One quote that caught my attention from the book Student Engagement Techniques by Elizabeth Barkley and Claire Howell Major (2020) is: “Students must have confidence that, with appropriate effort, they can succeed. If there is no hope, there is no motivation” (p. 20). Although hope was the last thing left in Pandora’s box, the authors suggest that for students, hope is the first condition for success. Without it, motivation cannot exist. This quote comes from Chapter 2, “Engagement and Motivation.” I came across couple of strong candidates for my reflection from both Chapters 1 and Chapter 2. One idea I found particularly intriguing as a mathematician is what I like to call the ‘zero-product property,’ where the authors emphasize that it's about the product, not the sum. However, after reading the quote: “Students must have confidence that, with appropriate effort, they can succeed. If there is no hope, there is no motivation” (Barkley & Major, 2020, p. 20)—I immediately sto...
Hello! In this blog post, I'm going to discuss a Zoom call I had with Bart , my colleague from the Provincial Instructor Diploma Program . Yes, he's the marine biologist from the title! 😄 Our call was initiated by one of the assignments for our course, Foundations of Adult Learning. The assignment required us to discuss and cover two main questions: What are some trends in your field? What are some trends in adult education? We had two calls; the first one was just to get to know each other and share our career and life journeys, while the second was specifically for the assignment's discussion. Firstly, I'd like to express how happy I am to have had the chance to meet Bart. I feel very lucky to have been assigned a learning partner like him. In my opinion, Bart is a very well-spoken, educated, organized, and responsible person. There were no delays or misunderstandings in our communication regarding the assignments. Now, that either means we both understood the assign...