This is an archive of the website for the Cluster Pedagogy Learning Community, a grant-funded faculty development project at PSU from 2019-2022. While all of the content has been preserved here, some features may no longer work and some links may be broken.

Cluster Pedagogy

Learning Community

CoLab Home » CPLC » CPLC 3 Practices » Flourishing and Transformation

Flourishing and Transformation

Group Members: I was not able to attend the breakout session and did the asynchronous assignment in lieu of it.

Value: Empathy, Connection, Community Indifferences

How does this practice/idea reflect Cluster Learning?

Dialectic can hold in counterbalance contemplative and active potentialities of the human mind; in the interface of the two lies their creative potential. This recognition points to and anticipates human wholeness; yet a premature, unifying definition of ideal human society or even individual completeness is not the goal. Instead, the process itself is paramount, creative, and open-ended, guided by values known to promote human flourishing, such as core values of the CoLab.

Why did your group choose this idea to feature/explore?

I studied social critical theory in graduate school; the ‘negative dialectic’ (T. Adorno) became for me a tool of empathy, inclusiveness, growth through dialogue and difference, and awareness of the unending revision/construction of knowledge.

How could you generalize this idea into a practice that is applicable to as many different kinds of participants in the CPLC as possible?

Problem-solving through dialogue in all of the categories listed above could be, and often is, a practice that builds a sense of agency, relies on collaboration, and fosters community.

Identify anything that the University or the CoLab could do to help advance or support this practice.

The breakout sessions provide a context conducive to problem-solving through dialogue; many other CoLab activities and resources promote the practice as well. Since everyone usually contributes, so breakout sessions develop agency, integration of ideas, acceptance of difference, and a sense of belonging. I have a teaching document on hand about the Socratic method with a quote from the University of Chicago Law School that is equally relevant to the CoLab context. It captures the challenge of both educational contexts and could be a helpful analogy (see section below). The Rogerian Method of argumentation is potentially even more helpful, not only for students’ writing but also for designing activities based on differences of viewpoint (and I have uploaded a short document below).

Supporting Materials

"... We apply legal reasoning, as well as our policy and value judgments, to questions that lack clear answers and problems that defy simple solutions. In this environment, students can sometimes be frustrated by the uncertainty and superficial indeterminacy. Students' feelings of unease and discomfort may be heightened during the first year, when the Socratic Method is the dominant teaching style, because they are confronting a new vocabulary, unfamiliar logical analysis, and the unusual form of narrative found in appellate court cases. My colleagues and I are aware of these feelings, and we take them into account during our interactions with our students. But to provide certainty where there is none or to give a neat framework where the law is messy is to teach dishonestly.... The Socratic Method provides all students greater confidence about talking to large groups, allows them to develop the ability to argue forcefully and persuasively, and teaches them to think critically...." (Web Source: http://www.law.uchicago.edu/socrates/soc_article.html)

Connect with Us

Hours & Location

Spring 2024 Hours

Monday – Thursday: 8:30-4:30, in-person or virtual
Wednesday: Additional in-person hours from 4:30-6:00
Friday: 8:30-4:30, virtual