Student Voices
We will adding a new category of posts to our Blog under the heading Student Voices. It is meant to reflect the student perspective on a range of related teaching-learning issues as well as provide examples of the ways in which these perspectives contribute to the life of the college community. Additionally, we will highlight examples of student engagement in SoTL activities. Any contributions related to this theme from cluster members or visitors to our site are welcome and can be sent to me at margulisd&middlesex.mass.edu or included in our "comments" area following each post. The inspiration for this new category was provided by members of the "Student Voices" cluster at the recent International SoTL conference at Indiana University (in particular the representatives from Northern Seattle Community College).
It's interesting to note that a discussion of the topic of "student voices" at a recent meeting of the Middlesex Community College Carnegie group produced an energetic dialog with a significant amount of disagreement and uncertainty regarding the meaning and role of the student's voice. How much input should students have? What should their role and influence be inside of class and throughout the college community. Does giving students a "voice" threaten our role as experts? What does "voice" mean? Is it simply perspective, perhaps power, or the literary meaning of creating a voice in one's writing? I suspect some of these questions may also emerge as this theme unfolds online.