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It's only July, and already my summer has included three working trips—first to Portugal, then Alabama, and now Spain. As I reflect on the three (still in the middle of my final trip), I'm noticing what it's like to think about teaching and learning at very different scales: institutionally, nationally, and internationally.
In May, I facilitated a three-day retreat in Portugal with my longtime collaborator, Peter Felten. The retreat was held at a hotel on Ofir Beach near Fão, just north of Porto. We worked with about 35 teaching and learning leaders from across Portuguese higher education, exploring the role of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) within individual institutions and—perhaps more importantly—across national networks.
Several participants serve on the Portuguese government's higher education advisory body, so our conversations often moved beyond individual campuses to broader questions about how teaching and learning are valued and supported across the country. We wrapped up the retreat by identifying specific initiatives that could shape Portugal's ongoing national conversations about teaching, learning, and SoTL. It was thrilling to participate in discussions where the potential impact extended well beyond any single institution or region.
The following week, I facilitated a two-day SoTL Institute at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. There, the focus shifted from national strategy to the day-to-day realities of faculty members seeking to better understand and improve their students' learning. At the start of the first day, their Provost encouraged the faculty to consider the specific needs of their adult students, especially those who are veterans. I'm eager to see some of the resulting projects completed and shared because this is a population we all could learn more about.
I also learned firsthand why so many of the participants described Mobile as "the rainiest city in the United States." Between downpours, though, I was able to enjoy the city's local fare and the warm hospitality of my hosts.
Scenes from the retreat at Ofir Beach, Portugal
Scenes from the writing retreat & conference in Salamanca, Spain
As I write this, I'm in Salamanca, Spain, for the conference of the International Consortium for Educational Development (ICED). Starting with a smaller, two-day writing retreat, the conference has brought together 650 faculty developers from over 50 countries.
The opening keynote was one of the best I've ever heard. David A. Green drew parallels between the current higher education environment in the US and what happened at Hungary's Central European University (2017-19) and Nicaragua's Universidad Centroamericana (2018-23) before considering how we might respond to our current crisis. (I've already ordered all of the articles and books he cited for these responses.)
A common theme across the keynotes, workshops, and papers has been the needs to a) avoid being overwhelmed by the larger context and b) name and hew to our values as educators, as faculty developers, and as colleagues.
These three trips have reminded me how interconnected our work can be. Whether the conversation occurs on a beach in Portugal, in a classroom in Alabama, or in an early 16th-century chapel in Spain, people were wrestling with the same question: As broader political, cultural, and technological shifts reshape higher education, what aspects of our work should change, and what should remain constant?
Finally, as a homebody at heart, I'm looking forward to a quiet July in Denton as I tackle my new reading list.
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