Super Themes
Though we have partitioned this work into four modules, the team is aware of the downside of taxonomies, siloes, or categories that artificially tie things together or separate them apart as though they do not intersect and influence each other. On the contrary, this work is deeply intersectional, deeply interdisciplinary, and deeply impacts individuals on all levels of education, having an impact on institutions, culture, and society. To capture some of the threads that are stitched throughout this work, we have identified twelve “super themes.” These are core concepts and themes that are woven throughout our exploration. They are not all encompassing nor exhaustive and will not ever be “complete” or “solved.” They are themes that are interconnected and multi-layered, and not a stand-alone list of siloed concepts. We’ve noted below how these themes weave across and through the four modules of this work.
Mismatch, Misfits, and the Average
Representation/Co-Creation/Design
Vulnerability and Re-Framing Failure
Wellness, Time, Support: In an Age of Overwhelm
Questioning and Uncertainty
Figure 1: Photo by Randy ORourke on Unsplash
When we let go of our notion of clarity, completeness, and correctness, we see (and think) differently. What questions should we be asking about education and learning? Why is there a capacity limit for classrooms? Why are textbooks and learning materials so costly? Why are prerequisites often rigid and inflexible? Why must students defer to professors? Why are classrooms still designed in a theatre-like structure with an audience and a stage? Why aren’t all educators taught how to teach? All educators and those being educated should question and explore the history that helped get education to where it is. When we explore the history, we can unveil how decisions were made: by whom and for whom, what biases were at play, and whether the decisions are still relevant now.
When we neglect to question, interrogate, and critique the past, we stay stagnant and can give assent through silence. Stability is not stagnancy; and educating is not stagnancy. When we don’t teach instructors how to teach or give them tools to pause and be reflective, many may follow the ways they were taught, and change won’t occur. How can we support meaningful change? How can we “innovate” and explore new ways of doing things? How can we experiment pedagogically, sometimes failing and sometimes succeeding but always reflecting? How can we build flexibility into our teaching practice so that we can adjust and adapt when things succeed or fail?
What works in one situation or for one class might not work in another situation or context. We need to acknowledge the value of building in flexibility and agency into the process of teaching, considering its impacts for everyone involved. This reflective flexibility invites us to continue to question the decisions we make and can be done in different ways. Our colleague in the Open movement, Jesse St