Felten discussed St. John's College approach to learning and what other institutions of higher education can learn from the school.
Peter Felten, assistant provost for teaching and learning, executive director of Elon’s Center for Engaged Learning and exexutive director of Elon’s Center for Engaged Learning, was quoted in a recent Chronicle of Higher Education feature examining the enduring value of discussion-based, text-centered learning.
The article, “St. John’s College Is Weird. Maybe Yours Should Be More Like It,” explores how the college’s Great Books curriculum emphasizes conversation, critical thinking and intellectual community in an era increasingly shaped by technology and artificial intelligence.
Felten emphasized that the most transferable aspect of St. John’s model is not necessarily its curriculum, but its underlying philosophy of education, specifically that learning can be difficult and is a communal act.
“I don’t think we spend enough time talking with students about how what we’re doing is supposed to be challenging,” says Felten. “If you’re in a community where you see other people struggling with the same material, and you can talk with them and think with them and not feel like you’re weird because it’s hard, then I think it’s motivating, then it’s exciting.”