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| I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the process of August—moving ourselves from summer schedules and priorities back to the rhythms of the semester. For me, August inevitably involves reminding myself that perfection is not a thing in teaching or course design. Every class involves some element of experimentation and uncertainty. No matter how a course worked before, something will be different this time. A well-designed class requires a balance between a carefully thought-out course structure and a mindset of flexibility.
That openness to adapting and problem-solving is fundamental to successful learning as well as teaching, but it is not necessarily a comfortable mindset for our students. This recent Atlantic article about the impact of ChatGPT on young children reminded me that valuing mistakes, failure, process, and experimentation as part of the journey of human development is never something that we can take for granted. As this Instagram reel suggests, our GenZ students exist in a social media ecosystem filled with loud proclamations of extreme competence and the ease of achieving perfect outcomes. This myth of instant, effortless, narrowly defined perfection in their daily lives makes it harder than ever for students to leap into the frustration of being a beginner or to appreciate the satisfaction of developing skills and insight over time. This means that embracing the trial, error, and awkward moments of the learning process is one of the most important lessons we have to offer to our students. Of course, our students need clarity, transparent communication, and intentional course design from us. They need our teaching and disciplinary expertise. They need our creative energy, enthusiasm for learning, and encouragement. But they don’t need perfection—as a model from us or as an expectation of them. As we get started this fall, I would love to hear from you about how you make space in your teaching to help your students navigate friction, persist through hard things, and learn through failing and trying again. Welcome to the new academic year! I look forward to seeing you all in the CfLT this year for more conversations about our common pursuit of excellent (but not impossibly perfect) teaching. |