Malvern values diverse perspectives and expertise. Professional Development Days serve to help faculty and staff with certain aspects of their jobs. On this day, specifically, the Malvern faculty and staff listened to a lecture by an expert in neuroscience and social behavior, Dr. Barbara Oakley. Mr. Burke, an Upper School Social Studies Teacher at Malvern, shares his opinion on the Professional Development Day. 

“I thought the professional development was excellent. I liked that they brought in outside experts. It helps to see what the thinking is outside of Malvern. You know, cultural diffusion is when you take ideas from one group and bring them to another group. I think that is always beneficial, especially with [Dr. Oakley], someone who is so well respected,” Burke said.

Bringing in an outside perspective for a Professional Development Day not only helps faculty but staff as well. Mrs. Beverly Gordon, Malvern’s Executive Director of Growth and Development, who leads the planning of the professional development days, explained that these days are targeted toward the whole Malvern community. 

“I always look to see how our teachers and staff—because actually it’s for our whole community—engage with the material that we’ve worked on and designed and prepared,” Gordon said.

Dr. Barbara Oakley has put great effort into researching learning, cognition, and educational practices. She brought immense expertise in neuroscience and psychology to Malvern and so forth into our classrooms. Dr. Oakley is a New York Times bestselling author who has written many books with a group of other experts in her field. Furthermore, Dr. Oakley instructs one of the world’s most popular online courses named Learning How to Learn; through this, she has helped millions learn new skills. 

These days allow for the faculty and staff of Malvern Prep to learn about things that will benefit the community and students. Mr. Tom Pannulla, the Head of Academics at Malvern, shares his opinions about Professional Development Days.

“School is all about learning, right? As a community, we talk about growth, having a growth mindset, and constantly learning as adults as well. The theme for our growth and development is that we’re always learning, so Professional Development Days for us not only give us an opportunity to take some time, pause, and reflect, but [they] also give us as adults the time to continue to learn,” Pannulla said.

Dr. Oakley is also well known for her ability to teach. Dr. Rick Poce, Theology Teacher and Mental Performance Coordinator, reinforced this.

“I thought it was an excellent day. It’s just when you get someone at that caliber to come to Malvern and to speak in front of you, it’s always something that I think [allows] you [to] grow in a professional way. The way she presented that day, she helped you, in a way, become better as a teacher in both theory and practice. She laid out a lot of the theory of neuroscience and of learning, and then gave very good practical tips to incorporate different aspects [of that] into the classroom,” Poce said.

Dr. Oakley is an expert in her field. She has spent a lot of time researching neuroscience and social behavior to be able to share this knowledge with others. Pannulla applauds her experience in her given field.

“It was great. She has lectured and [has] had talks around the world for years now. She definitely knows what she’s talking about. She has the background, [and] she has the knowledge. So for [Dr. Oakley] to be able to come to Malvern’s campus was pretty significant,” Pannulla said.

Conversely, a new field that has skyrocketed in popularity is artificial intelligence. Dr. Oakley included guidelines on the use of AI in her lecture during the Professional Development Day. Gordon put into perspective the unprecedented aspects of the AI field.

“We’re learning together, which is, in my opinion, amazing, and it’s also extremely Augustinian that you actually walk next to your student and learn with them… Whenever someone claims to be an expert in AI, I always kind of raise my eyebrow a little bit and say, ‘really’ because tomorrow you might not be,” Gordon said.

The AI field is constantly changing and evolving, and so are teachers’ rules and restrictions on AI use. Burke explained the reasoning behind his limited allowance of AI in his classes. 

“AI is an amazing tool. But to me, for what I do, as far as teaching certain skills, like writing, for instance, I don’t think that it is beneficial for students to engage in using AI to write essays and do research until they master the basics, until they know how to write, until they know how to do research themselves, until they have a foundation of knowledge. Because if you don’t have the foundation of knowledge, using AI is going to take you towards paths that might be dead ends, but you’re not going to know that because you don’t have that foundation of knowledge. My policy in my classes [is that] you are not allowed to use AI unless I say specifically that [students] are allowed to use it in certain scenarios,” Burke said.

While AI is an amazing learning tool, a book serves just the same purpose. Dr. Oakley was part of a team of cunning researchers and doctors who wrote the book Uncommon Sense Teaching. Malvern Prep teachers were given the book Uncommon Sense Teaching and encouraged to read it. Additionally, staff was given the book Learn Like a Pro, also written by Dr. Oakley, who partnered with Olave Schewe. Gordon explains how these books incorporate an engaging writing style.

“[Dr. Oakley] writes in metaphors, and I think that’s very helpful for the way that we learn so that we can actually equate it to something that we’re familiar with. So what I love is she writes in the way that she knows people can absorb it and learn it. She practices what she preaches, which I found really amazing,” Gordon said.

Dr. Barbara Oakley has immense experience in her research and teaching abilities. Malvern faculty and staff having access to her work is great. Not only will faculty and staff benefit from this Professional Development Day, but the benefits will branch out to students and families as well. Pannulla explained ways that Dr. Oakley’s philosophy can relate to parents and students.

“I think the best thing that parents can take from [Dr. Oakley’s ideology] is that learning happens so differently for every single student. It is so easy to get caught up comparing one student to the next. And this is not just for parents. I think this goes for everybody, students included. But the fact of the matter is that every human being has such a different chemical composition. The process might be the same in terms of what happens in the brain. But the way that [learning] happens and the speed that it happens is different for everybody,” Pannulla said.