Student engagement in Higher Education is always a challenge, especially as students navigate more complicated obstacles than ever before. This reflective essay explores a pedagogy developed from a teaching philosophy focussing on mastery-based learning and a care-centred approach. The findings derive from a detailed survey of scientific literature, drawing parallels between the mastery of Tai Chi and approaches to developing student confidence in a learning environment. The article provides examples of designing approaches to maximise opportunities for students to effectively integrate feedback from assignments and discusses the potential of engaging with AI technology to reframe how students value their educational experiences.

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1. Introduction and Objectives

My graduate mentors taught me that studying the history of science is like travelling back in time to do ethnographic fieldwork. When I started teaching, I deployed time travel and seafaring metaphors to rouse student excitement. Besides showing colonialist undertones, these tropes seldom resonate. For students who are new to my field and the responsibilities of adulthood, a semester can feel less like a voyage of discovery than a struggle to stay afloat.

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2. Methodology

Team-teaching experiences and a three-year tenure at the University of St. Michael's College writing centre have diversified my teaching strategies. Today, my teaching philosophy draws on both mastery-based learning and care-centred pedagogy. In the 1960s, alternatives to traditional teaching modes emerged as researchers showed that excellence was within reach of most students when they are given adequate time and support. (1, 2, 3) These findings gave rise to education programs that privilege tracking individual progress toward pre-established goals over the normative distribution of students' performance relative to their peers. Teaching for mastery has its critics, (4) but few deny the pedagogical advantages of clarifying learning objectives, using formative or scaffolded assessments, and implementing flexible deadline policies to accommodate students of varying learning aptitude.

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3. Results

I find this philosophy of education most compelling, however, not because of my survey of the scientific literature. I have been practising martial arts for over thirty years, and tai chi chuan in particular for twenty-two. I am not a master, but I have trained in a daochang (or a dojo) for nearly as long as I have sat at a desk, and I have taught in one for longer than I have lectured. For me, learning and teaching in higher education and the practice and transmission of a martial art are parallel expressions of the same principles, starting with a conception of learning as a progression along a path of mastery.

Modern tai chi chuan has evolved alongside traditional Chinese medicine to prescribe low-impact energetic exercises and self-defence strategies. Its practice improves focus, flexibility, and balance, while keeping chronic diseases at bay and minimising risks of injuries. This holistic practice squares well with the idea that genuine education should be about the formation of the whole person. Yet tai chi's most iconic expression—the slow repetition of fluid movements, strung together into codified "forms"—can be misleading. For one, forms were designed to convey as well as conceal martial strategies; they require expert guidance to unpack. Moreover, their slowness is neither an end in itself nor a concession to ageing adepts. Slowness is a necessary working condition for the mindful integration of yi (intention/attention), decontraction, breathing, structural cohesion, and heightened awareness of both internal and external sensory input. The goal of this integrative work is, in fact, speed and power, but it takes decades.

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4. Discussion

Tai chi is an art in at least two senses: first, as a discipline founded on a set of principles, which one typically learns with the help of an instructor (or sifu); second, as a creative mode of expression in which the adept works in tension with a recalcitrant medium (one's body and mind) and within the boundaries set by a form until these constraints are no longer limiting but enabling. The same can be true of higher education. Philosopher of science and metaphor theorist Max Black put it well when he said that genuine learning takes place once it "comes increasingly to be felt as an internal struggle, joyfully accepted, for self-realization." (5)

1. When performing a form, a good tai chi instructor explicitly models it for students to follow along. Complex sequences of movement are segmented into manageable parts, explained with practical applications, and repeated multiple times. This approach ensures active learning by beginning to pay attention to principles rather than simply mimicking movement.
   
   
2. 2. A sifu needs students, not cult followers.: In tai chi, one typically measures one's progress through tuishou (push-hands). Push-hands tests tai chi integration in a structured, safe environment where playful wrestling matches among students and between students and instructors foster mutual learning. Respect and serious engagement are crucial. When doing push-hands, one learns to "listen" and "respond" to a training partner's body, alternating between demonstrating abilities and enabling others to do the same. When instructors join in, they must proceed with humility and make themselves vulnerable. They must let themselves be taught the less experienced. One must be especially careful not to dominate or mystify beginners.
   
   
3. Foundations Matter: At the heart of every internal Chinese martial art are postural exercises, sometimes referred to as zhan zhuang—a kind of active, stand up meditation during which the adepts learn to relax while reinforcing structural integrity and cultivating yi (attention/intention). Posture is both the most challenging and yet the most fundamental dimension of an adept's practice, and for that reason, guidance is essential, particularly at the early stages. Just as the direct feedback of a mentor enables deep progress in martial arts, so too does direct tutoring and in-depth conversation facilitate the development and application of foundational skills.

But reading and writing are difficult to impart in a classroom context, where students come with varying levels of preparedness. To ensure that my copious markings and extensive feedback does not come across as punitive, I design my assignments to maximise opportunities for rewrites and feedback integration. These include low-stakes, weekly assignments focusing on developing skills and learning forms directly related to the final assignment and scaffolding projects into mandatory and optional steps. I also experiment with creative assignment options that give students who come from different academic backgrounds the opportunity to pursue what they think will be most useful for their professional development.

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5. Conclusion

Teaching for mastery appeals to educators because it casts us as sages who deliver transformational experiences; but most students see us as gatekeepers. (6) They view their studies as steps toward a diploma and a job, not as an apprenticeship. Recently, I have gotten good traction with motivating students by framing their efforts in the context of AI-driven automation. There is practical utility to performing at least as well as or better than AI agents, and greater value still in building foundations to be able to use this technology well. I do not think it is possible, nor even desirable, to try and deny or change the reality that students are concerned with their grades and future trades. University educators and administrators' responsibility extends beyond motivating students to invest time and energy in their education; they must clear the barriers on the path of mastery and foster an institutional culture that is explicit about the utility of learning.

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6. References

(1) Bloom BS. Learning for mastery. Center for the Study of Evaluation of Instructional Program. 1968;1

(2):1-12. (2) Guskey TR. Closing achievement gaps: Revisiting Benjamin S. Bloom's 'Learning for Mastery.' Journal of Advanced Academics. 2007;19(1):8-31. https://doi.org/10.4219/jaa-2007-704

(3) Slavin RE. Mastery learning reconsidered. Review of Educational Research. 1987;57(2):175-213. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543057002175

(4) Singh S. The myth of mastery learning in education. Human Restoration Project, Jan 4, 2023. https://www.humanrestorationproject.org/writing/the-myth-of-mastery-learning-in-education.

(5) Black, M. Education as art and discipline. Ethics. 1943;54(4):291. https://doi.org/10.1086/290412

(6). Grasha AF. Teaching with style: A practical guide to enhancing learning by understanding teaching and learning style. London: Alliance Publishing; 2002, p. 141-3.