TLT Symposium reflection: is teaching essentially real life Inception?

Apologies for the bizarre title, but one line from the movie Inception (2010, directed by Christopher Nolan) that impressed me the most, was "You need the simplest version of the idea, one that will grow naturally in the subject's mind."

The keynote talk of the symposium was focusing on how to instill an idea and make it last in someone else's mind, defined as SUCCES, or Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and Stories. The part of the talk that impressed me the most, was his demonstration of how to make your papers, ideas, talks, presentations and other communications "stick" with the audience. As a PhD candidate I have too many occasions where I had to give an "elevator speech" when asked what my research focus is, as well as other occasions such as teaching, seminars and writing manuscripts for submission. I have been unconsciously some of the SUCCES idea, but hearing the idea demonstrated in such a easy to understand and relate manner (essentially, the talk itself was a fine example for SUCCES), was beyond inspiring.

After the keynote talk, I went to three seminars focusing on introducing new technologies (VR, shared educational resource, and remote education). Variability, as a characteristic of successful teaching, has been on my mind for a while and I found the idea of implementing new technologies very refreshing, but also challenging, and in some cases limiting.

Reflecting on the experience, I found myself wondering how to incorporate SUCCES into the discipline of plant science. This field of study calls for a lot of hands-on experiences and some form of autonomy to convey and digest the knowledge better. Bite-sized information may be more effective when it comes to more theoretical classes, but taking notes in a lecture in plant science is only half way done. Traditionally the course design in plant science includes lab sessions, and field trips. But after taking some inspirations from the new technology seminars, ideas such as incorporating VR or AR into teaching plant science, such as displaying a time lapse video of plant growth in virtual reality, could be a good variation from conventional lectures, provide a "story" like context, and still convey credible information.

I was very excited to have the chance to learn about ideas and participate in discussions with other educators. The take-away from this experience will provide me with some inspirations, if I get to design a class in the future.