Training myself to be curious
“The more courses I take and the more I learn, the hungrier I feel for more knowledge. It’s like training myself to be curious.”
Learning for learning’s sake is a rewarding experience. And once you start learning, it’s difficult to stop. The trick is to choose a subject that you really care about and know what you want to achieve.
It’s the third online course I am attending this year. The first was ‘Leaders of Learning’ (Harvard University), the second was ‘De-Mystifying Mindfulness’ (Leiden University in Holland) and the third one I am currently doing is ‘Classroom-based Assessment’ (British Council).
When I came across this course I said to myself “You have attended numerous seminars and conferences on assessment, you have read and written a lot about this topic; is there something you do not know?” But when I saw who the instructors were, I decided to proceed. In fact I know most of them personally. We’ve been to European conferences together, I have interviewed some of them for ELT NEWS, I have good memories of meeting them at lunch breaks and conference dinners, and having long chats … this sort of thing that floods you with feelings and emotions. What to say about Prof. Burry O’Sullivan who leads the team of instructors? What to say about Dr Nick Saville, Chairperson of ALTE, or about Dr Neus Figueras who offer their valuable advice and research findings to course participants? La crème de la crème of the language testing and assessment sector.
So here I am, spending my nights on screen, watching tutorials, reading articles, taking quizzes, sharing ideas and experiences with 16,000 course participants from 164 countries, writing posts, reading other participants’ posts and commenting on them (it’s part of the course) and YES, LEARNING MANY NEW THINGS.
