"I'm actually mainly concerned with educational innovation. We have a large program in Curriculum PPI with a lot of room to try new things. So I'm doing quite a few things in educational design and I wanted to see how I could incorporate the principles of the mixed classroom model into the curriculum. That's how I joined the workshop at the Centre for Teaching & Learning and attended it with a colleague."
A safe place in the group
"In the PPI meetings, we sometimes discuss ethical issues you may face as a student. Many topics are discussed that you might not readily discuss in other courses or with professors. The conversations about this can trigger a lot, so-called "Hot moments. To make space for this, we want to create a safe place in the group. From my role as curriculum coordinator, I see a piece of responsibility to make sure our teachers know how to deal with those hot moments. Especially since my colleague and I have a bit of a helicopter view within the faculty and different programs, we saw participation in the workshop as a great starting point to spread this knowledge.
Focus on expectations
What I liked most about the program is how pleasant, clear and concrete it is. You get very practical tips and tricks that you can start working with right away. There are several sessions in which you can learn a lot from each other because there are many people with different backgrounds. For example, during the meetings we came up with an introductory assignment for the first phase of our group lessons. We spend a lot of time getting to know the learning group. It is very important to make agreements with your group about what expectations we have as teachers, but also what they have as students. Before, we only had the getting-to-know-you in the first meeting. Partly because of the workshop, we became even more aware of how important this phase is to actually be able to proceed with such a group and that you have to build sufficient time for this into the program. What we came up with in the workshop will certainly have an impact on the first lessons next school year.
Inspiring sessions for everyone
I would recommend this workshop to anyone, to a junior or senior teacher, an educational designer but also a team leader for example. Not only does it provide insights on how to connect with students, but also with colleagues. You can really approach it from all sides. Even if you are still quite a junior and you consider, is this something for me, I would recommend doing it because, in fact, you learn so much from other people in the group. I found the sessions fun and inspiring because it was just really fun. You really get time and space to reflect. Usually a workshop like that is the first thing you drop when you're really busy, but it's just so important to make time for that and that's true for everyone.
Enter with an open mind
My tip for future participants is to have an open mind. Just step in with an open attitude and don't be afraid to speak out what you think. I think it is very important if you all want to get the most out of it that you dare to have open conversations about the topics. Especially when you feel like it hits very close to home, that's when you leave the session thinking "What happened here was really very special."
Interested in this workshop series as well?
Visit the Mixed Classroom workshops webpage.
