rodrigosid

[rodrigosid]

Blog post 3: A chat with Joe

Joe has been working as a mechanic for… a long time1. Now, as a fellow student in this course, Joe has found a few trends from his experience related to how he sees that both his field and education have changed.

Throughout our chat, we went through several topics, but I feel that the one that stood out the most to me that Joe shared with me was that of micro credentials. Joe has seen that as automobile technology has changed, so have the opportunities and demands places upon mechanics. Joe sees with concern the fact that mechanics nowadays are expected to follow a manual and instructions, rather than the more creative, albeit potentially faulty, process that was part of mechanic work and how one learns the trade.

In our chat, we talked about how the implementation of computers and AI has made the work mechanics do more about running a computer so as to be told what to do without much critical thinking from mechanics. In that same way, for Joe this also applies to education as he admits that he finds the use of technology overwhelming, but a challenge that he feels has been ultimately constructive, even if there might be reason to question whether there isn’t an overreliance of technology in education.

Joe admits that his process adjusting to new forms and experiences in education, has not been without grief, but feels that it has been rewarding. While he recognizes uncertainty as to where education or the field of mechanics are going, he recognizes himself as an optimist.

1 – I’m not sure it’s a fact that’s for me to disclose. :P

[rodrigosid]

Blog post 2: Trends in adult education

In their data briefing published in October 10, 2024, The Conference Board of Canada states “appropriate training and guidance is critically needed” (p. 14) regarding post-secondary educators using AI in their classroom. There are a lot of sources that talk about how revolutionary and, to a point, inevitable AI is in the classroom for educators, such as in Stanford’s 2024 AI+Education Summit, or on the other, more general polar-opposite, side of this endorsement spectrum of AI is the podcast Better Offline that talks about the rotten, hypocritical, contradictory, and, even, borderline fraudulent nature of AI.

In thinking and talking about AI in the classroom and how it is becoming a more and more common place occurrence in the classroom, I personally believe that it is important to think of AI as a tool. There are many differing opinions on how AI benefits or impedes work, but a lot of these feel like they operate from the just about science fiction1 assertion that AI will replace teachers in the upcoming future. While I do think that there are individuals who would love to start that business2, I do not think nor have seen any indication that this is going to happen anytime soon.

Referring once again to the 2024 AI+Education Summit, Pat Yongpradit muses “Coming out of COVID, with teacher shortages and all that, there’s this huge burnout level, and so what’s the teachers’ biggest pain point? Time and energy.” Yongpradit goes on to make the point that AI tools can address this. I do not find this assertion to be incorrect, as I believe any professional would, I appreciate tools that help them save time and make their activities, planning, and preparation easier. However, this works off of the assumption that is oblivious to a very important point that Yongpradit casually brushes over: if there is a teacher shortage in North America, why not train and employ more teachers?

Ultimately, this is my biggest complaint with how people are thinking about AI in education, because it presumes a very abusive relationship where the supply of teachers is limited, without trying to consider the more mundane and human reasons of why the teacher shortage even exists: it is simply not worth the grief of being a teacher in 2025 for people and so, people are looking elsewhere for professional options. I feel a lot of people are thinking in binaries of either AI does everything and we get rid of teachers, the people; or we discard the use of AI and let teachers manage however they can.

There has to be a middle ground in the use of AI for teachers and in classrooms, but this middle ground is in opposition to objectives like growing the valuation of companies like OpenAI, which as of 2025 stands at more than $300 billion USD (Hu, Tong, & Vinn, 2025), that demand exclusive, universal, unquestioning use of their product because otherwise there is no realistic way they can make any sort of profit. From a capitalistic point of view, this a zero-sum game where it is perceived as not possible to increase the human capital, i.e. train more teachers, and so the tools and services are the only option to hopefully improve the teaching experience and process.

As teachers I think it’s important to keep up to date with the latest developments. As professionals, we have an ethical responsibility to be as informed and trained as possible. This requires a system that supports and invests in people, which is always a proposition that has no assurances. People are weird, wild, wonderful, and wicked, and investing3 in them is never a certain expenditure which makes many uneasy because resources are perceived as limited4. It is an appalling state of affairs when teachers have to claw and fight for every little scrap of support they can get and posing AI as a way to reduce the amount of support that should be given to teachers is worth talking about and challenging.

I do not think it is in anyone’s best interest to adopt a Luddite approach toward technologies and tools such as AI, but I also think we need to be critical of how we implement them and how they are instituted in settings such as classrooms. Ultimately, people should be supported as people and any support given to them should be support they acknowledge as one they need5, not one that sounds futuristic and impressive in paper but not in practice and reality.

References:

The Conference Board of Canada. (2024). How are educators navigating the AI revolution?. https://fsc-ccf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/educators-navigating-the-ai-revolution_2024.pdf

Stanford HAI. (2024, February 14). 2024 AI+Education Summit: What do educators need from AI? [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/9E8vikWgyeU?si=GozBzd_g7XldKYvQ

Zitron, Ed (Host). (2024-present). Better Offline [Audio podcast]. Coolzone Media.

Hu, K., Tong, A., & Vinn, M. (2025, January 30). SoftBank in talks to lead OpenAI funding round at $300 billion valuation, sources say Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/openai-talks-investment-round-valuing-it-up-340-billion-wsj-reports-2025-01-30/

1 – Purposeful emphasis on the word fiction.

2 - Because it would make whoever manages this would become ludicrously rich.

3 – I personally, strongly dislike using the verb invest when it comes to people, even if it is contextually appropriate. It feels de-humanizing, as if people are just one more resource to manage and that upsets me.

4 – This is a whole other reflection. 5 – I recognize this sentence is written in a way that is challenging, but I stand by it.

[rodrigosid]

Andragogy is a messy term

I found chapter three of Adult learning: Linking theory and practice by Sharan B. Merriam and Laura L. Bierema to be… an uneven read. I will focus on the final point made in this chapter where the authors address the critiques made toward andragogy.

I do not think it’s necessary to provide concrete definitions to terms and specific, manual-like implementations of tools and skills, particularly those of the intellectual sort, but I do feel that if you are going to write on the topic to present in in a textbook then you need to be fully in said concepts corner and be ready to respond to critiques beyond “yep, people did make some points.” It’s not that critiques shouldn’t be acknowledge or presented, but the way these criticisms are presented, they feel disqualifying of a topic the textbook just spent more than pages presenting.

In addition to this, I even found more things to be unsure about regarding andragogy as its use of assumptions instead of tenets or rules or whatever making andragogy an interesting series of ideas at best, but not something like a school of practice. The way the authors present andragogy seems reasonable but not all too realistic. While there are some important points that intersect with preparing teacher work, such as “make your class material problem-centered so that adults students work towards more immediate, practical application” (p. 56) these points hardly seem ground-breaking enough to put them under the term andragogy.

Ultimately, and a bit paradoxically, I feel the book does a great job capping off this chapter in the last sentence where it states “An even more pointed critique of andragogy’s context-free orientation is from Sandlin (2005), who states that an educational context is never value-free or apolitical, that all learners do not look and learn the same, that race, class, gender, and culture1 all influence learning” (p. 60) I understand that for many it might be frustrating that you can’t just pick up a manual, read it, and be ready to teach, but teaching and learning are human endeavors in all their weird, wild, wonderful, and wicked glory. The textbook doesn’t do a great job of settling the tumultuous nature of discomfort enough to make it make sense and make it worth the readers’ time.

There are two or three more points I could focus on from this chapter, such as the problematic nature of the term andragogy or a reflection on why I feel “solution-focused” is a better term than “problem-focused,” but this is how I engage on a deeper level with the text, not something I am required to do, so I’m not quite sure those are worth fully worth my time pursuing. Maybe if I get a bit of a manic episode, I’ll pound one of those out.

1 - I, Rodrigo, would add more!

[rodrigosid]

Blog post 1: Trends in your field

Somewhere, in the nebulous space that is nuance, there is a practical middle ground between the demand for certification and the reality of people to actually do a job and the ways we can reasonably monitor and set expectations for the job they do and the paperwork they have to have to do it. However, as things stand there is a clear favoring of certifications over intent. I want to clarify that I am not advocating a stance for anti-certifications for anyone to do any job the want to and this applies to teaching.

As of January 15, 2025, the BC Ministry of Education reports that there are a total of 77, 440 certified teachers in the province and 756 individuals who hold a Letter of Permission1. Out of a total population in British Columbia of 5, 698, 430 as of October 1, 2024, we can parse that nearly one percent of the population in BC is a teacher and one percent of that one percent is teaching with a Letter of Permission. I figure there are a couple reasonable questions to extract from these statistics which are ‘how much is that?’ and ‘is that enough?’. According to an announcement by the provincial government of BC, the answer is no. The British Columbia Teachers Federation has been one source of advocacy toward the current situation of what they call “a critical teacher shortage”.

Simply put, if people in British Columbia want to keep operating with a basis on what I call ‘certificationism’2, then something has to be done to foster it. As The Tyee reports through data obtained from the BC Public School Employers’ Association: “Fewer B.C. teachers left the profession last year [2024] than in the 2021-22 school year, […] (sic) But those who did leave were more likely to be resigning, rather than retiring or finishing their contract positions.” There is a very real issue on how education will be addressed3 in the long term to ensure education in British Columbia continues to be reliably provided and provided at the standard that it is expected to be provided.

After all that context, I refer to this article in The Walrus regarding the material realities of teaching. Teaching as it was seen in media in the past as a life-long profession is becoming a thing of the past. The idea that a person can be the local, grade-whatever teacher for generations is no longer a reality. Teachers are likelier to resign from burnout brought on by stress and harassment than they are to be able to retire from teaching because they did the job for decades as it was a reality in the past. Canada is a corporate welfare state, meaning that while a whole lot of services are provided by the government, they are still funded by money, usually from sources such as taxes, meaning they have a cost. That overly simplified explanation of the source of services is important, because we think of possibilities based on the availability of resources, mainly money. If more resources, again specifically money, are not going to be made available, then other concessions have to be made such as allowing those without the proper certification to do the job. This concession is also usually at the expense of safety mechanisms such as union membership, long-term support, professional development, among others. To be a bit dramatic, the system is letting people in and then chewing them and spitting them out with, if they’re lucky, a thank you for their service because of the high turnover in the teaching profession.

This text on Article 24 from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and how it has affected teaching environments in BC by Tara Ward, pairs well with the aforementioned The Walrus article. It is, in my eyes, an example of how ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ It is admirable how we have a stated intent to have education be available and accessible to everyone. However, what does this mean when those providing said education feel like their struggling and literally have to use foam shields to do so? To be abundantly clear, I do not think Canada, or anyone for that matter, should ignore and discard Article 24, but it is frustrating and upsetting to see how it is “implemented” without the recognition that said implementation requires appropriate support. It sounds great to be able to state that everyone receives an education regardless of their needs, but it is a whole other matter when we consider what that means for the material realities of those teaching and those receiving said teaching.

I don’t feel my reflection in this instance into the matter is enough to lead me to propose a sort of concise plan to address this issue, this is, still just a reflection. Nevertheless, I feel confident in saying that there are two things that essentially need to change and be ensured: support and safety. No amount of resources and money are ever going to make the job worth it when you have to deal with people confronting a teacher before, after, and even during class, a student harassing a teacher, or seeing the effects of discrimination, bullying, and/or hate in the educational setting. We can’t reasonably expect to have a long-term, sustainable educational system if we have the people on the ground feel that they are putting their lives on the line to do keep said long-term, sustainable educational system going. Schools and classrooms should not feel like warzones where people are fighting some sort of epic battle, they should be welcoming spaces where people create community and grow as individuals.

References:

BC Ministry of Education. (2025, January 20). Statistics about valid certified teachers. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/k-12/teach/standards-for-educators/statistics

BC Ministry of Education. (2024, July 25). Letter of Permission. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/k-12/teach/employer-support/letter-of-permission

BC Stats. (2024, October 1). Quarterly Population Highlights. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/data/statistics/people-population-community/population/quarterly_population_highlights.pdf

BC Gov News. (2024, August 26), More certified teachers coming to B.C: schools. https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2024ECC0105-001373

BCTF. (2024, October 31). New BCTF research report highlights teacher mentorship in BC schools. https://www.bctf.ca/news-and-opportunities/news-details/2024/10/31/new-bctf-research-report-highlights-teacher-mentorship-in-bc-schools

The Tyee. (2024, December 6). Teacher Resignations Are on the Rise in BC. https://thetyee.ca/News/2024/12/06/Teacher-Resignations-Rise-BC/

The Walrus. (2025, February 19). You Can’t Solve the Teacher Shortage by Pretending Anyone Can Do the Job. https://thewalrus.ca/you-cant-solve-the-teacher-shortage-by-pretending-anyone-can-do-the-job/

The Canadian Encyclopedia. (2015, August 13). Welfare State. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/welfare-state

Capstone Magazine. (2024, February 12). BC’s Teacher Shortage and the Inclusion Paradox: A Critical Analysis of Canada’s Article 24. https://capstone.capilanou.ca/2024/02/12/bcs-teacher-shortage-and-the-inclusion-paradox-a-critical-analysis-of-canadas-article-24/

United Nations: Department of Economic and Social Affairs – Social Inclusion. (1989, November 20). Article 24 – Education. https://social.desa.un.org/issues/disability/crpd/article-24-education

1 - “A Letter of Permission is a special permit that allows someone to teach without a certificate in a particular school district, independent school authority or for a First Nations Council for up to one school year. It is only to be used when a certified teacher (also known as a certificate holder) is not available to fill a vacant position. The employer and the applicant each submit a part of the application form. It is the responsibility of the employer to help guide the applicant when applying for the Letter of Permission.”

2 – I personally (as my quick Google search did not provide any sources on a link for reference on the matter) ‘certificationism’ the over- and blind reliance of certifying people to then allow them to perform a certain duty or profession.

3 - Passive voice used intentionally.

[rodrigosid]

A point about the book itself

I want to start by stating that it is likely this point I'm about to make is a but too much of this time (2025) for this book written in 2013 (if you must, I guess), but the book fails in ways that show it colonialist biases. I might have to eat my words if I look further into the sources this textbook pulls from to present the material it does, but is seems there is little effort to reach for more in this book beyond the US, Canada, and Europe (and Western Europe, at that). I've mentioned previously how the work of Paolo Freire is very much in line as a source for the material in this book, and I feel this is not the exception.1

In the Sunday, February 16 episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (season 12, episode 1), John Oliver points about the hypocrisy of Donald Trump’s administration charge against DEI, “within sixty days of this order… terminate… all DEI…offices and positions…” and Donal Trump stating “Our country is going to be based on merit again, can you believe it?” while at the same time the host discredits this by stating “That is a wild thing to say in front of a portrait of your whom you inherited a real estate empire from.” Simply put, the assault on DEI, as it is being called, such as by Mark Hillsdon for Reuters in this article, is a hypocritical, nationalistic attempt to have those from more equity deprived demographic categories have more opportunities taken away from them.

Simply put, initiatives like DEI, affirmative action, equal opportunity, or a critical-race theory approach  have always been recognized as imperfect, such as by Martin Luther King Jr. in this chapter from the Harvard LatinX Law review, because  those types of approaches create a zero-sum game, meaning that someone must loose for the other to gain something. Simply put, the idea that one must take away from the other to pull themselves up is an excellent way to create resentment.

Whis brings me to the point I want to make about the book that stood out to me in this chapter.

One of the ways that we can understand the constructivist approach to education is that the teacher is not only the facilitator, as education and learning are processes of construction, but then also becomes a sort of curator of the educational or learning experience. The teacher must make a choice on what resources they pull from so as to create the environment for learning. The authors pull mostly, if not only, from authors and scholars that are from the US, Canada, and Europe, as stated before. It is fair to recognize that there is a lot of material from which the authors can pull from, particularly in these beginning stages of the textbook, but, while I mention Paulo Freire, Freire is only one option of authors and scholars outside of the US, Canada, and Western Europe bubble that one can easily enclose themselves in.

I feel that, if one sets themselves to make a textbook that is intended for post-secondary education, then it is important to think about ideas beyond a reduced intellectual space because that is how hegemonical environment are built and, it might be just me, but I feel educators, and specifically teacher educators, must make the effort to broaden that horizon, not only for themselves, but for their students.

That’s how I feel about that.

1 - Yes, that was the disclaimer to start.

[rodrigosid]

Hi rorri

Bonjour!

[rodrigosid]

Comments on the text Developing self-directed learners

This kind of text is what happens when non-educators write to tell others how to educate. The context on this text have been in question for centuries, think of the word and how it was used to describes individuals accomplished when referred to as self-taught, and, even more to the point, the work of Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed comes to mind. I will also admit, that I feel it is not totally fair the critique this article as an educator as it is directed towards health-care practitioners who want to improve their teaching. Nevertheless, I still feel that if someone is going to put their name to a text and the ideas therein, then it is fair game to pass judgement.1

I want to clarify that I am very much in favor of what the article is addressing, except for one point that I will write about further down this text. I agree that developing self-directed learners is important, but it comes down to how we understand the act and the moment of learning. Depending on who you ask, learning can be doing (I should put a citation here, but nothing specific comes to mind and this is just a Tumblr post), so being able to self-direct one’s own activities could be argued to be engaging in self-directed learning by that logic. It is a stretch to present as I did, but the point stands: as the textbook mentions, there is value in recognizing the continuum of formal and informal learning (p. 29). Furthermore, I can only hope that the suggestions and advice the text presents are not eye-opening for anyone because that is all very basic teacher training.

This brings me to the point I mentioned before: the presentation of the results. In general, the text feels short-sighted because it mentions that some of the results were not great, but fails to recognize that a lot of this is the way we have all been inculcated to learn. Paolo Freire talks about banking education, in which the teacher is in charge of placing, depositing if you will, the knowledge in their students so that they are now at liberty to use it. Again, Paolo Freire wrote this in the 1960’s. To state that these strategies for self-directed learning failed to produce results fails to consider, in this case, the historical context as well as the trends in education such as Taylorism, in which the results need to be quantifiable so as to see numerical or graphical improvement.

This text is a quick, interesting read, but it worries me that this is where the educational principles come from for certain disciplines as it can be so much better.

1 – He writes realizing this applies to him as well.

[rodrigosid]

Thoughts on Chapter 1 of the textbook

[I'll try to write this in a connected cohesive way, rather than bullet point, but I'm not sure how this will go.]

The first thing that stood out to me in the first chapter of our textbook Adult learning linking theory and practice by Sharan B. Merriam & Laura L. Bierema, as an introduction to the topic this text is addressing, I feel 1 the book does not do a great job of defining topics that I think are essential to its topic: adult and education. What even is an adult? Do we define that based solely on age and numbers or is it something more complex than that? What about those people who “never grow up”? I have been thinking for more than six years in what the word “adult” means and have yet to come to a relatively concrete definition. Add to that the term “education” and things get even more complicated: are we just referring to teaching individuals of a certain age? Yes, the book does give a definition of “adult as part of the term adult education” but as such a big topic, “activities intentionally designed for the purpose of bringing about learning among those whose age, social roles, or self-perception, define them as adults” seems like it is putting it mildly that this is a way to “broadly define” (p. 25).

This, in fact, brings me to another one of the issues that jumped up at me in the textbook, which is that this book doesn’t feel like it has a substantial intersectional approach. Yes, the text does mention things like gender and race, but frustratingly fails to address more substantially class and economics. In my view 2, one of the biggest, if not the biggest, obstacle to accessing education, wherever that lies in the formal and informal continuum (p. 29), is the class and economic context in which a learner finds themselves. Simply put, it is not the same experience to learn when you have a house with no mortgage to pay and you can choose which car to use today, as opposed to being a single parent who has to support three children while working two or three jobs. I feel this recognition is even more relevant in 2025 than others brought up in the text, such as globalization.

This brings me to the next item of note in this chapter, which is that the book feels outdated. It is a book published in 2013 and a lot has changed in the more than a decade that has passed since its publication. The textbook mentions iPods! I’m hoping I can muster the effort to put together a bit of research to look at updated statistics that the book mentions as I feel there may be considerable changes since this was published.

I’ve managed to make this text connected in a relatively cohesive way and can now touch on my final point which is connected to the second one: this book is a bit insidious in its colonialism. This, I feel, comes out in a sentence that has stuck with me since reading this chapter a couple days ago: “There is still much to do to address the basic needs of marginalized people and nations before all can benefit from participation in this digitalized, globalized, knowledge society.” (p. 20). One of the premises of decolonializing practices like education is the fact that, while there may be practical advantages, this doesn’t mean this is necessarily the best or most useful way of providing and accessing education. Simply put, the way and learning needs of a person in Kitsilano in Vancouver are not necessarily the same as those of a person who lives in Fort Nelson. One person might benefit from incorporating cutting-edge technology to their learning process while the person might have no need for that at all. Again, this is a process of decolonializing education because, ultimately, this is a barrier to learning that is implied and can be problematic.

I stated the previous paragraph was my final point, but I want to finish on a positive point. I feel the author’s distinction in the perception of the words “education” and “learning” are thought-provoking. As the textbook states: we have been so conditioned to thinking of learning as something that takes place in an educational institution that our learning at work or in our everyday life does not seem to count as part of our learning (p. 28). One of the aphorisms I present to my students often is ‘words matter’ and I feel it’s important to interrogate the terms we use as communication is a skill for a reason. I appreciate the fact that the book engages with this and how the words we use affect our engagement with the educational or learning (whichever term you prefer) setting are important to consider.

1 - Very important word in what I am writing.

2 - I will delve deeper into that in other blog posts.

[rodrigosid]

What will (likely) be on my mind

As I start the Provincial Instructor Diploma Program (PIDP) and see that part of the work is to identify a topic that I find engaging and that I think is worth reflecting on, I think on what we are currently identifying within the umbrella of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, or DEI. I like to think of myself as someone who embraces and protects these ideas, so it also makes me sad, angry, frustrated, among other negative emotions when I see someone who opposes these principles.

I take this opinion piece by Christopher Holcroft in The Tyee as a case in point of the state of the matter for this issue. While Holcroft is referring to the issue in the context of politics, this also applies to the context of education and teaching. Simply put, I strongly believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion are not just words, they are guiding principles in how one operates as a teacher, instructor, whatever title or label one prefers, and, furthermore, enhance the possibilities of education and learning. Learning in the context of "sameness, prejudice, and exclusion," to quote the quote in the opinion piece is just a kneecapped process.

The Government of Canada defines the following:

Diversity - The variety of identities found within and organization, group or society that are expressed through factors such as culture, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, language, education, ability, family status or socioeconomic status.

Equity - The principle of considering people's unique experiences and differing situations, and ensuring they have access to the resources and opportunities that are necessary for them to attain just outcomes that aims to eliminate disparities and disproportions that are rooted in historical and contemporary injustices and oppression.

Inclusion - The practice of using proactive measures to create an environment where people feel welcomed, respected and valued, and to foster a sense of belonging and engagement that involves changing the environment by removing barriers so that each person has equal access to opportunities and resources and can achieve their full potential.

There is space for conversation as to whether this is the best definition for these terms or not, but I chose the Government of Canada's definitions because of the official nature of the source. Ultimately if the practice of diversity, equity, and inclusion become a problem, then these are the guiding principles that will define how they are executed.

Throughout the next few weeks, I will keep reflecting on this in addition to the material that is part of this subject and this course to, hopefully, incorporate this more fully into my own educational practice, as well to consider how I myself define these terms when it comes to educating adults and education in general. There is a slight possibility I will change direction mid-course, and I'm not quite sure where this will all land, but, as stated in the movie The Brutalist: it's not the journey, it's the destination.