We are now just back from our summer break. I (Adrien) have been very fortunate to spend two months in Indonesia again this year, most of the time in Bali! I am now back in Cambridge.
In this post I want to briefly talk about what I have learn after finishing a year-long programme run by the University of Cambridge’s world-leading Centre for Teaching and Learning to help me become a better teacher. After passing the tests, I have now just received the status Associate Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy!
Something which I have learned during this programme is we should focus on learning more than on teaching. By that I mean that learning is a complicated process which goes way deeper than the material that we, as teachers, teach. Learning is something that students do, not us. Teachers are there to support students in their difficult (but rewarding) learning process.
Therefore, my role as a teacher is to create a supportive, emotionally-positive environment in which the student knows why he/she needs to learn the material, feels motivated and encouraged to learn. My role is then to understand my students to provide them with the right approach and tools to build their knoweldge on top of their own previous knowledge, like an architect and engineer would work on how to building a strong house on top of strong foundations.
I will give some examples of what this means in future posts. Stay tuned!