Teaching in focus: Patrick Parra Pennefather

Name:

Patrick Parra Pennefather

My pronouns:

He/him

Title:

Associate Professor

Faculty/Department/Unit:

Faculty of Arts, Theatre and Film, Design & Production

Location:

Vancouver

Year I started working at UBC:

2018

What first motivated you to become an educator?

I started tutoring when I was seven in my mother Esther’s Spanish classes. She brought my brother, sister and I along one day as she wasn’t able to find a sitter and my dad was also working. We ended up having conversations with college students and had so much fun we insisted on going back. Students loved it and small groups formed with each of us helping them with conversational basics.

Tell us more about your work.

Everything I teach is practice-based. My passion is project-based learning and designing learning with embedded 21st Century competencies like collaboration, communication, self-regulation, problem-solving and critical thinking. Learners do this through co-construction of emerging technology projects together iteratively. They plan, build, prototype and reflect on their efforts with a value of continuous improvement.

What inspired your particular approach to teaching?

As a kid, I was always interested in learning the latest. I was obsessed with picking up skills and learning through play. That approach to learning has always influenced my approach to teaching, which is to facilitate a teaching environment where students learn and sometimes re-learn through activities, self-reflection, critical approaches, discussion and prototyping ideas.

What have you learned while teaching that has surprised you the most?

I am constantly surprised by a student’s transformation from ‘I don’t think I can learn that’ to ‘I didn’t think picking this up would be so easy’. Their capacity to learn new things, collaborate with others, and build resilience is rewarding for me to be a part of.

What impact do you hope to have on your students?

I hope my students are inspired to continuously learn and take risks to build their competencies.

Are there any colleagues or mentors you’d like to acknowledge and why?

Colleagues across disciplines at UBC and other universities inspire me to try different approaches, integrate new content and improve my designs of learning. Faculty in residence at the Emerging Media Lab are all working hard to engage and re-engage learners to love learning, and persistently finding ways to do this by leveraging technology and collaboration.