1 of 27

Empowering Education Through Generosity

Dr. Jenni Hayman

March 27, 2024

Washington Annual Canvas Conference

Unless otherwise indicated in this presentation file, Empowering Education Through Generosity by Dr. Jenni Hayman is shared with a CC-BY 4.0 International License

Photo by Kristine Cinate on Unsplash

Thank you so much for your kind introduction and warm welcome. I’m so grateful to be here with you today to talk about education and technology, and more importantly empowerment. I want to confirm a couple of details about my areas of expertise and interests. I am an open educator in practice which includes conducting open research (transparent to participants and other stakeholders), published most often in open access journals or on open web pages. I focus on open educational practices when designing post-secondary courses and assessments and I contribute to the creation and review of open educational resources (OER) in many different ways. I am an educational technologist, I review and select ed tech for its alignment with teaching and learning purposes and I attempt to keep up with emerging technology for teaching. I am also an administrator in the Ontario College system which means I hire and supervise faculty and staff and support caring management of high quality post-secondary programs.

2 of 27

Welcome and Land Acknowledgement

Photo by Ken Lund on Flickr CC BY SA 2.0

3 of 27

Purpose of a Keynote

Setting the tone
Highlighting key issues
Inviting and Inspiring attendees
Providing expertise and authority

Photo by Andy Holmes on Unsplash

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

4 of 27

NASA on Unsplash

Empower – verb /ɛmˈpaʊər/: the act of inspiring or motivating individuals to believe in themselves, their potential, and their ability to effect positive change.

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

5 of 27

My purpose today…

Photo by Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash

6 of 27

Photo by Pablo García Saldaña on Unsplash

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

I want to share a short story of my learning journey and some key players related to generosity and education:

I am a first generation graduate in my family. I like that we talk about that and celebrate it in post-secondary these days. Back when I was engaged in it, it was just called “going to college.” And you either did it or you didn’t. I am the second of five siblings born to parents that barely graduated high school. My upbringing was in a highly dysfunctional environment and my refuge was reading. I was born in Battle Creek, Michigan and grew up for the most part on Long Island in New York. By the time I was in sixth grade, my family had moved more than eight times and so I was a lost and lonely 11-year old. Then in steps the most magical teacher you can imagine. Mr. Heilbrun was young (fresh from teacher training, a guitar player, and 1970s hippie of the most engaging variety). He was generous with his care, time, attention, and his generosity inspired me in ways that I would not realize until much later in my life and learning. He helped all students in his class to feel special and seen. He was (and continues to be in his retirement) a gifted and caring educator.

Down the road in my learning, in grade 11, I lucked into Dr. August Franza, my English teacher. Among other amazing reading and writing adventures in that class, I learned what a PhD was and how people could spend a long time exploring and researching and writing about topics they loved very much. As a voracious learner, this was very appealing to me. Like Mr. Heilbrun, Dr. Franza was a caring, generous educator that helped me to feel seen and supported in my angst-filled 16th year. He was also a feminist and took great care in his selection of readings and discussions in class to confirm the power of women. I elected to graduate early from high school at that tender age because I needed to start the journey of exiting from my family as quickly as possible.

I chose to study music (jazz voice) in what I could organize for post-secondary learning with my limited skills and zero parental support. I’ll fast forward now to a year at Suffolk County Community College, a year at Berklee College of Music, four years and a bachelor of music at Indiana University, Bloomington, meeting my fiancé in Indiana, marrying and moving to Canada, nine years at home with two sons (my older son Alex is on the autism spectrum), a professional music career in Toronto, a return to work at Apple Canada retail, separation and divorce, leaving music behind, focusing on new learning in instructional design and distance education (a Masters at Athabasca University), marrying a second time, moving a few more times to Arizona and back to Canada, and completion of my doctor of education in leadership and innovation from Arizona State University. Left right, left right, a lot of churn and change. Throughout this journey, I have benefitted from the collective generosity of many educators and peers.

7 of 27

Gold!!

Photo by Lucas K on Unsplash

8 of 27

Curious about the concept of generosity….

Photo by Janusz Maniak on Unsplash

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

9 of 27

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

10 of 27

Ideas in the Literature

Science of Happiness

“…happiness is inextricably linked to having strong social ties and contributing to something bigger than yourself—the greater good.”

(Keltner & Simon-Thomas, n.d.)

Pedagogy of Care

“Sometimes, the most valuable thing we can offer our students is genuine care for them, their well-being, their happiness. Not just their grades. Not just their learning. But their whole selves.” (Bali, 2015)

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

There are many studies of generosity (and related ideas of altruism, volunteering, and the like). Dacher Keltner and Emiliana Simon-Thomas of University of Berkley have a long-time course on edX called the Science of Happiness and there is a related website for the Greater Good Science Center at U.C. Berkeley. Part of their key messaging is:

“…happiness is inextricably linked to having strong social ties and contributing to something bigger than yourself—the greater good.”

Several of my global colleagues like Maha Bali have been talking about a Pedagogy of Care for the past few years. These conversations and postings resonate with me as an educator and are very related to generosity. Maha writes:

“Sometimes, the most valuable thing we can offer our students is genuine care for them, their well-being, their happiness. Not just their grades. Not just their learning. But their whole selves.”

Care for and consideration of students as individual humans is a key focus for generosity in education.

11 of 27

Additional Ideas…

Teaching with Love

“Love in the classroom prepares teachers and students to open our minds and hearts…Love will always move us away from domination in all its forms. Love will always challenge and change us. This is the heart of the matter.” (bell hooks, 2004)

Generous Thinking

“…generous listening is the necessary ground for generous thinking.” (Fitzpatrick, 2019)

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

12 of 27

Open Education and use of OER is grounded in Generosity

Photo by Viktor Forgacs on Unsplash

13 of 27

Design and Technology for Teaching

Photo by Lucrezia Carnelos on Unsplash

14 of 27

Not All, Not Yet

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

What are some of the stakes of generous versus not generous for education?

• Not all educators and not all learners are currently generous. Many are, and some may not be consciously aware of their behaviour as such

• I contend that education and the transparent generosity of educators and learners may be a strong part of the difference between the human species surviving…or not

• Many smarter researchers than me are painting a dim view of our chances of survival as a species. Based on our current environment destroying trajectory, the planet’s capacity to sustain humans is likely to collapse. The planet will probably survive and heal over time, but we will be gone

This is where I feel a generous model of education might help brighten and change both the present and the future for us all.

15 of 27

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

Talking of bright futures, a quick sidebar…I do not believe I have given a presentation in the past eight or more years that has not included this slide so I want to stay on brand. I’m just going to leave this slide up a little longer while I move on in my thoughts

• When humans are generous with other humans there are benefits. The most observable benefits are often for the recipients of generosity

• There are also benefits (harder to see) for those being generous (see the Science of Happiness course on edX)

• Setting aside philanthropy (e.g., donating money or goods), what is generosity in social-emotional contexts?

What is generosity in education?

How many of you have heard of the Sustainable Development Goals? If you have not, your homework, should you choose to accept it, is to check them out. Particularly the targets and indicators of success for each one of them. These goals, targets, and indicators are part of the answer to the question, “What can I do (and what can I encourage learners to do) to help save the planet and the species on it?”

16 of 27

Ahhhhh, definition

Photo by Romain Vignes on Unsplash

Generosity may be defined as, “…the virtue of giving good things to others freely and abundantly. … What exactly generosity gives can be various things: money, possessions, time, attention, aid, encouragement, emotional availability, and more”

(Science of Generosity Initiative, University of Notre Dame, 2012)

via Greater Good Science Center, 2018

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

17 of 27

A couple of additional ideas…

Altruism - “a motivational state with the ultimate goal of increasing another’s welfare” (Batson & Shaw, 1991)

Prosocial Behavior - “a broad category of acts that are defined by some significant segment of society and/or one’s social group as generally beneficial to other people” (Penner, Dovidio, Piliavin, & Schroeder, 2005)

Greater Good Science Center, 2018

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

18 of 27

Acts of Generosity

Photo by Sticker Mule on Unsplash

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

I have some examples of generosity in education that may be more aligned with altruism and prosocial behaviours – let’s talk about student support first…

Institutional generosity – Some obvious examples - providing supports for students, mental health, physiological health, accessibility, financial support, food banks, quality housing. There are some not so obvious examples as well, creating a space where students feel they belong, creating spaces where diversity thrives (cultural and otherwise), engineering opportunities for social engagement and student communities of practice. These are all good things, and I want to introduce the idea that these examples tend to be more for in-person students than online students. I want to challenge you to think how institutions might extend these good services to digital learners.

Faculty generosity – examples include preparing well for teaching, designing engaging and motivating live or online activities, curating high-quality resources, sharing experiences of practice, facilitating good discussions, answering questions, listening to student needs, grading fairly and generously, providing meaningful feedback.

You might say that these examples are expected. Students are paying tuition to your institution to be supported for success, faculty are being paid by institutions to facilitate effective learning experiences.

What differentiates the acceptable services for exchange of money from the meaningful and enriched experiences of generosity? I hope that is a good question for your reflection.

Likely the difference is in the humans involved and the degree to which they are psychologically and physiologically prepared and capable of caring and generous in their approaches to student support in terms of energy and presence of mind.

What types of generosity might students be showing? Learning support for each other, preparedness for class and discussions, asking relevant questions, being curious, working on assignments with obvious care for the quality of their work, respect and care for faculty, staff, and peers in their classes and interactions. How and when do student behaviours start to feel less expected or transactional and more like care and generosity? How might faculty transparently model generosity and support students to demonstrate it?

19 of 27

Examples of Education Activities

Transactional

Provide support when asked
State and meet expectations
Show up
Provide information
Grade and provide feedback
Be prepared

Generous

Anticipate needs––ask if solutions are working
Ask if expectations are reasonable, ask what supports might be needed to meet them
Show up with capacity for care, listening, sharing, energy, humor
Follow up – did the information I provided work? Do you need more?
Provide meaningful and supportive feedback, guide, mentor, coach
Be curious, find new examples, research new trends and emerging practice, share with others

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

What is going on in the Generous side of the slide? First of all I’m using a warmer color to convey the idea that there is human warmth involved in generosity, a cooler color to convey transactional behaviors. Transactional is great, it is expected. Generous is different.

Generosity is a lot about the act of listening, the act of going a little bit above and beyond transactions toward care, kindness, giving, the openness and vulnerability of care.

To be clear, we do not always have the capacity for generosity, nor do our students, we have better and worse days in our personal and professional lives, our energy fluctuates, education cycles affect us (mid-term and final weeks, yikes), weather affects us, you never know what someone is going through or experiencing on any given day that can effect their capacity for generosity – that’s really important.

Everything in these boxes that might apply for faculty - student interactions applies to student-to-student interactions and applies for institutional staff with other staff. We all need and want generosity, we should all be encouraged and supported to be generous – when possible, science says giving and receiving generosity makes a difference in our sense of well-being.

What’s most important here, in my view, is that education does not always have to be transactional. If we want to encourage and help educate socially conscious students that are critical thinkers, that can help solve global problems, and contribute to caring communities, and I hope we do, we can choose to model generosity. It’s a conscious choice. This applies well past post-secondary institutions to all facets of life. Imagine a generous model of corporate workplaces. I’ll leave that topic for another time and space.

20 of 27

What you do (generous acts)

Active listening
You say yes
Provide positive feedback
Provide constructive feedback
You help create change
You go beyond transactional work to generous work

Photo by Diego PH on Unsplash

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

21 of 27

Feelings that may occur (recipient boost)

I feel heard, I feel that you care about me because you are listening
I feel that you are sharing your power, I feel valued and valuable, I feel supported and helped
I feel respected. I feel rewarded for the care I put into study or work
I feel that you care about my success now and in the future
I feel that our values are aligned and that you are willing to risk your time and relationships to make things better
I can see that you are not just working for pay, you are caring for me and for others

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

22 of 27

Photo by Freddy Mishiki on Unsplash

Why this might help you feel happy and well…

You can see the recipient boost and you feel powerful to have helped
You have modeled something that a recipient might model in the future (your act might be paid forward)
There might be reciprocity – the recipient may help you in the future

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

23 of 27

Institutional Generosity

Image by Sativus on Pixabay

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

24 of 27

Diagrams of Generosity in Education

Is it a decision tree?

Is it a Venn diagram?

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

25 of 27

Microgenerosity™

Small acts of generosity with colleagues, students, family, community
Create a habit of listening, helping, extending past your preliminary reactions of “not possible”
When you can be generous (which is not all the time), choose it
Be generous with yourself – if you cannot be generous––for all the good reasons, don’t see it as a failure, try again when you can
Where you have time, seek to make change if generosity is not present at your institution or possible in your class

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024

Microgenerosity!

I want to be clear that it’s important not to mix up generosity with toxic positivity. We have all seen hype situations where (unintentionally, in most cases) our institutions, families, organizations around us over-promise time and capacity for “miraculous or transformative experiences” where we do not have the skill or energy to deliver. Leaders that insist that staff always be accommodating, always deliver the best learning experience, or always have the most engaging activities, may not be grounding work in reality and this can lead to burnout and dissatisfaction and the opposite of generosity.

Generosity is personal for you, your colleagues, and for your students. We can all decide for ourselves whether we have the capacity and resources (time, energy, etc.) to be generous.

We can choose generosity when it makes sense to us, when we are not taxing our capacity at the expense of other activities that are also important.

We can prioritize generosity in ways that make sense to us individually.

When generosity is modelled for others, those others are more likely to be generous toward us and others, which is a nourishing network of relationships.

So here are some of my ideas (grounded in the literature and in my experiences).

• Small acts of generousity with colleagues, students, family, community

• Create a habit of listening, helping, extending past your preliminary reactions of “not possible”

• When you can be generous (which is not all the time), choose it

• Be generous to yourself – if you cannot be generous––for all the good reasons, don’t see it as a failure, try again when you can

• Where you have time, seek to make change if generosity is not present at your institution or possible in your class

I want to confirm that I am joking about the Trademark, please take and share.

26 of 27

Call to Action

Dr. Jenni Hayman jenni.hayman@royalroads.ca

As I wind down this presentation, I want to leave you with a call to action

Be microgenerous with someone whenever and wherever you can. Generosity is a practice that requires intention.

It should help energize and empower you

Be Mr. Heilbrun, Dr. Franza, or one of the many women and men I have met in my life that have extended generosity to me – you never know when the person you are generous with will have been traumatized and will desperately need and deeply appreciate your care.

Your generosity can help that person to grow, thrive, be resilient, learn, and become someone like me, Dr. Jenni Hayman. I am an empowered researcher, educator, parent, partner, colleague, and listener ready to engage with you about the power of generosity. Thank you.

I have intentionally left time for questions and responses from you and look forward to listening to your ideas and answering anything I can. As part of questioning, if you would share your name, the work that you do in education, and perhaps a quick shout out to someone that was generous with you recently. That might be a fun frame for us. I am really excited to be at the conference all day today and hope to engage in one-on-one or group conversations and to participate in some of the presentations.

27 of 27

References

Allen, S. (2018). The Science of Generosity [white paper]. John Templeton Foundation.

Bali, H. (2015). Pedagogy of Care: Gone Massive [web blog]. Hybrid Pedagogy.

Fitzpatrick, K. (2019). Generous Thinking. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.

hooks, b. (2003). Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. New York, NY: Routledge.

Keltner, D. & Simon-Thomas, E. (n.d.). The Science of Happiness [web page]. University of California, Berkeley, Greater Good Science Center.

University of Notre Dame (n.d.). The Science of Generosity [web page].

Jenni Hayman – WACC 2024