By: Jeffrey L. Bernstein, Director of the EMU Faculty Development Center and Professor of Political Science

As those of us in the Faculty Development Center were scheduling blog posts for this semester, I looked to the newsletter due to come out after our CONNECT Teaching Conference and thought about doing the blog post for the week. I figured/assumed that I would see and learn things at CONNECT that would inspire me to put pen to paper and reflect on issues of teaching and learning. Fortunately, I was correct. 

As many of you know, one of the main projects on which we have embarked at the Faculty Development Center has been our Teaching and Learning Together (TaLT) initiative. This work started from our sense that the connections between students and faculty - a longtime hallmark at Eastern Michigan University - were at risk of fraying in the aftermath of COVID-19 and the many other challenges we have collectively faced over the last few years. As we were hearing from students of the disconnect they felt with faculty and the university, we chose to step into that breach and do our part to create an infrastructure that would support reestablishing these connections. 

To this end, we were pleased to bring Dr. Alison Cook-Sather, one of our nation's foremost experts on student-faculty pedagogical partnerships, to campus.  Alison spoke at CONNECT last week, and spent time while she was here interacting with students, staff, and faculty, talking about this topic that is so dear to her heart, and to mine. Her visit has my mind spinning with possibilities, many of which I trust you will hear about in the coming months.  

This year, students played a larger role at CONNECT than they typically might at a university teaching conference.  I had the distinct honor of sitting with a group of students on Thursday night after Alison’s keynote and listening to them discuss what it's like to be a student on our campus, and theorizing with them about the role and the voice of students in the educational enterprise. That conversation, like so many others I've been privileged to share in my time at Eastern, convinces me more than ever of the importance of talking to, listening to, and working with students in our teaching.

I am fond of saying that while faculty are generally the undisputed content experts in the classroom, nobody knows the experience of being a learner as well as a student does. I am a far better professor for having had the opportunity to talk closely with so many students over the years. Working closely in our office with Alivia, Jessi, Trinity, Liv, and all the other students who have worked with me at the FDC, and being a parent to two young men in the middle of their journeys in higher education, gives me great insights into teaching and learning.  Our students have much to say about education and we would do well to listen to them. 

So, with all due respect to my faculty colleagues who presented at CONNECT - I truly learned much from engaging with your work - my favorite time there was listening to EMU undergraduates Lake Braendle and Kaycee Johnson presenting on how to teach neurodivergent students.  Lake and Kaycee would be the first to admit that in terms of substantive knowledge, they were not the greatest experts in the room; in fact, the audience for their talk included two EMU instructors who teach in this area and could easily have shared the content that Lake and Kaycee shared with us. But what Lake and Kaycee were able to share was their own personal experiences as learners.  

As much as many of us try to learn what we can about teaching neurodivergent students, and attempt to adjust our practices to incorporate techniques recommended by experts in the field, nobody can convey what it is like to be a neurodivergent student, and to experience college in that way, as much as students can. The attention that these two students commanded in the room, and the obvious and deep learning experienced by the faculty, lecturers, and staff who heard them, were astounding.  It convinced me more than ever that students really do have something to teach us, and that we have much to learn, if we can open our minds to doing so. 

A number of years ago, I was teaching a class that had been going very well, but all of a sudden seemed to fall off a cliff. I had my theories of what had happened - my best guess was that as the nature of assignments changed over the course, the incentive to do the reading and hence be well-prepared participants for class discussion had faded. One day, with ten minutes remaining in class. I stopped class early, told the students what I had seen, and asked them, very simply, “Please help me.” Tell me what you think happened. Tell me how you think we can do better for the rest of the semester. And tell me how I can design this course differently next year, so this does not happen again. 

Not all of the suggestions were brilliant; I certainly did not follow all the recommendations I received. But within that short conversation, these students showed me they knew something about student learning and student engagement that I very simply did not know.  How wise I was, and how blessed I was that semester, to have opened my mind to the thought that these students had something to teach me! 

So as I reflect upon CONNECT, the image of two exceptional students presenting their work will stay in my head, and inspire all of us at the FDC to create opportunities for faculty to learn from each other, and from our students.  I hope you’ll join me in thinking about these possibilities, and participating in the conversations.