An excerpt from our Best Practices document states

“As lifelong learners, we collaborate with students and colleagues to further knowledge and understanding.  We demonstrate a willingness to take risks and an openness to engage new ideas.  We stay current with evolving teaching strategies and methodologies, model reflective practices, and seek opportunities to grow.”

Our social media experiment investigating formative assessment as well as Dr. Sousa’s primacy-recency research brought this statement to life for me last week.  There are many stories from the #20minwms experiment that give evidence that we are committed to the statement above. 

The most visual evidence (and most talked about on Friday) was the ad campaign for the Lunch and Learn opportunity on Wednesday to discuss Twitter as an educational tool.  One of our friends and colleagues, @DeepSouth300, loaned us (Quantum Progress and me) his image for our poster.  Don’t you think this is a great visualization of a willingness to take risks and an openness to engage in new ideas?  Isn’t @DeepSouth300 demonstrating  the effort to stay current with evolving teaching strategies and methodologies as well as seeking opportunities to grow?

Kudos to Quantum Progress for his creativity and photoshop work on this ad.  And more kudos to @DeepSouth300 for his learning!

If you follow the timeline for our #20minwms hashtag, you will see many examples of collaboration between students and faculty that further knowledge and understanding.  Just being willing to participate in this experiment to tweet summaries of learning and questions demonstrates a willingness to take risks and engage in new ideas.  Applying the 2o minute learning episode and then break models staying current with teaching strategies and methodologies.  The event of having students complete a mid-class reflection helps all learners, young and old, to see opportunities to grow.

Isn’t it great that the questions and support continue over the weekend?

Our Best Practices statement goes on to say that we strive to

• seize teachable moments
• communicate effectively and skillfully
• be empathetic, accessible, and approachable
• understand and address various learning styles
• keep sight of educational objectives while being flexible

I have often wondered about seizing the teachable moments.  Don’t you think hearing what our learners think they are learning and listening to their questions at the 20 minute mark offers many opportunities to seize teachable moments?  Aren’t we modeling effective communication?  Doesn’t this break helps us become more empathetic, accessible, and approachable? Isn’t it fun to have our learners improve and coach our learning? Aren’t some of those teachable moments directed at us too?

We say

“As lifelong learners, we collaborate with students and colleagues to further knowledge and understanding.  We demonstrate a willingness to take risks and an openness to engage new ideas.  We stay current with evolving teaching strategies and methodologies, model reflective practices, and seek opportunities to grow.”

Roland Barth says

“Teachers and students go hand in hand as learners, or they don’t go at all.”

Will you come go with us this week?