My Stance as an Educator
My name is Johdi Quinn and I am an educator.
My passions straddle two disciplines which, for me, ebb and flow between each other in a web of complementarity but for faculty are divided into different departments with different ways of working and different signature pedagogies; namely Modern Languages and Social Sciences. This semester, I have been given modules to teach in both disciplines which leaves me wondering how and whether I should bridge the gap between the two disciplines, whether I should put my research focus into just one of these areas and whether I should be confident in my Johdi pedagogy or try to develop signature pedagogies which specifically pertain to each academic discipline.
Often in one morning’s work, I can go between teaching English as a Second Language to international students, teaching advanced Spanish and Intercultural studies to Irish students, personal development at FETAC level 5 to a different international student group, to giving a two hour lecture on active citizenship to humanities students. I am required to use such different personal and interpersonal skills, a different academic approach and even the use of different languages; I often get home at night feeling like I have had a bout of personality disorder ( I understand that you cannot have a ‘bout’ of personality disorder).
I have been a facilitator in education for many years both in Spanish and English speaking countries. I believe in empowering students to find their own path towards learning and hold firmly that connecting with learners and enabling them to connect with the subject of study is vital to them embarking on a meaningful learning journey. I perceive that learning is for life and that I can learn as much from my students and peers as they can learn from me.
Part A. Reflections on my Practice as an Educator
I consider myself to be a student-centred educator. However, on reading seminal literature on feedback and assessment, and having critically reflected on my practice, I have come to the very stark realisation that my feedback practice is far from being student-centred. It is somewhat uni-directional, often ‘transmitted’ in written form and almost always ‘given’ at the end of a semester to justify a mark awarded (Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick 2006; Carless et al 2011; Nicol 2010 in Y1 Feedback 2016; Carless 2013 in Y1 Feedback 2016).
Is it Kolb I'm looking for?
Could do Better!
My classroom is one where students are ‘given permission’ and actively encouraged to make mistakes and voice confusions (Tanner 2012). However, my feedback practice has, to date, been a process of pointing out students' errors – sometimes even in red pen and a series of ‘well dones’, ‘excellent works’, ticks or exclamations marks (!) I now know that students can do absolutely nothing with any of this feedback. In short, my feedback practice falls short of the expectations I have of myself and is inconsistent with what I thought was a constructively aligned continuum running through the centre of my practice (Biggs 2003).
I began to ask myself what I could do about my feedback and assessment practice. I made a conscious decision to go back into the classroom, take a critical look at my practice, stand back, read what others have said about feedback and assessment, go back into the classroom, listen to my students, take action, reflect, ask for feedback, reflect, act, ask, look, listen, reflect in an on-going cycle ad infinitum.
I decided to begin my Kolb-like quest with a group and in a module which was as far out of my comfort zone as possible; one which was guaranteed to bring me face to face with a number of my most debilitating assumptions. The module; Community Development and Active Citizenship. The programme; Digital Humanities. The group; a small, eclectic but cohesive group of second year students studying the politics strand of the degree who were well versed in political theory but less so in praxis.