Are you familiar with the phrase the “lamp of learning” or the “light of knowledge”? In higher education, you often see this in a college seal or motto, or even as a lapel pin. As educators, we believe that learning is powerful, that learning is (or should be) constant, that learning sheds light on the human experience. As educators, we believe in lifelong learning both as individuals and as members of civil society. We can learn to be better spouses or better friends, we can learn from our mistakes both personal and professional, we can learn new skills, we can learn new ways of thinking, we can learn from others, from books, by observing, by listening, by participating – I could go on and on.
When I moved into Building 3000 at HLC in the Fall of 2022, one of the first things I noticed was that this building has a multiplicity of light switches. I’ve included a few pictures, but this is not a comprehensive inventory – it’s just four examples of different light switches in Building 3000. Why do we have so many different types of switches? I have no idea. All I know is that I have to figure each one out. The one in my office (larger rectangle on top, two smaller squares below) took some figuring out. The lower left square turns on the light and the lower right square turns it off. I have no idea what the point of the larger rectangle is – so if someone knows, I’m happy to learn more!
After being in my office for several months – and holding down the lower left square patiently while the lights slowly come up to full brightness – a colleague told me that all I had to do was hit the lower left square and it would go up to whatever brightness level it had been set at previously. Who knew?
Do you sometimes feel like I felt after he told me that? Part of me thought “these light switches should come with a manual”, and part of me thought “why do we have so many different kinds of light switches?” But most of me thought – “thank goodness he told me that. That is so helpful.” (This is the same colleague who had to tell me how to open the passenger door on his Tesla when we were riding together to a work event recently.)
Learning never stops. Whether it’s learning how to open a car door, or how to turn on the lights in your office or a conference room, or learning how to lead differently, or learning how to be a better online teacher, or learning how to trust a new supervisor, or learning to let go of old hurts (personal or professional), or learning how to use ChatGPT and then learning how to help your students learn the responsible use of generative AI – whatever it is, it’s at the core of our mission.
We are educators, and we are constantly learning. And isn’t that great and rewarding fun?