Transcendent not transactional: igniting global change one student at a time

Playful learning, action learning experiments, students as partners, feedback hugs – these are some of teaching techniques I practice in my classroom.

Unfortunately, higher education has become very transactional. Students hand over the money, attend classes when they must and navigate assessment tasks in order to be presented with a degree, whereupon they exit the institution, happy to leave.

To meet target 4.4 within the education-focused SDG by 2030 we must aim for transformational learning, conferring students not just with degrees but with the mindset and skills to enact global change, activating a contagious passion for lifelong learning.

I teach organisational communication, leadership and management. I disagree when communication and leadership are labelled ‘soft’ skills. They are core skills – tough to master, yet crucial for success. I tell my students that even if you create something Nobel Laureate-worthy, it’s lost for you and humanity if you can’t communicate it effectively.

To be transformative, classrooms need to be unconventional. Students are my teaching partners, and we employ a range of ‘playful learning’ techniques: student-run upskill festivals and mock strategy sessions, TEDx style competitions, celebrations of our fellow champions and responsible use of Generative AI. In learning by playing, doing, and teaching, they also support each other with weekly appreciative and developmental peer feedback -the ‘feedback hugs’ approach that won the Inaugural SRES Award.

A growing body of higher education research shows these pedagogical practices tap into intrinsic motivation, creating psychological safety and ‘magic circles’ (Whitton, 2022). Failure is not dreaded nor condemned, but a ‘friend’ offering vital feedback, encouraging exploration while building self-awareness and resilience.

My students learn to observe their peers with the intention of helping them succeed. Using trial and error, backed by self-reflection on feedback, they learn what to say and how to express it in order to help others flourish. Those students who have received the most appreciation from their peers are celebrated as class ‘influencers’.

When content can be consumed online, it’s the human connection that is most important in the age of AI. Transformational teaching is not just about transferring knowledge. It’s co-creating education while developing core skills in effective communication and uplifting others. The greatest gift we can confer as educators is to motivate these future agents of positive change to maintain their curiosity and extend their reach (hugs?) as far as they can, for as long as they can. This is our legacy.

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