabbir Mansur, Sam Salous, Zhenyu Yao (in alphabetical order) “We did not know it was different from online teaching. We are not sure what digital pedagogy is.” These were some of the opening statements we had in the group. Our discussion revolved around interpreting what “digital pedagogy” is.  For some … Continue reading What is Digital Pedagogy? →

This blog post is inspired by Mindful Learning, written by Ellen J. Langer. In this article, professor Langer clarifies the myths about learning and how they relate to learning mindlessly. Mindful learning requires active engagement with the subject of study, … Continue reading →

Paulo Freire is a fascinating thinker of education. One of his enormously helpful preoccupations is with the question of power. This concern, of power, has reframed the entire body of discourse about education from moral and scientific to that of power and governance. However, drawing my inspiration from Freire’s text this week, let me ruminate […]

Implementing active learning has proven that it has a positive impact on student engagement and learning. Reading about the benefit of th…

I am addicted to my smartphone. And it’s making me depressed, destroying my creativity, ruining my attention span, and straining my in-person relationships. I’d venture to say that you are probably addicted to your smartphone, too. How do you feel about that? Is it negatively impacting your life? Recently, I’ve been trying to work on […]

More than ever before, students around the world are being exposed to various online learning environments. Many have no choice. Students are being thrown into a new learning environments brimming with technological bugs, limited interaction, and newfound levels of self-discipline.

The Trial and Error of Digital Pedagogy Group post by Chris Clements, Austin Garren, Jazmin Jurkiewicz, Andrew Knight, Malle Schilling, and Brittany Shaughnessy What do we mean by digital pedagogy? Digital pedagogy presents a unique set of issues that one may not think of when first stepping foot in the classroom. Digital pedagogy hosts a …

Continue reading “Digital Pedagogy (Group Post)”

I compare myself a lot to other people. That was the environment I grew up in. In Malaysia,  rankings of students after a big strings of exams were posted on the board for all to see. You, your friends, your peers, your teachers, your parents, and everyone in the school WILL know where you rank …

Continue reading “Not to Compare, I Remind Myself”

  Being a subject matter expert does not guarantee that the person can successfully transfer that knowledge to someone else and is no benchmark for being a great teacher. Great teachers have the ability to impart knowledge to their students in a manner that leaves an impression on their hearts and minds for life. My …

Continue reading “Voice of Enlightenment: Reflections On My Inner Teaching Self”

“…to teach is not to transfer the comprehension of the object to a student but to instigate the student, who is a knowing subject, to become capable of comprehending and of communicating what has been comprehended.” – Teaching Is a Human Act, Paulo Freire Over the summer, I read Pedagogy of the Oppressed by PauloContinue reading “Translating Critical Pedagogy to Engineering”

As I continue to think about my teaching philosophy and pedagogical practices, I analyzed the differences between Case-based Teaching and Problem-based learning. There are multifarious ways to teach and learn, and I know this because I have engaged as a learner outside of these aforementioned styles. Case-based learning includes teaching using case studies from real-world …

Continue reading “Case-based Teaching vs Problem-based Learning: What’s the Difference?”

Education is not always an easy process. Learning a skill or studying requires constant improvement of one’s current knowledge/skill. Studying…

I am grateful to learn about problem-based and case-based learning in this class. In the class I will teach in the spring, I previously planned to have students hear stories written by disabled writers. Although I may still incorporate some…

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Inclusive Pedagogy is a new trend based on the increased diversity happening in the classroom. Nowadays, differences in races, origins, sexual preferences, and backgrounds enrich learning experiences and developments in the arts and sciences. However, although being beneficial for learning, the problem remains that these differences remain not clearly addressed in pedagogical approaches. Because ofContinue reading “Inclusive Pedagogy as a result of Increased Diversity”

This week’s readings on inclusive pedagogy provided excellent practices for creating an inclusive teaching environment that fosters positive, long-term values of openness and acceptance of others beliefs and ideas. Arao and Clemens’ article “From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces” resonated with me personally, as I was a part of the activity described in the article’sContinue reading “Incorporating Brave Spaces Into Teaching”

This week’s topic resonates well with me.  It talks about Inclusive pedagogy which focuses more on the constant reflection of how to make our learning environments places that are not only safe for diverse individuals but also places where issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the uppermost importance. However, its hard to achieve […]

If not all educators are called to be pedagogues, then how do we hold (or expect to hold) educator’s accountable for sound pedagogical practices in a global environment where everyone is barely treading water? On the flip side of this coin (as if it’s really a coin), is the question of where the collaboration existsContinue reading “Digital Pedagogy”

I was assigned some readings on ‘connected learning’ for class the other day, and I am happy to report that they were not only worthwhile reads, but also short and to the point. This post is focused on one of these readings, a blog post by Tim Hitchcock, Professor of Digital History at the University …

Continue reading “Telling My Story”

Kozma and Clark’s debate was about whether media affects the learning process or media is just a vehicle for instructions. Since I’m an instructional designer I know well about the debate between Kozma and Clark about the media and if its ability to help students learn better or not. The basic idea of Clark’s argument …

Continue reading “Blog Post #4: Kozma and Clark’s Debate before Three Decades is still Relevant”

Photo from pixabay.com I have this vision in my head of the teacher I want to be. I want to have the courage to love my students, as Darder encourages. I want to be a role model and a create … Continue reading →

This week’s readings went over finding your teaching voice as well as how to be yourself in the classroom. Having been a public speaking teacher to more than 240 students since my time began here at Tech, I found this reading to be very reflective of the lessons I had to learn along the way. …

Continue reading “Finding Your Teaching Voice”

I was quite interested in the idea introduced by Arao and Clemens that instructors should move from “safe spaces” to “brave spaces.” Of course, this type of terminology has a specific usage that points to student affairs programming contexts. However, I do believe that the conversation around safety and controversy is relevant to the typesContinue reading “Inclusive Pedagogy”