2026 Interim Teaching Statement Update

Abstract

Zenodo Description This Interim 2026 Teaching Statement documents the next stage in the evolution of my teaching and learning philosophy, moving from INTEGRATE to SUSTAIN. It is a self-directed biennial update to a philosophy first developed in 2018 through the Harvard University Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. Its central question is: How do I transform acquired knowledge into a sustainable, collaborative learning ecosystem? Written after completion of my doctorate, the statement reflects a shift from acquiring knowledge toward reorganizing, maintaining, testing, and extending it through scholarship, teaching, experimentation, peer exchange, collaboration, and application. It frames teaching and learning as reciprocal processes of knowledge development in which educators and learners influence one another within broader networks of people, institutions, technologies, and information. The statement further develops ConnectivAI, positioning generative AI as an active technological node within a human learning network. AI is described as a learning valet: capable of retrieving, organizing, synthesizing, challenging, and supporting thought, while humans retain purpose, context, judgment, responsibility, and meaning. This leads to a central principle: AI can facilitate thought, but it should not inherit human judgment. A second theme is the movement from AI literacy to AI enablement. Sustainable adoption requires more than tool training; it depends on literacy, authentic practice, access, governance, reinforcement, change management, and human validation. The statement uses the VETT framework—Verify, Evaluate Context, Tool-check, and Trust—as an example of translating AI governance into observable everyday behaviour. The statement also marks a post-doctoral transition from implementation to evidence. Teaching practice can generate hypotheses, but research must test whether those practices actually improve behaviour and decision-making. This requires learners, peers, institutions, replication, and collaborative inquiry rather than individual expertise alone. Within the continuing progression of ACCESS → ADAPT → DESIGN → INTEGRATE → SUSTAIN, the 2026 statement concludes that the next milestone is not another credential, but the disciplined maintenance and renewal of knowledge. It moves from acquiring knowledge to sustaining it, from using technology to enabling others to use it responsibly, from implementing ideas to testing them, and from teaching learners toward increasingly learning with them. For that reason, the philosophy deliberately remains unfinished.