“TEACHING OUTSIDE THE BOX”: A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS?—IN SEARCH FOR A NEW PARADIGM FOR “TEACHING AND LEARNING”

Authors

  • Thomas Mengel University of New Brunswick

Keywords:

teaching and learning, change

Abstract

Faculty teach and students learn. Higher education starts from the premise that there is a gap “between the teacher‘s understanding and the student‘s learning” (Boyer, 1990, p. 23) that needs to be bridged by teaching. However, the context of higher education is changing and thus innovative pedagogy and a potential change of paradigm should reflect this.

Increasingly “non-traditional students” engage in higher education (Steele, 2010). They bring a wealth of life and work experiences to the fore. Further, the complexity of our daily lives is increasing. Hence, in any given learning process all participants experience gaps to be bridged and thus fluidly move from a position of learner to one of helping others to learn. Unfortunately, our educational language and practice do not yet appropriately reflect that.

Author Biography

Thomas Mengel, University of New Brunswick

Thomas Mengel, Ph.D. (tmengel@unb.ca) is a professor of leadership studies and integrator at Renaissance College (UNB). Before joining UNB in 2005, Thomas held various project management and leadership positions and worked as an entrepreneur and consultant in different European and North American organizational contexts. He is particularly interested in leadership, project management and social entrepreneurship education.

References

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Published

2015-09-01

Issue

Vol. 18 (2014)

Section

Articles

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