Alumna Xiangyi Liu's Journey from Teaching to Learning Sciences
Tell us about yourself, what made you choose the Learning Sciences concentration. What were your goals when you started MSEd?
At the time I applied to the program, I had a bachelor’s degree and a masters in Curriculum and Instruction. I taught in China for a year and realized that I wanted to try something different in the educational field.
I had a passion for helping students and cultivating inclusive environments, however I realized that I wanted to focus on an area that is more of a facilitator role, such as observing students to understand their needs. When I was a teacher, I didn’t get many opportunities to talk to students one on one because there was a general lesson plan for everyone. It was effective, but I saw there were areas that were overlooked for students. This led me to want to understand humans from their own perspectives. When looking into what program to apply for, Northwestern had the very first program like this in the U.S.
Tell us about the work you did as a teaching assistant during your time in the program, as well as your current job at U of I. How have you been able to make connections between this work and LS?
When I received the acceptance offer from Northwestern, I was still living in China. I was worried about my future because there was the possibility of not having money to support myself due to being first-gen and an international student. It was tricky for my parents to understand why I wanted to come to the U.S. Due to this, I started looking for jobs on the MSEd website and found a job on the student resource site. The job was under the office of the provost as a course program assistant for academic support and advancement. When I applied for the job, I didn’t expect to get it because it was helping Northwestern STEM undergraduate students, and as a person without a STEM background, it was a concern of mine. Fortunately, the team I worked with was really nice and there was no need for a STEM background. All I needed was to understand their needs to better facilitate their groups when they didn’t know the best way of teaching. They were all students who were willing to be peer leaders to contribute to their groups, but they may have needed support with logistics and booking study spaces. In the beginning it was challenging to manage this job because I just started the MSEd program and needed to work 20 hours for the TA job. This meant that my coursework was done during late nights or weekends.
Now, the job that I have at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign is inspired by my year at Northwestern. Working here at UIUC, I had less experience in higher education, but I still wanted to try to see and contribute. My job currently is to assist students, such as talking about the concerns or challenges they have in school. For example, I had two students who wanted to withdraw from school because they had mental health challenges, and they wanted to know how I could advise them. They are also first-gen international students in their freshmen year. They expressed their concerns because they had just moved to the States and wanted to withdraw. I was there to help them understand how mental health is a priority and how I was glad they were reaching out for help. In the office, we work with all students, but international students talk to me because I understand visa status and cultural or language differences. At UIUC we have over 60,000 students, and 1/6th are international students who might have more challenges because they don’t have family support here.
What’s the number one thing you learned in Learning Sciences that you’ve been able to use the most at your job?
The Learning Sciences concentration helped me to be more empathetic and understanding of people who are different than me. When I first got accepted into the program, I had a lot of pride and ego; I felt that I was going to slay the whole world. Coming here and being with fantastic professors who are nice, generous, and supportive, I learned how human beings can be talented, knowledgeable, but also humble. I also learned from classmates who are from different backgrounds and ages. For example, I got the chance to study with PhD students who were specializing in a more specific area, and from them I learned about their determination and resilience to always concentrate on one thing rather than trying to know everything.
The program also built community and the school provided me a nurturing environment where I could learn from others and learn humility. In my line of work, you need to be open minded and learn from your colleagues, listen to feedback, and see where you can improve. When I was younger, I couldn’t do that because I thought I was “on the right track.” Furthermore, all my classes were equity-centered and I have seen how I can contribute to society. Because of my classes and coursework I was able to listen to people more and think about how to help people achieve their goals. Similarly here at my job, no matter what students say, I will try to think about what their reasoning is and how to help them navigate different choices or plans to help them learn in college.
Do you have any advice for prospective or current students that are in the Learning Sciences program?
Make sure you know what your goal is, but do not be hesitant when you are offered an opportunity or any other turning points. Also, don’t feel like you have to pick only certain classes. I felt that I missed opportunities to interact with my classmates and build community and friendships. I would encourage you to not limit yourself.