“We have many awesome instructors in BE, but our natural tendency is to operate in a bubble with little exchange of ideas. ETC has broken down some of those walls and started the conversations. A safe space to express ideas without judgment and to hear other ideas, allows germination of thought on the subject. With stimulating topics and just enough guidance to get the conversation started, a community around BE teaching has begun. Once people persuade themselves that they have the time to sample the offerings, then they are hooked into the informative and supportive environment. Personally, I have benefited substantially from the facilitator’s own knowledge on educational practices and from the inspiration provided by my fellow ETC community members.”

—Nic Brummel | Professor, Applied Mathematics

“Think of teaching in the context of “curling.” This sport has a rock that is sent down the ice and we then sweep-sweep-sweep to melt the ice ahead in order to guide the stone. We could have just lectured to the stone, telling it where to go and then grading how close it made it to the target. Or…we could provide a bit of the information, setting the stone off on its course and then providing lots of small bits of guidance along the way. The stone then “learns” how to find the target by following our “sweeps” that guide the path to success. Rarely does the stone make it to the circle by just telling it where to go and what the goal looks like.”

—David Bernick | Teaching Professor, Biomolecular Engineering