The Future of Our University: Reflective diary entries (for me to continue)
As part of my more general new year’s resolutions, I decided I would like to keep track of my thoughts and feelings while carrying out any projects, from uni work, activism, to my social life. And what a better place to start than reflecting on this course and how it came about! I encourage others to do the same if they find it useful, it has been a wonderful way for me to collect my thoughts!
Early-mid 2018, when we started…
One of the most important parts of this process, for me, has been the realisation that everyone’s journeys have been entirely different. It is obvious that I have more of an insight into my own journey, but I feel this is important to mention. The initial idea was born out of the student occupation last year, a time where students and staff stood together in solidarity against a system which favours very few, and creates barriers for many. Even from the very beginning this was clear, with the many bureaucratic hurdles we had to jump (which I don’t want to bore you with here), but we did it!
I feel proud that this course is even in existence!. The interest it sparked from people who weren’t necessarily involved in the early stages of the process has been massively heartwarming. It has not been smooth or perfect, but was it ever meant to be? The fact that we have been able to get to the stage we are at now with a course that is so different to anything that has been run within this university is, for me, remarkable. Having a space where like minded individuals can interact and collaborate without the division of students and teachers has opened up a space for creative discussion that I did not think could exist without the reconstruction of the entire framework of the university.
Mid-Semester 1…
I have learned so much from everyone taking part in this course. What a wonderful, inspiring bunch of people! It has proved to me that education does not need to be in the format of a teacher, an expert in a certain field, imparting their knowledge (which is of course very important and valid), but that we all have skills and knowledge to share. As much as a lecturer has been studying and researching in a certain area for years, and has more life experience than someone like me at age twenty, everyone’s experiences are so different and shape the way that we live and learn.
This collaboration has also encouraged me to think of different ways that we can learn that don’t involve lectures and essays. As a child, I was always a very hands-on learner, and loved taking part in theatrical and musical performances (experiences that I still hold to be some of the most important for my educational development). However, I have since treated this as a thing of the past. WIth ideas from outdoor learning to interview-based projects being discussed in this course, I have begun to think a lot more creatively about my learning, with a hope to become more ambitious with my self-directed learning.
New Year Reflections and what I want to do in the coming semester…
Given that the potential for creativity in collaborative learning is one of the most important things I have learned from this course so far, I am disappointed in how terrifying I still find it. Why am I still so drawn towards the act of writing to express myself? As much as writing is also a wonderful creative outlet, my goal for the coming semester is to learn from others in this course and beyond how to express myself in other creative ways, whether that’s through the creation of physical art, music, or performance… or perhaps ways that I am yet to know about. I am excited about the prospect of what can be achieved, and the potential to show that the norms of the university education system can be changed from within its bounds.
Cara
Thank you for doing a diary entry, due to the length of this course it is easy to forget where we were when we started and it also adds a personal touch to the minutes.
I like that you picked out the fact that everyone had very different journeys in order to get to the course. For me, the course initially felt like the ‘occupation course’ (or even the ‘co-op course’) and so it is nice to be reminded that actually, this is not the case and that we all got to the room on very different journeys. This idea also suggests that the course in itself is the start of a new chapter in all our respective radical pedagogies. Having taken routes alone it is nice that we all came together, all with different lived experiences and ideas but united by common ideals.
Your reflection also reminds me of the sense of hope and self-belief that we had at the beginning, of the joy I felt at listening to everyone’s reasons for being there; it is nice to be reminded of the reasons we entered the space in the first place, something that became increasingly distant as the course proceeded and we set about working what we were going to do.
I also liked your comment about how you were an interactive learner as a child and how this has got lost. It is interesting that education teaches us out of intuitive ways of learning in order to conform to the status quo to the extent that it scares you to have to re-engage with a more natural way of learning.
Thank you for posting this, it was very thought provoking!
Really wonderful to read such a personal experience full of excitement and hope for the course, and full of personal development within yourself. I hope you’ve kept up the diary writing, its such a valuable thing to do to reflect and grow.
As Rufus has already said its really nice to be reminded op the hope and excitement at the beginning of the year, and at least for myself its made me realise that for me a similar sense of hope and excitement is still within me, excitement to see how what we have all gained on our individual journeys through this course will play out in the rest of our lives and in how we relate to the people around us and our education. So thank you for allowing me to realise this, feeling the joyful energy that you always brought to the group in this reflection has made me feel a lot more joyful about this course coming to an end now myself!