S2 E18 - How Devotion to Active Reflection Makes Learning Happen at Oxford College (Part 2) - Jill Petersen Adams

Digication Scholars Conversations

In this Digication Scholars Conversation, Jill Petersen Adams describes her multifaceted role at Oxford College of Emory University as “Part professor, part travel agent.” Jill is a Senior Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Studies and Director of Global Learning and Undergraduate Research Studies - a role that includes teaching students, as well as overseeing experiential learning programs such as community engaged learning and global learning. Jill discusses the importance of student reflection, but stresses that it shouldn’t just be retrospective, but should instead be incorporated cyclically, throughout the experience. As an example, she discusses a recent global learning course, which was originally intended to be taught in Japan. Jill explains to host, Jeff Yan, how ePortfolio helped to meet the challenge of teaching the class online in the wake of COVID19, and helped her appreciate technology for its abilities to help students synthesize learning. The conversation then touches on Jill’s love for martial arts, her experience with cancer, and the role that both have played in informing her philosophy of learning. “That experience...helped me kind of reconsider my embodiment in the classroom and as a scholar, and accepting my limits. Where can I push through? Where can I not push through? What do I learn from that? And how can I better support students in understanding their own learning process?”