LIM College

Written by Nancy Miller, M. Ed., Instructor of Fashion Merchandising; Associate Chair & Hilda Alfonso, Lecturer of Fashion Merchandising

What's Trending in today's modern classroom? Well, if you happen to stop by the 5th Avenue Campus and poke your head into Room 0510, you will find Professors Miller and Alfonso engaged in the daily banter of current business and world events with their students.

The class is a co-taught elective that encourages students to voice their opinions and thoughts on topics ranging from digitizing fashion, world culture, political tweets, boundless technology and the newest Amazon acquisition. 

Professors Miller and Alfonso decided to offer a safe classroom setting where the day’s occurrences and their implications could be explored without judgement and scorn. An open dialogue has allowed them to connect with their students in a rare combination of improved critical-thinking skills and a fostering of community. How will these seemingly unconnected current events dictate the flow of fashion and trends in the future? This question is at the core of their learning objectives.

When they first introduced this elective their sole focus was the student component. But they have also learned a great deal from each other. Co-teaching allows for instructors to share ideas and methods, evolve, analyze and foster a powerful bond in the classroom. It stresses the importance of sharing the stage, alongside the importance of working together to achieve a single objective. Their primary goal is student’s success, whether on a job interview, at an internship, or amongst their peers. Because let's face it, everyone wants to be in the know.

What's Trending has inspired them to rethink the way they present and teach content and provides an exciting new elective for LIM students. This format may not work for all classes but it does introduce the idea of challenging norms and playing with the status quo. 

They hope you are encouraged to stop by in the future.