I made the bold choice of asking
ChatGPT to interview me.
ChatGPT: Can you share a bit about your hometown or where you're originally from? How do you think your upbringing or the culture of your hometown has influenced your values or perspective on life?
Collin: I’m originally from Greenport, NY. Greenport is unique in its connection to New York City and its feeling of remoteness. Many of the town’s residents, including my parents, are NYC expats, but to reach Greenport from the city you must drive for hours on highways and country roads. So there is a real urbanity among Greenporters—a real appreciation of things like art and literature and cinema—but also a desire for domesticity, a rejection of the city’s go-go-go MO, if you will. My habits and personality were shaped by those NYC expats: I love a world-class art museum and arthouse cinema, but I also love spending the weekend in with friends and family. I don’t have to always be doing something to feel fulfilled.
ChatGPT: Outside of work, what are some of your passions or hobbies that bring you joy and fulfillment?
Collin: I do love my work. I care deeply about student-centered education and design. When I’m not designing curricula and learning experiences, though, you can generally find me listening to records, playing music with my band, or experiencing the great outdoors with a hike or a paddle-board sesh.
ChatGPT: Oh, you have a band?
Collin: I’ve been writing songs and fronting bands since I was fourteen—way back in 1994. The band I’ve been playing with for the last decade is called Collin Ludlow-Mattson & the Folks. I’m going to drop a copy of the cover of one of our albums here that is a link to our music.
ChatGPT: Reflecting on your career, can you pinpoint a specific moment or decision that marked a turning point for you?
Collin: When I began teaching college, I thought that most of my job would take place in the classroom. How naive I was! I discovered something that all teachers know: What happens in the classroom is just the tip of the iceberg. I learned really fast that to be effective in the classroom, you need to spend quite a lot of time designing lesson plans and homework assignments. And you want your lesson plans and homework assignments to be learning situations that feel organic and genuine.
You need to orchestrate situations where students are given just enough information to feel competent but not so much that there is no challenge, no opportunity for genuine growth. And you need to create engaging learning environments, in order to draw students in and hold their attention. This is all to say that I quickly learned that at least half the job of being a educator is being a designer—a designer of learning experiences and an architect of an overall learning trajectory that explicitly connects new learning to existing knowledge.