(data and images from Kyle Dell)
At the faculty meeting, faculty were asked for words describing faculty members’ lived experience teaching and learning. Here are the results from the word cloud exercise as processed by the polling website used:
Here are the groups’ full submission lists:
| Engaged Interdisciplinary Integrative Community Communication Writing Interactive Intimate learning communities Participatory Collaborative Creative Rigorous but nurturing Caring Supportive Inquiry Critical thinking Proactive Edgy independent thinking Principled Outspoken Friendly Empowering Self-reflective Diverse |
| Engaged Interdisciplinary Integrative Community Communication Writing Interactive Intimate learning communities Participatory Collaborative Creative Rigorous but nurturing Caring Supportive Inquiry Critical thinking Proactive Edgy independent thinking Principled Outspoken Friendly Empowering Self-reflective Diverse |
| Student-teach relationships cultural exploration social justice critique innovative thread innovation scale autonomy critical thinking critical engagement community learning cross disciplinary questioning the books flexibility collaboration creativity personal connections depth experiential learning values driven empowerment life changing interactive discovery collaborative collaboration nurturing challenging supported supportive intense nurturing consensus spread too thin unsupported stretched community committee risk taking inquiry driven self discovery critical thinking whole human art power of language and communication confused messy writing informed agency productive ambiguity discovering the world real Quaker |
| Transformational interactive classes interdisciplinary inclusive supportive opportunity for interaction with students service learning exploratory principled practical personal attention small Quaker community idiosyncratic dedicated faculty and staff engaged students strong writing skills inquiry based learning shared governance long hours dedication place-based generational diversity of experience depth breadth activism involvement experiential service activity participatory multitude of opportunities to participate students participate multiple areas aspects extra-curricular and curricular explore label-less freedom of identity first-names hiererchy-less |
| Writing intensive student centered instruction relationships. innovative participatory engagement earnest seeking interdisciplinary connection supportive individual support create collaborative adapt nimble compassionate social justice handcrafted, artisanal, teaching, nurturing modelling’passion, relaxed– not relaxing, Quaker, silence everyone- having- a-voice attentive listening transformation |
| Engaged experiential values immersion participatory disengaged connections challenging messy non mainstream critical unprepared overwhelmed useful discussion bonding passions social justice environmental sustainability less-hierarchy welcoming diverse-perspectives check-offs writing opportunities expanding perspectives autonomy non-holistic research complicated confusing non-user-friendly conflicting non-transparent non-collaborative siloed unprepared |
| informal empower isolating energizing personal challenging personal interconnected community transformative frustrating differentiation stretching demanding overwhelming fun supportive welcoming challenged resourceful rewarding limiting open collegial cautious creative self-reflection encouraging innovative underrated |
Finally, here is the analysis Damon prepared of the concepts and priorities of our current curriculum compared to others (click for bigger view):
