I was first introduced to Jesse Stommel by an article he wrote on his blog.
The topic was regarding a journal he contributed to and, more specifically, a series they ran called “Dear Student” (Stommel, 2016). The series was a place for teachers to vent regarding the students they encountered and some of the behaviours they dealt with (Chronicle Vitae, 2015). Jesse’s claim is that this is a form of student shaming. As an advocate for student success myself I was intrigued. I started researching and learned as much as I could about his work as I resonated so closely with his views.
Jesse Stommel is the Executive director of the division of Teaching and Learning Technologies at the University ofMaryWashington. He holds an M.A and Ph.D. in English and teaches courses on pedagogy, film and new media (Stommel, n.d.).
Jesse is also the co-founder of Hybrid Pedagogy. Hybrid Pedagogy, in short, is an open online journal where topics pertaining to education are discussed from the perspective of critical pedagogy.
Jesse has recently released a book, “An Urgency of Teachers” which he co-authored with Sean Michael Morris. The book is a collection of essays that explore online learning, open education, digital pedagogy, the role of the empathetic teacher, and more. The book presupposes that in this age of educational technology the role of the teacher is more important than ever (Urgency of Teachers, n.d.).
As I dive into the world of educational technology and digital pedagogy I find myself more and more aligned with Jesse’s advocacy for the students and the need to investigate and be critical of technology.
Places you can find Jesse Stommel
Jesse Stommel’s keynote speech at the Festival of Learning in Vancouver 2018
References
Chronicle Vitae. (2015, February 15). Deary Student: Sorry you’re too late to sign up for my class. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://chroniclevitae.com/news/921-dear-student-sorry-you-re-too-late-to-sign-up-for-my-class
Jesse Stommel. (2016, December 16). Dear Student. [blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.jessestommel.com/dear-student/
Urgency of Teachers. (n.d.). An Urgency of Teachers: The work of Critical Digital Pedagogy. Retrieved from https://urgencyofteachers.com/
October 6, 2018 at 1:39 pm
Hi Chad, great post. Thank you for the insight into Jesse Stommel and his contributions to Education.
I have just recently encountered Jesse’s work through a twitter post from Audrey Watters. I found his work very relevant as we move forward in the practice of online education and the need to consider all aspects of the learning and teaching processes. In his recently published book “An Urgency of Teachers”, many of the issues he touches on I can relate to and see that there is a dire need for dialogue with students. As he reiterated in his book, it is “important that we open our discussions of the future of education to students, who should both participate in and help to build their own learning spaces. Pedagogy needs to be at the center of all these discussions”. Which I fully endorse. I look forward to delving more into his published work.
Cheers
Phyz