Definition
To make learning meaningful is to honour and emphasize your students’ existing knowledge and experiences.
You serve as a facilitator of learning processes, rather than as a disseminator of information. You use your knowledge and expertise to create learning experiences where students have agency to construct their own meaning and connections. You routinely tap into your students’ backgrounds and passions to provoke critical reflection on their beliefs and theories of the world around them. You engage students in the course subject by integrating topics that are relevant and enjoyable to them. Likewise, you make the learning environment meaningful for yourself by showing up in living colour with your own stories and curiosities. You practice being transparent and authentic so that your students can do the same, co-creating a learning community that is genuinely meaningful to all.
Research Ties
Read more about this method’s ties to literature on teaching, learning and responsible leadership
Signature Moves
Role Modeling
Demonstrating responsible leadership competencies in observable ways that students can understand and possibly emulate.
Personalizing
Attuning to current students’ backgrounds, interests and needs and giving them more agency to design their learning.
Surfacing
Uncovering the values, norms and biases that exist in ourselves, ideas, societies, and systems.
Dignifying
Honouring and supporting the identities and perspectives of minoritized and marginalized groups in your context.
Case Studies
Real-life examples from educators around the world.
Activist-Scholar protests with students
Two professors take their classrooms outside on Earth Day
Impactful Student Surveys to understand students’ personal interests
Affirming cultural identities and diverse backgrounds
Professors who are diving deeper on topics with students