A new semester

As the new semester begins it's a time for renewal not only of the earth but of our academic psyche. Is it me or is the world moving faster than I can keep up with? It seems as if everything is moving at lightening speed and there's never enough time to get everything done. Teaching, research, service is supposed to be the three legged stool of academia, yet many would say it's an off-kilter stool that tips us over.

Can we do it all? Should we do it all? Where do we put our energies? This semester I'm experimenting with a new course using new technology, amazing how time consuming it can be. Having listened to a talk by Stephen Brookfield in the fall, I'm also trying to become more of a Carl Rogers facilitator teacher. Boy is that a lot of work! To do this means that I have to design and set up multiple learning activities so that students can try to dig into the material and own their learning. It's much easier, believe me, to come in and lecture about the material as opposed to having them read the material primary sources, come in and structure a discussion around the material with deep thought questions, and then devise an activity to have them chew on and think about how what they read and talked about really means. Plus provide the necessary feedback to move the learning forward. I'm tired just thinking about it, never mind doing it.

Rogers warned us that there is always resistance, discomfort, and upset when students assumptions are challenged. This semester should be a doozy of upset for most of them. In previous classes where I've done "active learning" which students claim to enjoy - I ask how many of their courses are more than lecture and memorization for tests and the response is often very few. So I should be prepared for some real resistance.

However, I have to admit that there's some real fun and renewal as a teach about designing classes like this. Thinking up ways to get students interested and talking and wanting to learn is a really creative process that I'm enjoying!

But coming back full circle that gets to my opening question. How much time is there in the universe to do it all! We'll see, I'm really interested in how this experiment will go.....