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About S:iiiL
Joseph Cahill-Lane
Education Anarchist
Joe is S:iiiL's educator and lead curriculum designer, and a teaching fellow at the University of Otago. He is dyslexic and until tertiary study he was home educated.
He has a passion for creative writing, especially science fiction, fantasy and weird stories. His work has been published in the journal Brief. This passion for writing led him down a decade-long rabbit hole of studying at the University of Auckland and the University of Otago, where he earned degrees in writing, psychology, neuroscience, and computer science. He has been working for over six years in research and teaching positions, specialising in creative writing, artificial intelligence and biological modelling.
His hope is to provide the resources, support and mentorship that he would have benefitted from.
Blaise Cahill-Lane
Business Manager
Blaise is a science communicator, digital jack-of-all-trades, and eternal student. She built the website, helps with curriculum development, and handles the business side of S:iiiL.
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Blaise went through traditional schooling before spending seven years studying creative writing, psychology, and neuroscience. She is currently studying data and computer sciences, and working on freelance science communication and data science projects.
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You can find her work here: blaisecahilllane.com
Our Teaching Philosophy
Synaesthesia: inquisitive, integrated, immersive Learning
S:iiiL is a family owned and operated education provider based in Dunedin and taught online. Our aim is to offer children, teens, and adults access to tertiary-level skills through supportive, responsive teaching. We complement alternative and mainstream education by extending learning, building confidence and cultivating enthusiasm.
The S:iiiL educational philosophy follows three core principles:
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inquisitive
More can be achieved through inspiration and cooperation than coercion, so teaching should facilitate student interest, which in turn guides learning for its own sake, without the risk of failure.
integrated
Knowledge is interdisciplinary with no clear start or end points. Teaching should find a starting point that suits the student and build an understanding that connects the big picture with the small.
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immersive
Rote learning results in short-term retention of facts, so teaching should focus on developing usable skills and conceptual understanding that will generalise and allow for lifelong self-directed learning.