One day chemistry happens. With each new course, with each new group of students, there is a day when a classroom is sparkling with students’ creativity, curiosity, and bright ideas. It happens when students start listening and communicating not only with the instructor but with each other, recognizing the group as a team driven by common goals. However, such a group dynamic is not a natural thing. As an instructor, I am seeking to create a learning environment, beneficial for balancing individual learning, which recognizes special needs, personal objectives, and individual learning styles, with collaborative learning, when each participant reinforces the group performance. When I manage to connect the learning goals of a session with individual aspirations of the students through group work, the class runs smoothly, all the elements of learning design make sense, and after the session, all the participants (including me!) feel energized and elevated.

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The classes, which give me a deep sense of satisfaction with my own work, are the result of a lot of preparatory work and contemplations. Adjusting a syllabus to the needs, expectations and educational backgrounds of students is a necessary part of the learning design. I believe that students learn best when they can do things independently, practice new skills consistently, and receive individualized feedback. For example, I find narrative evaluation an outstanding practice of giving feedback. Some educational institutions require narrative evaluations as a part of mid-term and final assessments, but I would follow this practice even if it is not mandatory. Rather than living a student with a numeric note, narrative evaluation allows analysing individual learning performance from different perspectives: class participation, engagement with learning materials, teamwork, command of content, etc. I use this instrument to understand the students better: while working on the feedback, I am analysing their ‘learning personas.’ It makes it possible to suggest individual strategies on how to facilitate learning. Accordingly, my role as an educator is to provide a solid basis for students’ individual steps, to guide them without being pushy.

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From the statements above, one may conclude that in my teaching I am often guided by constructivists' theories (Myers-Briggs 1980; Gardner 1999; Goleman 1996; Barnett 2004). However, other approaches also give me a foothold in practice. For example, when I taught a course on Global history, I applied cognitive theories to guide students through excessive factual information (Buzan 1974; Piaget and Inhelder 1990; Bruner 1996). We were practising collaborative mind-mapping to connect historical facts, such as dates, names, and events – seven centuries covering the whole planet, to create categories, and structures to facilitate retention. To facilitate students’ engagement, I invite them to work together on MIRO collaborative board. It is one of my favourite digital tools for online teaching. We were also mastering 'narrative mapping,' a tool for processing such material. Developed and adjusted for the course by Professor Jeremy Adelman, this tool involves identifying key elements that comprise arguments about the past: location of an event or actor, global setting, and global significance. Being able to identify vital historical episodes and explain their importance over time is one of the key learning objectives of this course. At the same time, the skill might be useful for applying to the other subjects and courses too. 

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When I taught students with experience of war or displacement, I realised how relevant Behaviourism approaches were. In a situation of stress and uncertainty, it is easier for students to learn when they have clear instructions, receive frequent feedback, and have immediate rewards if they succeed (Bloom 1956; Gagne and Medsker 1996). I believe that educational practices for students from vulnerable groups can be healing and empowering, when carefully designed not only with a focus on cognitive skills but also on “emotional and social intelligence, the ability to cooperate and collaborate with others, and the ability to deal constructively with conflict when it arises.” Mutual respect and non-violent communication in class are very important for me as an instructor since I believe a supportive classroom sets a better space for learning and exploring and “fosters the values and competencies that lead to greater happiness for both individuals and society at large” (SEE Learning Framework 2017).

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If thinking about an outcome outside the classroom, I want to believe that my classes might be helpful for students to better understand themselves and the global processes that influence their life trajectories and their communities. I wish students being able to reflect on lasting social and historical processes and find a place for their own actions to transform the world around them. I believe university education should help students to develop their agency and willingness to make independent decisions and suggest solutions for critical situations. As a teaching fellow who collaborates across the Open Society University Network, I share the values common to the partner universities. The OSUN seeks to foster critical thinking among the students and provide the opportunity to learn and understand other societies across the globe. My teaching strategies help students to see the world as an interconnected system and address the global challenges by mobilizing their unique experience and perspective of a larger cultural group or community they belong to.

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