The Epiphany Project
Participant Post-Institute Reflections
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  Barbara Ewell: I had been feeling quite lost playing around with some lowly techniques and modest notions about what to do in a classroom, but when they became part of a communal project, I got a major injection of direction (to mix metaphors miserably) ... I don't want to give you guys the big head, but it may have changed my life--my professional life for sure. The expertise and thoughtfulness of the "leaders" were outstanding. I came away inspired, informed, and rarin' to go make some serious adaptations in my classes and to my vision of the future.

Susanmarie Harrington: Greg Ritter and Elizabeth Cooper's research presentation dovetailed with the curriculum revision I'm working on this semester perfectly! ... [In the future I'd like to see] more small group work with our own syllabi and campus planning documents... I loved the keynote speakers, loved the range of technologies showcased, and loved the Field Guide. The overall Epiphany scheme is a really valuable one and you showed it off in a very accessible manner.

 
Judy Williamson: We learn something every time we run an Institute, and I think of the old swinging pendulum metaphor. We do group work, and people say they wish they didn't have as much group work. We don't do as much group work, and people say they wish they had more group work. As the project administrator, I am very concerned about meeting needs for support, but I also feel like it's a challenge that will keep motivating us to listen more, to adjust, to strive to be flexible, but never to reach perfection. As I reflect on people's feedback, I am struck by two things. First, I am amazed by the courage faculty show in their willingness to learn new things, to make risks, to keep an open mind to evolving pedagogies. Next, I am also blown away by the way participants make connections. They make connections with each other and with ideas that they take away from the Institute. This, for me, is what Epihany's all about: the collaboration and connections. What I hope is that people leave Epiphany Institutes aware of their right and their need for a supportive community who will not judge but who will encourage, motivate, care and communicate. The technology, far from making us into automatons, stretches us to identify ways we can be more human, more generous, more aware as thinking beings.

  Dickie Selfe: I found very little overt resistance to the notion of CS pedagogy but lots of good hard questions about our implementations of it. The questioning and rethinking of how others reacted to some of my pat comments was probably the most valuable thing for me besides gettting to know more swell people to work with in the future. The range of program approaches was pretty amazing and valuable.

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