S4 Episode 13

Make It New

In our season finale for Season 4: Facing Failure, we have a conversation with Art professor Josh Vincent about the inevitability of failure in ceramics classes and the joy the intertwining of success and failure can bring.

We’re at the stage of a journey through the underworld where we have returned to hearth and home. We sit back among our family and friends and tell our stories of suffering and adventure. We tell stories to give our lives meaning and Josh talks about his experience teaching in a number of higher education institutions and what he’s learned about the importance of creating a learning environment and tearing down barriers students experience.

We also add up some of what we’ve learned this season about failure in higher education as we look back on our journey. And also tease a bonus episode with student perspective on failure that will follow in two weeks’ time! Join us for our final conversation of the season.

Below, you can see some of the "ugly jugs" that Josh has made. Beauty isn't the only metric of success, as Josh's outstanding pots show.

Listen to Episode 13

Stream the episode here or listen through Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Our Guides: Ursula K. LeGuin, "Like bread, it has to be remade all the time"

LeGuin saw us into the season and now she's here as we end the season and think about possibilities.

As we think about handling failure in higher education, we can turn on her line from her novel The Lathe of Heaven: "Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to me made, like bread; remade all the time, made new."

Failure is common, typical, and also always unique. What if we remake our response to it each time, the way a baker makes a new loaf of bread, each time? The process might be roughly the same but each time, there's difference in ingredients temperature, air pressure, oven heat. We can respond to students anew, each time they struggle, each time they fail.

Our stories of failure may have many moments and feelings that chime with each other but each is so different and each person took away distinct lessons.

Perhaps some of our guides, whether they be professors or staff we've talked to or philosophical guides, can take you to new places in your teaching and your practice.

Thank you for joining us for this season of Instructional Ecology.

Josh's Ugly Jugs

Josh talks about finding the African American folk tradition of making "ugly jugs" and finding his way into a new expression. Here are some examples of his work.

Restoring Play to Learning

Josh laments the absence of play in higher education classrooms. We talk about the importance of play in Season 3 of Instructional Ecology, with two professors of Mechatronics and Theater. Listen in, if you're thinking about bringing play into your teaching.

Bonus Episode

Student Perspective on Failure

Josh asked several of his classes, if they chose, to think and tell him about the experience or importance of failure in Art classes. Here's a shorter conversation where Josh reads the anonymous responses and we respond to their ideas. Thus do student voices and perspective come into our season on Facing Failure.

Listen to the Bonus Episode

Or stream the episode through Apple Podcasts or Spotify

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