Would you want to spend a day learning in your class? I love this question presented recently in a post by George Couros. He writes, "This is not to say that students should have no personal responsibility for their learning. But you can’t force someone to learn.  As an educator, the thing you have the most control over is not your students, but the experience you create for those learners." So what does that look like in our face-to-face and eLearning classes? How do we engage and inspire our students? What types of questions do we ask our students. I look back on my time in higher education (and even high school) as a student for a point of reference. When did I become bored and check out? It was usually when an instructor droned on and on and never tried to engage in any type of conversation or feedback. It was when the topic did not interest me and the instructor didn't explain to me why it was relevant or what important point we were building towards. So I look critically at my learning experiences and begin to see how I can make them more engaging and dynamic. What would I want to hear if I was sitting in my students' places? This idea is something that I was first exposed to by the research of Dr. Stephen Brookfield. His focus on critical self reflection has helped me to continuously remain vigilant about growing. He also inspired me to journal  in order to use the data to improve my teaching. So I return where we began. Would you want to spend a day, week, or semester in your class?

Do you have a social network at your college? Are there people who support what you do and help to make you better? Have you established a mentoring relationship that provides you with the reinforcement or validation you may need at certain times? Dr. Maryellen Weimer shares in a recent post that she is thankful for her colleagues for a number of reasons. In writing the article, she also is able to create a list of expectations we should consider when reaching out for mentoring. She writes, "My colleagues disagree with me. They also agree, but it’s the disagreements that are rich with learning potential. I appreciate that my colleagues call out my arguments that aren’t persuasive, point out when what I propose doesn’t make sense, and just plain flat out tell me I’m wrong. Sometimes I am, but it’s the process of finding out that’s instructive and appreciated (usually after the fact, however)." A good mentoring relationship leaves both of the participants better off after the interaction. Because of the stress we encounter in our chosen professions, having a good mentor (whether senior-junior or peer-to-peer) can really make a difference over the tenure of our careers in academia.