Avoiding Pedagogical Echo Chambers

I have decided to try to make these posts a bit shorter so that they are more accessible in a time of information overload; so even though I have a lot to say about this topic I will try to stick to the main points.

This week was the week where I had told colleagues at other institutions that my schedule would clear up a bit. As a result I spoke with people from at least 7 different institutions this week, within Canada but also in the United States and Australia, and it was really fabulous and very necessary.  If you work in HigherEd, conferences are often held up as the place where ideas and knowledge is exchanged, and communities are reinforced. However, because of the inequities innate in conference organizing and hosting there are always many folk who are excluded from these conversations. This is why spaces like Twitter and other spaces to connect, like one-on-one meetings are so important. 

No matter what your role is in HigherEd, from instructor to librarian to staff, it is important to avoid the pedagogical echo chambers that happen. Pedagogical echo chambers occur when the only people who seem to be in conversation with are people inside your institution, or even just people inside your department or your own service area. When there is limited interaction and communication with folk outside your institution this creates siloed thinking and stifles innovation. It can create cliques where folk in turn do not want to be in conversation with you because you come from "that place." Don't get me wrong, it is important to build strong ties within your spaces, but if the only ties you have are to folk within your own institution, that is a real problem and it will impact the teaching and learning experience; it can create a "this is how we do it here" mentality which is really not beneficial to anyone, including learners.

Last week I was lucky to be part of the Dalhousie Conference on University Teaching and Learning. It was an excellent example of how an "in-house" teaching and learning conference was open and accessible to so many across Canada and the United States. I attended really interesting talks and came out with amazing ideas and resources that I can apply directly to my work. It was an example of how to move out of echo chambers and be open to pedagogical innovations happening in other institutions and in departments you often don't engage with because they don't have that program at your campus (shout out to Julia who gave me excellent perspective on gaps in kinesiology lab teaching and practice). 

I really want to encourage you to reach out to people and listen to what is being done outside your spaces. It will ultimately give you fresh perspective on the work you do, the activities you have planned for classes, even the research that you are doing. To do this is a direct application of constructivist pedagogy; like the learners in your class, the learning space will be enriched if the experience and positionality of the instructor or staff member includes experiences outside your institution. 

So I will end by thanking everyone that I had a chat with over the last two weeks (even the ones I had to get up in the wee hours or stay up late to meet :) ). Thank you to Kate for getting me to revisit Whitchurch and third space, thank you to Mandy who reminded me that rest, recovery, and reflection is so important, thank you to (name withheld) who reminded me that ED can be a radical space if we want it to be, thank you to Jennifer and Nick who showed me that chemistry can be foundationally accessible, thank you to Jessica who reinforced how disability justice can be foundational in large classes, and thank you to the trauma-aware UDL group for always holding space for the difficult conversations.