Shannon Murray from the University of Prince Edward Island, Jessica Riddell from Bishop’s University, and Lisa Dickson from the University of Northern British Columbia presented at the 2021 Lilly Conference online. Their joint presentation was entitled “A ‘Back to the Studs’ Pandemic Teaching Philosophy.” Murray talked about how we all have teaching philosophies yet had to revisit them with the new environment and conditions of the pandemic. Dickson spoke about the “accentuation of personal consciousness” that is part of a quote from John Dewey explaining that the pandemic has been our new condition and opportunity to reflect and remake our house/system. Dickson asked: what do we need to keep, what do we need to remove, and what do we need to fight for? For evaluating which practices we should incorporate or remove, we need to reflect and have philosophy. They shared an image of a post it with the message:
Be flexible, keep it simple, stay connected, be kind
Shannon Murray, Lilly Conference Online 2021
Shannon Murray mentioned that Jesse Stommel has talked about the four world philosophy. Jessica Riddell shared this question:
How do we design for compassion, consent, collaboration, community?
Jessica Riddell, Lilly Conference Online 2021
I was excited to see “consent” and respect for student privacy of recordings and information was included. Collaboration and engagement with the intent to build community included opportunities to walk and talk without screens. Lisa Dickson spoke about the name, claim, aim path in which you have a realization, value in action, and then practice. The example was powerful: (1) as an educational leader, I have been asked to help students become better at hurting themselves. (2) Help students to recognize they own agency and push back against harmful practices by beginning from an ethic of wellness and care. (3) Co-design that foregrounds learner choice; explicit development of philosophies of learning. I tend to agree that we often unfortunately train or value practices that may not be healthy. I hope wellness and care can find their way in a system that is often concerned with ‘rigor’ and assessment.
When thinking about reflective practices, Dickson asked us to reflect on what must I keep, what can I adapt or compromise on, and what must go? Riddell mentioned “closing the trust gap” and fostering more “messiness of co-design” that I love! I ended up visiting their website and finding several useful resources. The trio has done a lot for students and educators… and has had fun reflecting together.
