Chosen to be this year’s speaker for the BYU-Hawaii’s annual convocation, Dr. Neil J. Anderson, professor of English Language Teaching and Learning, will discuss the increasing Metacognitive Engagement through the BYU-Hawaii framework for learning and teaching. He will be presenting his speech at the McKay Auditorium on September 27 at 11 a.m.
An open panel discussion regarding Dr. Anderson’s presentation will be held at the Aloha Center room 155/165 at 3 p.m. the same day.
Anderson was born in Brigham City, Utah and is the oldest of four children. He served a mission in Guatemala and El Salvador and graduated from BYU-Provo with a degree in Spanish. He married Kathy Anderson and currently has four sons, one daughter, and 20 grandchildren.
Sharing how his journey led him to BYUH, he said, “There was an opening here. I knew there were many different countries and it is a more diverse campus, linguistically, and culturally than any other place in the world. So, I thought I would like to end my career at BYU-Hawaii.”
After being extended the invitation to speak by Vice President for Academics John Bell, Anderson has been working diligently on his talk in the past month to make sure that he will be able to deliver it in 45 minutes.
When asked how Anderson came up with his topic, he explained, “There was a learning and teaching framework that was developed by people who were here in the office before we arrived,” and they were able to make some adjustments to it. “Not to the process, the three processes of prepare, engage, improve, but we’ve now identified seven characteristics of effective learners and teachers…
“We’ve put those in the center part of the graphic for the learning framework in order to help faculty and students understand how being faithful, hopeful, charitable, diligent, reflective, humble, and honest can influence their learning and teaching.”
Fellow colleague and professor in the English Learning and Teaching Department, Allan Court, shared his thoughts on why events like the convocation are important. “It seems that our weekly devotionals… definitely focus on building the testimony and character. And it seems to me that the convocation is a celebration of developing the intellect, but of course, not neglecting the character or faith.”
Anderson then added, “We want students to make sure they are living the academic life and not just going through the academic life. And in terms of the learning and teaching framework, I think there are key eternal principles in the learning and teaching framework that apply to life…
“Every discipline will help us learn how to be good… lifelong learners don’t just learn how to get through classes at BYU-Hawaii, but learn how to make sure that we develop the characteristics, and the discipline required to be really good learners for the eternities.”
Writer: Esther Insigne