麻豆视频

Practitioner Inquiry master's student in the Faculty of Education

Tell us a little about yourself, including what inspires you to learn and continue in your chosen field

I am an educator who has spent much of my career working with students and emerging teachers in spaces where relationships matter deeply. I currently work in alternate education with secondary students who have often had complicated experiences with school. I have also worked as a Faculty Associate supporting teacher candidates, and these different roles have continually pushed me to think about what makes learning feel meaningful, accessible, and human. I am inspired by students who challenge traditional ideas about what success should look like. They remind me that capability does not always appear in predictable ways and there is always another way into learning. I continue to learn because I want to become a more thoughtful, responsive educator and because I believe education can keep evolving to better reflect the identities, strengths, needs, and possibilities of the people within it.

Why did you choose to come to SFU?

麻豆视频already felt like an important part of my professional learning community. My experience working as a Faculty Associate allowed me to learn alongside teacher candidates, colleagues, and faculty members who encouraged reflection, curiosity, and thoughtful questioning of practice. I chose to continue my graduate studies at 麻豆视频because I wanted a program that would allow me to remain closely connected to my work as an educator while also challenging me to think more deeply about my practice. I value the opportunity to bring real questions from my classroom into conversation with scholarship, colleagues, and new ways of thinking.

How would you describe your research or your program to a family member?

I would say that I am studying how we can use artificial intelligence in education without losing the human relationships that make learning meaningful. My inquiry looks at how teachers and students might use AI together to create learning that is more flexible, creative, and responsive. Rather than having AI simply generate assignments for students, I am interested in how students can become active co-designers of their own learning. At the centre of my research is a simple question: How can technology help us create more ways into learning while keeping relationships, student voice, dignity, and agency at the centre?

What three (3) keywords would you use to describe your research?

Human鈥揂I co-design, Student agency, Relational pedagogy

How have your courses, RA-ships, TA-ships, or non-academic school experiences contributed to your academic and/or professional development?

My graduate courses have helped me slow down and examine experiences from my practice that I might previously have moved past too quickly. Through practitioner inquiry, narrative, reflection, and engagement with scholarship, I have learned to treat classroom moments, conversations, tensions, and questions as important sources of professional learning. My work as a Faculty Associate strengthened my identity as both an educator and a mentor. Supporting teacher candidates required me to articulate why I make particular pedagogical choices rather than simply relying on experience or instinct. My work as a teaching assistant has given me another opportunity to support university students as they develop their own identities as learners and educators. At the same time, my daily work in alternate education continually grounds my graduate learning in practice. My students remind me that theories and educational innovations only matter if they ultimately improve students鈥� experiences of learning, belonging, and possibility.

Have you been the recipient of any major or donor-funded awards? If so, please tell us which ones and a little about how the awards have impacted your studies and/or research

I have been fortunate to receive the Ethel Barbara Tuck Award twice during my time at SFU. Receiving the award has been meaningful not only because of the financial support, but also because it feels like recognition of the work I have invested in my education, professional growth, and my work in alternate education. Much of my practice is centred on students who have not always experienced success in traditional school settings, so receiving this award has also felt validating of the value and importance of that work. As someone balancing graduate studies with teaching, family, and other professional responsibilities, the support has helped make continuing my studies more manageable. Receiving the award a second time was especially meaningful and reinforced my commitment to continuing to learn, grow, and contribute to more responsive, relational, and inclusive approaches to education.

What have been the most valuable lessons you've learned along your graduate student journey (or in becoming a graduate student)?

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned is that inquiry does not always lead to clearer answers; sometimes it leads to better questions. I began my graduate work thinking primarily about what AI could do in education. Over time, my question shifted. I became less interested in asking, 鈥淲hat can AI do?鈥� and more interested in asking, 鈥淲hat is AI serving?鈥� That shift has reminded me that efficiency is not the same as meaningful learning. I have also learned the importance of examining my own assumptions, remaining open to being interrupted by students and colleagues, and allowing lived experience and scholarship to challenge one another. Perhaps most importantly, graduate study has reminded me that professional growth is not about becoming certain. It is about becoming more attentive, reflective, curious, and willing to change.

How do you approach networking and building connections in and outside of your academic community?

tend to approach networking through relationships rather than through traditional networking. I build connections by being genuinely curious about other people's work, sharing ideas, asking questions, collaborating, and staying connected after a course, project, or professional experience ends. Some of my most meaningful professional relationships have developed through teaching, mentoring teacher candidates, graduate classes, professional development work, and conversations with colleagues. I value reciprocal relationships where people can share resources, challenge one another's thinking, and support each other's growth. For me, networking is less about collecting contacts and more about building a community of people who continue to learn from one another.

What are some tips for balancing your academic and personal life?

I am still learning this. One thing graduate school has taught me is that balance does not always mean giving every part of my life equal time. Sometimes work, family, teaching, or graduate studies need more attention than others, and I try to be intentional about recognizing what needs my attention most in a particular season. Planning helps me, but I have also learned not to mistake having a perfect plan for actually doing the work. Breaking larger tasks into smaller pieces, protecting focused work time, and accepting that something can be meaningful without being perfect have all helped. I also try to make space for the parts of my life that help me feel grounded and connected. I love spending time in the woods with my dogs, exploring British Columbia in our VW Buzz, and cheering on my kids at dance, hockey, and lacrosse. Those moments remind me that rest, family, movement, adventure, humour, and time away from academic work are not distractions from learning. They are part of what allows me to return to my work with more energy, perspective, and gratitude.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

My graduate inquiry has become much more personal and relational than I expected. I began thinking that I would primarily study artificial intelligence and educational technology. Instead, AI has continually brought me back to questions about humanity. It has made me think more deeply about student voice, power, belonging, imagination, care, and what we mean when we describe a student as successful. My work in alternate education has also taught me that practices sometimes considered 鈥渁lternative鈥�; flexibility, relationship, meaningful choice, multiple ways of demonstrating learning, and meeting students where they are, may have something important to offer education more broadly. I hope my graduate work contributes to conversations about how emerging technologies can be used not simply to make education faster or more efficient, but to make learning more responsive, relational, imaginative, and humane.

Contact Terai:tds2@sfu.ca