By: Zsofia Walter
In OpenDesign+ I hope that we can achieve real and true change at Duke. As a group, we come from different backgrounds and have various interests, so collectively I believe we can consider many aspects of the problems we approach and create feasible solutions. Most importantly, I believe that within these tumultuous times we have the possibility for our ideas and plans to truly be implemented, not just considered.
Higher education and its role in our society is something I have thought a lot about, and I have been pleasantly surprised to see that all of our group members seem to have as well. It has been incredibly enlightening to hear everyone’s perspectives and thoughts. I always felt that our content-driven method of teaching was lacking, but didn’t know what would be better. Learning about the banking vs co-intentional problem-based approaches to teaching have shown me how there are many different ways to teach.
Although the banking approach may make sense at a lower level, it does not develop the problem-solving skills necessary for most jobs. In the wake of moving all teaching online, it has made me realize we should utilize in-person time with professors in a far more meaningful way. In the world of Google, all the information we could ever want is at our fingertips. To truly make an impact on our students, we have to teach them how to work through real-world problems and how to work together.
