Alexandra Mihai
@anda19.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Innovation in HE at Maastricht University. Educational developer at heart, passionate about helping faculty to thrive. Join the Educationalist community: http://educationalist.substack.com.
Pinned
Alexandra Mihai
@anda19.bsky.social
· Feb 4
Understanding the complexity of centers for teaching and learning: introducing a four-dimensional model
link.springer.com
So happy to finally see this paper out in the world!
I thoroughly enjoyed the conversations with many enthusiastic CTL Directors in the US and I hope our model can help untangle the complex position CTLs are in, especially in this stormy HE landscape.
💡 link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007...
I thoroughly enjoyed the conversations with many enthusiastic CTL Directors in the US and I hope our model can help untangle the complex position CTLs are in, especially in this stormy HE landscape.
💡 link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007...
"It is a serious thing
Just to be alive
On this fresh morning
In this broken world."
***
Mary Oliver, "Invitation"
Just to be alive
On this fresh morning
In this broken world."
***
Mary Oliver, "Invitation"
November 27, 2025 at 8:41 AM
"It is a serious thing
Just to be alive
On this fresh morning
In this broken world."
***
Mary Oliver, "Invitation"
Just to be alive
On this fresh morning
In this broken world."
***
Mary Oliver, "Invitation"
"What helps is that we are not all crazy and hopeless on the same day. One of us remembers and reminds the rest of us thay when it is really dark you can see the stars."
***
"Almost everything", Anne Lamott
***
"Almost everything", Anne Lamott
November 24, 2025 at 7:44 PM
"What helps is that we are not all crazy and hopeless on the same day. One of us remembers and reminds the rest of us thay when it is really dark you can see the stars."
***
"Almost everything", Anne Lamott
***
"Almost everything", Anne Lamott
Coziness is the smell of freshly baked brioche on a cold rainy Sunday.
November 23, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Coziness is the smell of freshly baked brioche on a cold rainy Sunday.
"The truth is, we know so little about life, we don’t really know what the good news is and what the bad news is.”
***
Kurt Vonnegut, "A man without a country"
***
Kurt Vonnegut, "A man without a country"
November 22, 2025 at 5:23 PM
"The truth is, we know so little about life, we don’t really know what the good news is and what the bad news is.”
***
Kurt Vonnegut, "A man without a country"
***
Kurt Vonnegut, "A man without a country"
When using shortcuts, let's consider not only the things we can do, but also the things we can't do anymore. The skills we are missing. The things we stop practicing for convenience. Harder to grasp, yet important.
November 20, 2025 at 7:42 PM
When using shortcuts, let's consider not only the things we can do, but also the things we can't do anymore. The skills we are missing. The things we stop practicing for convenience. Harder to grasp, yet important.
Walk into the classroom.
Give students pens & papers (no, they won't have pens).
Ask them to work individually on a reflection task for 10 min.
Count until they get bored and start fidgeting.
If you're lucky, you reach 5 min.
Sad but true.
Education became so transactional.
#BringThinkingBack
Give students pens & papers (no, they won't have pens).
Ask them to work individually on a reflection task for 10 min.
Count until they get bored and start fidgeting.
If you're lucky, you reach 5 min.
Sad but true.
Education became so transactional.
#BringThinkingBack
November 18, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Walk into the classroom.
Give students pens & papers (no, they won't have pens).
Ask them to work individually on a reflection task for 10 min.
Count until they get bored and start fidgeting.
If you're lucky, you reach 5 min.
Sad but true.
Education became so transactional.
#BringThinkingBack
Give students pens & papers (no, they won't have pens).
Ask them to work individually on a reflection task for 10 min.
Count until they get bored and start fidgeting.
If you're lucky, you reach 5 min.
Sad but true.
Education became so transactional.
#BringThinkingBack
This made my day, after 8 hours of teaching.
Reflection from one of my BA students in a skills/ professional development course: "I really liked that this course is *about us*. That's not the case with most of our courses... which is sad."
#FocusOnWhatMatters #ReflectivePractice
Reflection from one of my BA students in a skills/ professional development course: "I really liked that this course is *about us*. That's not the case with most of our courses... which is sad."
#FocusOnWhatMatters #ReflectivePractice
November 17, 2025 at 7:20 PM
This made my day, after 8 hours of teaching.
Reflection from one of my BA students in a skills/ professional development course: "I really liked that this course is *about us*. That's not the case with most of our courses... which is sad."
#FocusOnWhatMatters #ReflectivePractice
Reflection from one of my BA students in a skills/ professional development course: "I really liked that this course is *about us*. That's not the case with most of our courses... which is sad."
#FocusOnWhatMatters #ReflectivePractice
The wet air bearing
earthy undertones;
Colours fading away.
Bare-bones.
A shadow of what used to be.
Or maybe
The essence of everything.
A beginning.
Step slowly
In silence:
The earth is resting.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Time to pause
Recharge
So we can be again.
earthy undertones;
Colours fading away.
Bare-bones.
A shadow of what used to be.
Or maybe
The essence of everything.
A beginning.
Step slowly
In silence:
The earth is resting.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Time to pause
Recharge
So we can be again.
November 16, 2025 at 4:15 PM
The wet air bearing
earthy undertones;
Colours fading away.
Bare-bones.
A shadow of what used to be.
Or maybe
The essence of everything.
A beginning.
Step slowly
In silence:
The earth is resting.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Time to pause
Recharge
So we can be again.
earthy undertones;
Colours fading away.
Bare-bones.
A shadow of what used to be.
Or maybe
The essence of everything.
A beginning.
Step slowly
In silence:
The earth is resting.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Time to pause
Recharge
So we can be again.
"Hope is an embrace of the unknown and the unknowable, an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists."
***
Rebecca Solnit
***
Rebecca Solnit
November 14, 2025 at 5:42 PM
"Hope is an embrace of the unknown and the unknowable, an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists."
***
Rebecca Solnit
***
Rebecca Solnit
"What do we have to hold on to? Only the certainty that nothing will go according to design; our hopes are newly built wooden houses, sturdy until someone drops a cigarette or match."
***
Pico Iyer, "Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells"
***
Pico Iyer, "Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells"
November 13, 2025 at 4:19 PM
"What do we have to hold on to? Only the certainty that nothing will go according to design; our hopes are newly built wooden houses, sturdy until someone drops a cigarette or match."
***
Pico Iyer, "Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells"
***
Pico Iyer, "Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells"
Colourful autumn ikebana in my new Korean mini vases.
November 9, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Colourful autumn ikebana in my new Korean mini vases.
10 beautiful days exploring South Korea 🇰🇷
🏞 Walked 130 km through the beautiful landscape.
🍲 Discovered the culture and tasted delicious food.
📸 Took over 1000 pictures.
🍁 Enjoyed the most vibrant autumn weather.
Will be back!
🏞 Walked 130 km through the beautiful landscape.
🍲 Discovered the culture and tasted delicious food.
📸 Took over 1000 pictures.
🍁 Enjoyed the most vibrant autumn weather.
Will be back!
November 8, 2025 at 6:29 PM
10 beautiful days exploring South Korea 🇰🇷
🏞 Walked 130 km through the beautiful landscape.
🍲 Discovered the culture and tasted delicious food.
📸 Took over 1000 pictures.
🍁 Enjoyed the most vibrant autumn weather.
Will be back!
🏞 Walked 130 km through the beautiful landscape.
🍲 Discovered the culture and tasted delicious food.
📸 Took over 1000 pictures.
🍁 Enjoyed the most vibrant autumn weather.
Will be back!
Going on a food-themed holiday in South Korea be like...
November 1, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Going on a food-themed holiday in South Korea be like...
Have been living in beautiful Maastricht for 3 years now and I never get bored of this gorgeous view on my way to work.
October 22, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Have been living in beautiful Maastricht for 3 years now and I never get bored of this gorgeous view on my way to work.
"Maybe a self is just a bunch of little stories glued together in some haphazard way that we use to comfort ourselves."
***
Siri Hustvedt, "Memories of the future"
***
Siri Hustvedt, "Memories of the future"
October 19, 2025 at 9:52 PM
"Maybe a self is just a bunch of little stories glued together in some haphazard way that we use to comfort ourselves."
***
Siri Hustvedt, "Memories of the future"
***
Siri Hustvedt, "Memories of the future"
"When we are stricken and cannot bear our lives any longer, then a tree has something to say to us: Be still! Be still! Look at me! Life is not easy, life is not difficult. Those are childish thoughts. Home is neither here nor there. Home is within you, or home is nowhere at all."
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse
October 16, 2025 at 5:02 PM
"When we are stricken and cannot bear our lives any longer, then a tree has something to say to us: Be still! Be still! Look at me! Life is not easy, life is not difficult. Those are childish thoughts. Home is neither here nor there. Home is within you, or home is nowhere at all."
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse
"Life meanders like a path through the woods. We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again."
***
Katherine May, "Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times"
***
Katherine May, "Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times"
October 12, 2025 at 6:30 PM
"Life meanders like a path through the woods. We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again."
***
Katherine May, "Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times"
***
Katherine May, "Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times"
"We are told that we must always find, generate and consume something new, something unusual, something completely “original”. As a culture, we have been so conditioned in this direction that we neglect to see what is already here, within us."
(Elif Shafak)
elifshafak.substack.com/p/sacred-riv...
(Elif Shafak)
elifshafak.substack.com/p/sacred-riv...
Sacred Rivers, Pregnant Earth
It is true for individuals, it is true for societies: in our strengths lie our weaknesses.
elifshafak.substack.com
October 8, 2025 at 11:02 AM
"We are told that we must always find, generate and consume something new, something unusual, something completely “original”. As a culture, we have been so conditioned in this direction that we neglect to see what is already here, within us."
(Elif Shafak)
elifshafak.substack.com/p/sacred-riv...
(Elif Shafak)
elifshafak.substack.com/p/sacred-riv...
Reposted by Alexandra Mihai
Call for Papers for @ecpr.bsky.social @ecprsgeu.bsky.social section “Teaching in EU Studies in the Digital Age”
to explore how AI, digitalisation & new pedagogies are reshaping #EU Studies
more info: ecpr.eu/Events/Event...
deadline: 10 December 2025
to explore how AI, digitalisation & new pedagogies are reshaping #EU Studies
more info: ecpr.eu/Events/Event...
deadline: 10 December 2025
Teaching in EU studies in the digital age
European Consortium for Political Research
ecpr.eu
October 7, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Call for Papers for @ecpr.bsky.social @ecprsgeu.bsky.social section “Teaching in EU Studies in the Digital Age”
to explore how AI, digitalisation & new pedagogies are reshaping #EU Studies
more info: ecpr.eu/Events/Event...
deadline: 10 December 2025
to explore how AI, digitalisation & new pedagogies are reshaping #EU Studies
more info: ecpr.eu/Events/Event...
deadline: 10 December 2025
"Worry is a way to pretend that you have knowledge or control over what you don't- and it surprises me how much we prefer ugly scenarios to the pure unknown."
***
"A Field Guide to Getting Lost", by Rebecca Solnit
***
"A Field Guide to Getting Lost", by Rebecca Solnit
October 6, 2025 at 6:58 AM
"Worry is a way to pretend that you have knowledge or control over what you don't- and it surprises me how much we prefer ugly scenarios to the pure unknown."
***
"A Field Guide to Getting Lost", by Rebecca Solnit
***
"A Field Guide to Getting Lost", by Rebecca Solnit
When you hike in the Dolomites and the landscape just doesn't feel real. So much beauty!
October 3, 2025 at 8:19 PM
When you hike in the Dolomites and the landscape just doesn't feel real. So much beauty!
Flying above the Alps this morning.
September 30, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Flying above the Alps this morning.
Baking time.
I've been baking every Sunday for the past weeks and I remembered why I love it: the process is really cozy, mindful & satisfying and I have tasty home-baked snacks all week. Win-win.😋
I've been baking every Sunday for the past weeks and I remembered why I love it: the process is really cozy, mindful & satisfying and I have tasty home-baked snacks all week. Win-win.😋
September 28, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Baking time.
I've been baking every Sunday for the past weeks and I remembered why I love it: the process is really cozy, mindful & satisfying and I have tasty home-baked snacks all week. Win-win.😋
I've been baking every Sunday for the past weeks and I remembered why I love it: the process is really cozy, mindful & satisfying and I have tasty home-baked snacks all week. Win-win.😋