The book launch for “The New College Classroom” was revolutionary and insightful. I applaud the mission of Cathy Davidson and Christina Katopodis. I want to stress on several aspects of the launch. First, the concept of “metacognition”, I did not know the definition of this word, and now I understand it to be how and why one is learning. As a student, it took me many years to realize how essential this is. One specific quote I want to emphasize on that was said and the launch is, “tell me and I won’t remember, show me and I forget, but involve me and I understand”. I’m currently 22 years old, and I have had class with so many people who absolutely hated school, but this launch made me realize it isn’t necessarily the students’ fault. It’s education in general. This launch made me see that learning styles can be tweaked in numerous ways to make sure that every student has the ambition to genuinely try in all of their classes, and succeed in their academic path.
Another segment of the launch I want to stress is their constant reference to the 19th Century. I like how the speakers continuously bring up this time period to explain that our learning styles are that old, and it is time for a change. What may have worked back then, most likely will not work now. We must keep evolving with the times that we’re in.
Lastly, I want to stress on when Cathy Davidson expressed that she knew a good chunk of students with the mentality, “I just need to pass this exam and then I’ll never think about it again”. This part specifically caught my attention because I must admit, I have been this student; and this launch has made me realize that that isn’t okay. Something isn’t right, and I know many of my peers who have this mentality as well. The book launch made me think how much of a shame that is. Learning is supposed to be life changing, an experience, not just something that “happened” to me.
There were several instances where I was listening to the launch and I found myself thinking of my own past experiences with teachers and education in general. For example, I’ve been at John Jay College for four years, and there were few professors who really left their mark on me. I can definitely tell when an educator genuinely cares about their students’ point of view, and when they are just trying to meet the department’s guidelines and get through the semester without adjusting anything at all for the students’ interests and passions. I distinctly remember one professor I had for anthropology; there were a few times during the semester when she gave us two options as to what we wanted to do to fulfill a certain course requirement. She also tweaked her due dates to assure that everyone would be able to meet them. At the end of the semester, there is a department survey for the professors that is sent out to all students. For this particular professor, she explained that she had another survey she wanted us to do as well. I asked, “another one from the department?” she said no. She said, “this is just for me. I want to know what you all found helpful this semester, what was not helpful, and what was challenging”. In the future, I hope everyone has educators like this.
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