Reading Dave’s blog post, “Our schools aren’t broken, they’re hard,” made me think about many of my past experiences. As a professor and even more as the program coordinator, I tried to be the leader of change. But not change for change’s sake. The change I want to make is to make the students’ learning better. The three areas of Dave’s blog that struck a cord were building trust, constant improvement, decision-making, and the children.
Every decision to change in my context should always focus on my students. I must ask myself, does the change I want to make benefit my students? Will it strengthen their learning or understanding of what I have taught? One such decision was to include video demonstrations of skills being posted for my students to preview and review as needed. I knew my students would benefit from seeing these skills outside, not just inside the classroom.
Thinking about my students is powerfully connected to the point about decision-making. To have a successful outcome with change, it is essential to include all stack holders. In my case with the videos, the stakeholders were myself, other faculty, the students, and support staff from my centre for teaching and learning (CTL). I got feedback from other faculty, not all good. Some thought it would lead to some students coming to class. They didn’t say it wouldn’t be useful for the students. With the support of the CTL, I was able to get assistance in making my videos more accessible to all my students. Finally and most importantly, I got feedback from my students. I never did it initially, which I will do next time. But I did get feedback from my first students to use the videos. I learned from them what worked and what didn’t, which would lead to improvement.
Constant improvement is vital to change and struck a chord with me. Sometimes we get stuck in the mode that everything is excellent and doesn’t need to be changed. As I have heard from a colleague, “if the wheel is broken, don’t fix it”. If we aren’t looking to improve constantly, it is broken. Like everything, as a teacher, I take time to reflect. I ask myself, “what could I do differently next time that will improve the experience for my students?’. Sometimes it is nothing, but most of the time, it is a change, some small. An example, that this when I switched from online back to face-to-face. I created online modules for online teaching. When I switched back to face-to-face, I decided to keep these modules for in-person students to use for their learning. I got great feedback from those who had used them. But in the end, all change needs trust. The final point from Dave’s blog that connected with me was building trust. In my short time, when making change decisions, its success revolves around the trust between my students and me and the trust between my colleagues and me. But, unfortunately, the most difficult has been between me and some of my colleagues. It is hard when some are set in their ways or afraid of a bit of work that will benefit our students.
By Edward L.