The initial two weeks of this course allowed me to smoothly transition back into academic life. I perceive these weeks as somewhat of a “honeymoon phase.” Following this initial period, we delved into the first round of intensive sessions concerning the course “Future of Learning Organisations.” These days were demanding and required great focus, energy and engagement. I say this with the utmost positivity, as through these intensives, I was provided ample opportunities for reflection and extended collaboration. It was nice to finally put faces to names of people who I was in discussions with over Miro boards throughout the two weeks prior.
During these collaborative days, we spent time reflecting on the coursework of the past two weeks and expanding on points raised through Miro. These days gave me time to think deeply and address my perceptions and hopes for some possible futures in education — what is integral for me and what my non-negotiables could be for the future of learning organisations. During the second day of the intensive, one particular conversation stood out to me as incredibly impactful. It occurred during our “reflection” discussion, where we were brought into deep conversations regarding language barriers in assessment, the enduring effects of colonialism, concerns related to migration, and a wide range of experiences generously shared by my colleagues. The five of us who were gathered around the table came from incredibly diverse education, life backgrounds and experiences. This conversation highlighted some areas of interest that I am looking forward to diving further into:
- How language barriers create other forms of inequalities: The inequality when it comes to learners who either don’t speak English or who are still improving their proficiency. There is a global bias to knowledge, resources and delivery methods that are through the medium of English. “The ways in which English is privileged in education systems, and discourses justifying it, need critical scrutiny, as do the language policies of the European Union.” (Phillipson, 2018). On the other hand, refugee learners and other displaced students may also encounter difficulty as they integrate into educational systems and their communities as they are often unable to speak the local language of their host country.
- How Colonialism still lingers and shapes current education realities: The impacts of colonialism still remain in many regions of the world. Colonial powers often designed educational curricula to promote their own culture, language, and values while marginalising or erasing indigenous knowledge and languages. As a result, many post-colonial nations still grapple with curricula that do not adequately represent their own histories, cultures, and perspectives.
- Why traditional learning assessments need reform: Outdated assessment styles often use a one-size-fits-all approach that fails to consider individual differences in learning styles, strengths, and challenges. This can leave certain learners feeling misunderstood and overlooked. “It is a feature of the literature that discussion frequently opens by identifying the need for assessment practice to evolve in order to keep up with the changes taking place beyond the boundaries of the classroom and campus.” (Lamb, 2018). As Lamb discusses, it is a frequent discussion in educational institutions for the need to reform assessment methods. From my personal experiences, I don’t find this to be present in the day-to-day classroom as the expectation of standardised testing remains.
These are vast areas of discussion and my summarising does far from justice for the quality discussion that was had. However, I wanted to reflect on this and document it for my own reference in identifying memorable moments in my journey here. While this conversation brought incredible depth and, at times, left me feeling somewhat overwhelmed, I now realise that it was in search of moments like these that initially drew me to this course. I feel incredibly privileged to have the opportunity to learn not only from fantastic academic lectures and scholars but also from the diverse life experiences of my peers.
I look forward to many more encounters like this one, and I am eager to delve deeper into these pressing issues related to equity, mobility, and the perceived barriers affecting developments in this field.
References:
Phillipson, R. (2018). Linguistic Imperialism. The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, pp.1–7. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0718.pub2.
Lamb, J. (2018). To Boldly Go: Feedback as Digital, Multimodal Dialogue. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 2(3), p.49. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/mti2030049.
