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School Trips - I know that's a homer response from me (Cort) but I think about choir competitions in Toronto, Model UN trips to NYC/Chicago, even a Middle School Where in the World is Carmen San Diego competition! In these experiences because you have to work with others in a 24/7 intimate space, you have to grapple with your own and others identity and perspective. You are engaged in competition and so the drive to master some part of the process - to help the team - is elevated and feels connected to the process of mastery. The risks sometimes associated with school life drop down a bit (and in some cases all the way) - these social inhibitors to creativity. My question becomes, how do you bring that/those lessons to spaces closer to home/in the building you spend everyday in?

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Who knew that there was so much learning to be had in this sport? For me, the deep learning who driven by my desire to succeed in the sport, but I got a little crazy: reading books (limited internet back then:), talking to my former olympian coach, and video taping. For me, my identity was tied up into this sport and I found ways to create short story fiction, videos and even club activities around this sport. Mastery for me was all about the game; drills had to be purposeful - they should have immediate relevance to the outcomes in a real game! If they were not, these drills should be abandoned, and I was very bold in giving that feedback to my coach to that end.

-Jason

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when I am researching and writing a paper on a topic that I personally care about (it sparks me), know about, and have been able to make my own conclusions about. But I needed a lot of time to get there

sometimes it's when I'm in a collaborative setting with a bunch of different minds at the table. sometimes it's by myself when I can think and process at my own pace and experiment

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I experienced deep learning when I started as a teaching assistant for the intro to CS course as a second semester sophomore in undergrad. Despite the fact that I'd declared my major as CS, I don't think I'd truly understood what I'd learned until I started regularly explaining it to students.

In this experience the identity piece came as seeing myself as someone who was good at explaining; mastery in the understanding enough to be able to teach; and creativity in the ability to help students on projects I myself hadn't completed.

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For me the characteristics of deeper learning are: it's something I remember, not just specific facts or concepts, though that, too, but I remember because it is meaningful in that it gets me thinking about my worldview, my sense of self, my purpose, my relations with others, and so on.

As for what makes deeper learning possible, I think it comes from asking questions that make me stop and say, "huh." Conversation is important, but also reflection (in fact, for me).

As for specific examples, I think of two. One is the Exeter Humanities Workshop, which, even though it was almost 20 years, is something that I refer back to repeatedly, in my teaching and thinking. It was collaborative and engaging, and significant for what I was doing personally. The other is more recent: the learning I do around PAMKA grants. I did a deep dive into, for example, Teotihuacan, driven by strong personal interest. Both were personal -- driven by what I was doing in the classroom, or by questions that fascinated me -- and both were driven by (perhaps different kinds of) mastery (not being happy with the result until I had gotten to the bottom.

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The classroom experiences that I remember the most vividly from middle and high school as well as college--and that I feel I learned the most from-- were collaborative efforts to make meaning (group work) on topics that were assigned but allowed the group choice about how to learn and how to demonstrate their learning/mastery. Creativity was welcome because learning didn't seem to have boundaries.

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A series of programming problems released each December, which became the catalyst for me to (re)learn programming after many years away.

By providing an opportunity / necessity for lots and lots of practice, this (ongoing) experience has led to mastery; its challenging nature requires and promotes creativity.

It has also provided the opportunity for collaboration & mentorship, though curiously, this has been primarily through entirely asynchronous internet communities.

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visiting dokk1 in aarhus denmark on my pamka travel grant

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visiting dokk1 in aarhus denmark on my pamka travel grant

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In 2018 I was granted a PAMKA travel grant to explore how space can engender creativity and inquiry. Of all the spaces I visited, Dokk1 (the public library) in Aarhus, Denmark, stands out the most vividly. During my tour and interview with their Director of Innovation, I was able to connect my own background and passions to everything I saw (from the "pause room" for young families to the nooks and crannies created for collaboration) and then connect it back to the ways in which we could bring those concepts back to MKA.

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My first thought with deep learning was our introduction of GPS tracking systems to our soccer players at MKA, and also in the club I work for. This was not an academic space but an environment where the group shared common goals and passions. This connected the group but also allowed for individual self analysis and accountability they may never have considered before. They identified themselves and their performance. The mastery piece gave the athletes an opportunity to study data parameters associated with their performance that were objective and not subjective. I associate the creativity piece with a young athlete valuing the scientific and technological information with who they are and what they perceive themselves as in terms of a player. This implementation of technology, science and performance took place in the most organic of situations and truly allowed the athletes to explore themselves and their performance intrinsically and without tangible reward.

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Becoming a classics major helped shaped my identity and it's been an ongoing journey over time as my professional roles have changed. In graduate school when I was a research assistant for one of my professors. I had studied paleography and was able to "do the discipline" when I was able to transcribe 15th-century humanistic scripts of Vergil's Aeneid -- I would have followed that as a career but I don't think it would have paid the rent. My various professional roles have helped me to continuously experience mastery and I'm grateful for that. My love of gardening allows me to express my creativity every spring summer and fall as decide what plants and colors to combine around my yard. Being able to spend time researching my interests and then come up with engaging ways to share that information with colleagues is a blessing every day.

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similar to the view from my childhood home - it's inspiring

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Thinking about my learning experience, so much of it was traditional -- lectures, tests, exams, next unit. There were a couple of exceptions. These were moments when I did work outside of the classroom. Highlights that I recall:

- Research - it seems obvious but these were the moments when I was able to follow an individual interest. (My first topic: Elvis) I'd go on a journey. Follow the trail of learning. It was a puzzle and I wanted to find all of the pieces.

- Science fair project - in 9th grade, my friend and I wanted to be astronomers. We used her dad's camera, stayed up late, and took long exposure pictures of the stars outside my house. (I lived in the middle of nowhere so they were extra bright.) Our display? We built a planetarium people could sit inside to see the constellations which we made as accurate as obsessive 9th graders can.

- Art class - I learned that color was my "thing". I can't draw and accurately represent anything but abstract and playing with color was my thing. (Why didn't I pursue it more?)

I've lost my train of thought so I'll leave this here and look for a photo.

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The times that I felt I have been most engaged in deep learning was when I was involved in research. This experience required me to knit together ideas and skills that I picked up in very different spaces. I failed a lot and learned the most from understanding why I failed and how I could course correct. The piece that felt like mastery to me was knowing that the solutions to the problems I was investigating had not yet been discovered. I couldn't read a book or ask an expert to find the answer - it was I puzzle I had to solve if I want to deepen my understanding.

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Deep learning has happened most in my life when there has been choice and time to reflect. Most of my deep learning experiences have been in exhibits, where you are encouraged to explore and find inspiration, but you also have the time and environment to process, taking time to understand the concept/history (and even research after leaving the space). I remember exactly how I felt standing in front of Beauford Delaney's self portrait in the Chicago Art Institute when I was on a high school trip.

Museum experiences, both the exciting and terrible ones, have helped me shape my understanding and develop a personal style and voice in my work as a painter, and ignited a passion for visual art. These experiences have shaped how I teach, helped me value how important in-person encounters with historical and contemporary works of visual art can be.

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I did not know that learning could be about my own interests until I got to college. That idea of agency and self-selection within the context of a learning continuum made what I learned more powerful and lasting. This ultimately led to explorations in engineering, physics, and art that shaped who I am as a learner and human. So there's identity and creativity... mastery feels more like a moving target- the more I know and am able to do, the more I find I need to learn.