Transformative Learning at SLU

13,400 kilometers from Mumbai 11,600 kilometers from Shanghai 8,300 kilometers from Sao Paulo 7,100 kilometers from Madrid 422 kilometers from Chicago located in the heart of the United States Saint Louis University understands the needs of the world I think one of the advantages we have at SLU is that we have technology in nearly every classroom Plus we have the Center for Global Citizenship

and our students can communicate with students, with faculty, with experts anywhere in the world and they do I think the overall arching goal of all these things is to be kept a lifelong learner somebody who's not only learning there in the class but also has the skill-set to go outside the classroom and continue to learn as they age When we think about students applying their learning in communities around the world, we think of that as something that goes on long after they leave here as we move forward at SLU technologies is not gonna be an interesting extra, it will just be part of the DNA of learning They learn from each other and then learning from each other they're learning the communication skills that they can then put to practice outside the classroom Their communication skills to be better global citizens

We can pull up experts and students and faculty members and any number of folks from any place in the world We set up a teleconference it's just a really nice way to be able to connect with someone else so far away It really does go back to this idea that it's sort of changing the way we approach teaching and classrooms I sort of call that a collateral learning experience considering how other people across the world are dealing with these issues then bring them into the classroom to have those discussions Saint Louis University is really committed to finding new ways to engage today's learners and that happens with a variety of technologies across the campus we have several new classrooms called the 360 rooms they're designed to have screens on on all sides of the room so that students can either partner up and collaborate on small projects at the same time in the class where they can connect to people from a variety of locations

So right now we're in the learning studio which is an innovative, technology rich, highly flexible environment and it gives them a chance to experiment with how can they work together to create new knowledge We're a Google campus We love Google Docs For any kinda project there's a big document People put ideas, links for web sites that may be useful and the document is shared amongst all of us in real time As we go global the ability to record lectures or rewind and play them is going to be the central tool

Tegrity is a lecture capture tool and that records the voice of the professor and then overlays it on whatever is being sent to the projector You have the whole lecture in front of you It's nice to be able to skip forward back and forth through the lecture As an international student, I like that helps me a lot What I think is interesting about the variety of technologies that SLU has is that it puts students in the driver's seat all this enables our students to to virtually meet students in other parts of the world and to join with them in solving some type of a social problem

Not only all contents we've been learning in the class but also the kind of people they prepare us to be My professors constantly tell us that we're not learning to solve problems that exist today, they're teaching us to solve problems that exist ten years from now We're a Jesuit Institute and we've typically attracted students that are seeking a higher purpose and a greater good The skills that I've developed and the ways to learn and adapt to the new technologies is what I'll take away Well I think our purpose, this higher purpose, is for us to really understand the world and to make sure that our students are part of it and through technology they can be and it can be a transformative experience not only for students individually but also with what they're doing in their classes

We're finding answers to global problems and we can share that journey of finding those solutions with others across the world