Project Based Learning & Authenticity in our Teaching with Dr. Jeremy Schraffenberger

It is an honor to welcome Dr. Jeremy Schraffenberger to the podcast! Jeremy is Professor of English in the Department of Languages & Literatures at the University of Northern Iowa. He is also Editor of the North American Review. Jeremy teaches courses in creative writing, literature, as well as a practicum in professional writing where students help to put together issues of the North American Review. Jeremy also plays keyboard for the band Michael Le Fav and the Favorites - he is among the Favorites. 

In this episode, Jeremy shares his experiences with using Project Based Learning in his classes to support students asking questions that no one has ever asked before and then working together to authentically answer these questions and publicly share their learning. He highlights that “the work that students do should be real” and provides examples of how we as professors can show our students that we are learning alongside one another. Jeremy shares that “one of things I feel like as professors we don’t allow ourselves, is being baffled - is not knowing.” He encourages us to embrace being baffled and offers stories from his teaching of the amazing learning that can happen when we show students that we are vulnerable, that we don’t have all of the answers, and that "we are doing this together.”