{ PHILOSOPHY } ~ why do I teach and other thoughts towards forming a personal teaching philosophy

Ah, Socrates
he's been dubbed the first teacher in Western culture.
Father of the 'Socratic Dialogue';  a form of inquiry where questions are posited and answers provided which lead to 'knowledge'.  A pathway to knowledge, a philosophy to life: to question everything as a means of testing the merits of an idea or action.

For the past few weeks in Focus on Learning Program [FLP] we've been exploring means by which we are asked to carve our own Teaching Philosophy.  Through a series of directed readings on various Behaviorist, Humanist, Cognitivist theories, we reflect on what our core values are as a teacher and this will help us recognize where we are coming from as an instructor.  It also highlights our potential blind spots which is mandated by The Professor of the 21st Century 1. Modelling professional practice within the discipline of teaching by 1. Identifying your own learning style and how it affects your teaching; 2. Locating and using resources that support teaching practice; 3. Engaging in ongoing development to remain current in your own subject area and in the discipline of teaching; 4. Identifying the impact of your won teaching on student learning; 5. Contributing to a learning culture that encourages continous learning, reflective practice and peer support

One group work exercise that I participated in really resonated for me and helped form my statement. We were asked to watch a video and synthesize it's core message into a 10 minute presentation to the class.  The video was 'passive':a series of questions appeared on the screen before our group - perhaps the key being: what did we think a teacher's role to be: if provider of 'fact's then they noted there are many resources presently that do this in our society {search engines, youtube, wikis,} so if that is your core reason for being then it may be time for a rethink.

The 'activity' we created to drive this point home was to get the class to pretend they were 'consultants' for the directors of "Start Trek 2077".  As experts in our present education system, they were being asked to imagine the future - in effect an 'ideal' - with three guiding questions: What will the physical room look like? what/how will we identify the students?  and last but most importantly: what/how will we identify the teacher?  The answers were fascinating.

Across the admittedly small sampling of FOL instructors polled from various departments at the College one thing that seemed universal was the 'stand and deliver' method of 'presentation slides' and reviewing 'facts' with a classroom of students in rows was NOT seen as being very forward thinking.  What did seem to poll consistently across the spectrum was 'hives' of students problem-solving among themselves, accessing various technological data through futuristic touch screens or glasses and devices, with the teacher, and this was interesting, being more of a mentor and less the 'focal point' of the class.  There was a sudden quiet in the room after this was brought to their attention.

With this activity we were given a "Shaping UP" framework grid.  One of the questions was "A question circling in my mind:"  The question I wrote down was "Are brick & mortar institutions obsolete? how do we compete with web/virtual instruction?"  This has been a question that has plagued me as coordinator and instructor for many years now.  The bread-and-butter of College education had been 'technical' skills.  But these are also the most favored form of instruction on these virtual websites showing students how, for instance, to use a software to get a particular look or effect in art.  This is even more acute in my Illustration & Concept Art program, which is a Bring Your Own Device program, and with their registration, they receive free access to one of these sites, Lynda.com, which offers a whole site full of video tutorials that live stream how to use any piece of software out there.  This used to be one of the core skills we taught at the College and why many signed up for our program.   So that got me thinking.  Or in the case of Socrates, 'questioning'.

The following week, we were given a series of statements taken from the College's "Professor of the 21st Century", "Strategic Goals", and "CLRs" and we had to 'rate' them top to bottom in importance in our estimation.  Top on my list was: 'to instill a passion for lifelong learning'.  This certainly would not have been top on my list had I done this activity a few years back.  So why the change? This was one of the followups to this in-class activity - find someone who had a completely opposite priority list and discuss their choices and yours.

I was a former graduate here, and the technology skills taught then are largely irrelevant for today. So if I judged Algonquin purely on this then the experience would be found lacking.  However, and this is the key, Algonquin did instill other skills, which at the time were less obvious to me but shaped me nonetheless: research, creative thinking, problem-solving, time management, discipline, professional conduct, working and interacting with others, what we sometimes refered to as 'soft skills'.  These had the longest life and the 'technical' skills that seemed so important at the time faded away into obscurity with the digital age.   I was able to transition to the digital age due to those 'life long learner' skills the college instilled in me.  I did research; learned the software myself through various manuals and videos; essentially what our students can do now to master the tool.
To make a short answer long: I've come to realize that what we as a College can do to stay a viable indeed important choice for future learners is to instill a passion for learning, because, as I tell my students: I'm not going to be there a year from now or two to directly assist you but I'm hoping that you'll have developed the requisite skills to question, find solutions, problem-solve, and take some of the core design theories and apply to them to whatever problem appears before you.  This leads to another fundamental advantage to the 'brick and mortar' institutional experience over the 'virtual teacher/internet' experience: they are meeting other creative, like-minded students.  It impacted me when I was them - the excitement and creativity and also seeing others struggle and succeed- is invaluable and that does not happen to the same capacity in the 'echo-chamber' virtual classroom.

Taking all of the above into consideration, I'm moving towards a Philosophy that very much seeks to anticipate what that classroom dynamic of "Star Trek 2077" will be:
Where the classroom dynamic is not 'teacher -centered or 'teacher-driven' and I am the focal point of information - a tap that controls and releases 'facts' - but instead my role is to challenge, to inspire, to be provocative on occasion, to  mentor, role-model, and act as 'sounding board' for my students depending on their needs in their particular journey - either project- based or in life.  This is a role I think is both flexible and realistic for the future.
And that brings us back to Socrates. That was very much the role he gave us all those many years ago.  It also serves to show that the technology may change, but thinking and good 'ideas' still stand the test of time.