Sun, 05 Nov 2023 16:33:58 GMT

~30y after my last written exam I accepted the challenge to enrol as a student in a post-grad course with a small group of peers, half my age, half my student's. As a uni professor with >25y teaching experience, I am finding this extremely rewarding. Here's why #AcademicSky

Something all academic's share (I guess) is the love of learning. Committing as a student miraculously creates time in your schedule to do something you love, no excuses.

What I am learning is really mind opening, bringing in different perspectives to the research I do and the courses I head. This obviously has to do with my background/role and the contents of the course, but if you can find a match that suits you, it's quite wonderful.

It is really interesting to go "back to school" and compare to your younger self experience. Of course accessing and processing information today is much easier, but the dimension of the impact and how much better students have it these days just hits you in the face.

So a really cool insight of the power of today's learning tools and what you can do with them... from the other side of the room. But watching my junior colleagues makes it clear that maturity is key and creates a fresh perspective of the challenges my students face.

Finally, the opportunity to reflect and improve on my own teaching practices by following how the course faculty (a really experienced colleague I have known for years) is leading the class.

This last aspect reminds me of an ongoing program for faculty at ULisboa called "Watch and Learn", where small groups of faculty from different schools/areas come together and attend one or two classes from each other. I definitely recommend this to any local colleague.

So in a careers where we are all stressing for time and with a million tasks that just seem to much to manage my take home message is: going back to school is worthwhile, refreshing and a good way to keep you humble and bright ;)

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