I have seen Dr. Michael Wesch‘s TEDx talk “What Baby George Taught Me About Learning” before, many times, actually. The first was in the Fall of 2017 when I was taking Contemporary Pedagogy–and then over the next academic year (2018-19) when I was first a TA for this course. I really like (love?) this bit…
Category: Contemporary Pedagogy
“The Blog” as a living, breathing, evolving body of work
The featured image is of saucer magnolias blossoming in front of Burruss Hall. Like these blossoms that are finally coming into their season, we graduate students are future faculty and we are beginning to come into our own as well. I’ve been thinking a lot about what the role of a blog is to academia….
Seeking Knowledge on Diversity & Inclusion
I’m taking a course this semester called Diversity for Global Society. It is part of the Virginia Tech Graduate School’s Transformative Graduate Education Initiative and this course is designed to introduce students to concepts in diversity, inclusion, and equity and how they relate to higher education–both here at Virginia Tech and from a global perspective. The environment…
Time to Put a Bow on it
Since my arrival at Tech, I have experienced more learning and exposure to new ideas than perhaps I have in my entire education to date. I came here primarily for two reasons: the first, because I was interested the Landscape Architecture program because I could pursue an Architecture & Design Research PhD (1 of 5…
Being a Parent Means Multitasking is a Way of Life
My truth about multitasking is a story of dread and acceptance. I experience dread because I often feel a resistance to sit down and work when I know that I am going to get distracted or pulled away from what I am working on. At the same time, I try and embrace radical acceptance because…
Jigsaw-Zigsaw: An Adventure for Every GEDI
This week, we learned a different approach for teaching and learning in the classroom. This blog entry is the story of that experience. Two weeks ago at the end of class, each student was given a number which corresponded to a short reading assignment, and we were all told to return to class last week…
Birthing a Thinking Mind
When I was a girl, I would often retreat to my favorite thinking place: a fallen, yet still-growing tree on the highest hill on my family’s land and there I would spend time until either my brother found me or until my parents would call me inside for supper. I recall liking this activity because…
On Diversity & Inclusive Pedagogy, Academia could do better
In this post, I wanted to make a brief comment on diversity in general, discuss diversity in higher education, and then I have a few thoughts on diversity in professional offices. I’ll conclude by talking about inclusive pedagogy. It goes hand-in-hand with creating a community environment and appreciating the opportunity for innovative thinking. Image Credit: jlrsousa’s…
Word of the week: mindfulness
Mindful learning. It’s such a powerful concept. As one of the last blog posts going up this week, I had the pleasure of reading the reflections of so many of my classmates before I composed this post. I have to say that was probably the best thing for me as I have been struggling with…
Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks OR Reminding New Dogs Old Tricks are No Good: Striving for Quality in Higher Ed
I have a past that I once considered dark. I was embarrassed to admit to any new friends I made that I had once been a hardcore gamer. For about 3 years during my undergraduate years (a decade ago), mostly summers and over holiday breaks when I wasn’t working, I spent my time plugged into World…
