We’re an interdisciplinary team of researchers examining failure’s role in education.

Fiona is a Professor, Teaching Stream, in the Department of Biology and at the Institute of the Study of University Pedagogy at the University of Toronto Mississauga.

Failure is a core component of learning – a vital one – and yet we don’t often teaching students how to embrace and learn from failure. This is especially true in the realm of science where we want to learn from experimental failure to inform our next steps. However scientific textbooks are usually tales of successes, rather than the failures that led to those successes. And maybe we shouldn’t even be using the word failure, because failure implies something that is finite – a final stage. What we really want to do is to normalize making mistakes and learning from mistakes as the normal process of learning.

I particularly like reading of #FieldWorkFails!

Nicole is an Associate Professor, Teaching Steam, in the Department of Geography, Geomatics, and Environment at the University of Toronto Mississauga.

When I think about learning through failure, the first thing I think of is how we learn to walk and talk as children. We all accept that it will take time to learn these things, but we don’t name the steps in that process as ‘failures’ before there is success.  We simply see it as the process of learning. What motivates me in the FLIP work is understanding when this process is named and felt to be ‘failure’ – identifying the institutional and societal structures that inform our ideas of failure.

Mairi Cowan is an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, in the Department of Historical Studies and the Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy. She is a historian of the late medieval and early modern world, with specializations in the social and religious histories of Scotland and New France. She is also interested in studying how to teach and learn at university.

Working on the FLIP project has taught her a lot about student perspectives on failure. The students on the team helped her gain a deeper understanding of why students fear failure in an academic context, and also about what teachers can do to reassure their students that failure is a normal and important part of learning.

Dr. Ken Derry is an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream in the Department of Historical Studies.

Dan Guadagnolo is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information & Technology.

FLIP taught me the value of talking openly and honestly about the essential role failure has played in my own teaching and learning. Failure is not the absence of learning. Rather, it is a core constituent of it. Our institutions must begin to acknowledge that—both inside and outside of the university classroom.

Jackie Goodman brings over twenty years of experience in student and academic services spanning the K-16 continuum. She is currently a manager at the University of Toronto Mississauga campus. She holds a Master’s of Education degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Bucknell University. As a scholar of education, she has dedicated her professional career to enhancing the learning experience of students through an anti-oppressive lens, with a particular focus on access, transition, and retention. As Fred DeVito once said, ‘If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.’ Change, uncertainty, and growth are uncomfortable and hard, but such necessary ingredients for a full life.

Jennifer Ross is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, of Digital Humanities and Writing at Woodsworth College and the Transitional Year Programme. After earning her PhD from William & Mary (Virginia, US) in 2020, she held postdoctoral fellowships with the University of Toronto Critical Digital Humanities Initiative and the Failure: Learning in Progress research project. Her research and teaching interests span American literature, history, and culture; critical digital humanities; and power, privilege, and positionality in higher education.

Jennifer’s favourite failures come from the animal world. When she’s stressed or fried, she particularly likes to watch cat jumping fails, such as this one, on loop.

Abby Eastman is a Master of Education candidate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

My name is Christina and I’m in my fourth year at UTM studying Psychology and Biology for Health Sciences. I hope to do a Masters of Speech-Language Pathology next year. I love to be active, whether that be going to the gym or on a walk, and when I have some free time, I enjoy baking!

I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of the FLIP team for three years, and with each year, my passion for this research has grown. As a student, failure is a concept that I can deeply relate to as it’s something that I have and continue to struggle with to this day. I understand how crippling this fear can be. I hope that this research contributes to fostering empowerment among students rather than fear and conveys the importance of teaching resiliency to improve student success.

Dr. Krystal Nunes joined the FLIP project in 2020 as a postdoctoral researcher. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biology at Toronto Metropolitan University where she works as a discipline-based education researcher. She is passionate about supporting equitable help-seeking and fostering resilient undergraduate and graduate students through evidence-informed classroom interventions and assessments.

The poet, author, and post-trauma recovery specialist Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés once said “Failure is a greater teacher than success.” Although it can be uncomfortable, frustrating, or upsetting to engage with failure at the time, I agree that there are so many valuable lessons to be learned from these experiences.

Sebastian is an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information. Before joining FLIP as a web developer, Sebastian investigated deceptive design as a research fellow with the Critical Digital Humanities Initiative (CDHI). Sebastian’s research interests include human-computer interaction, digital sociology, and surveillance studies.

My role on the FLIP team is to design and develop the website, and one thing I love about UX design is how embedded failure is in the process. A key tenet of design thinking is the concept “fail early, fail often.” No design or website works perfectly on the first try – it’s an iterative process that relies on ideation, testing, and usually a lot of mistakes before arriving at a usable product. As a designer, I have no choice but to be comfortable with failure and uncertainty, which teaches me how to reflect on my decisions and learn from my mistakes.

I am a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McGill University and is the Academic Lead of the Enhancing Learning and Teaching in Engineering (ELATE) initiative in the Faculty of Engineering.  I am especially interested in the intersections between the teaching and learning environments; identity; and equity, diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility.

I strongly believe in the notion that failure should not be seen as the result of one’s attempt or work towards an objective, but rather that it is a part of the process in achieving that objective.

Pat Maher is the inaugural Dean of Teaching and a Professor of Physical and Health Education at Nipissing University. As a Commonwealth Scholar, Pat completed his PhD at Lincoln University in Canterbury, New Zealand. He was named a 3M National Teaching Fellow in 2014 and a Fellow of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in 2020.  Pat’s research crosses many fields from Polar geography to outdoor education to sustainable resource management. His teaching spans field courses to remote and exotic locations such as Haida Gwaii, Iceland and Antarctica; but he’s equally at home with online modalities and hybrid approaches.

One of Pat’s favourite quotes about failure is: “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall” – Nelson Mandela

Erin Whitteck, Ph.D., has a disciplinary background in chemistry and has taught at various public and private institutions, ranging from research-focused institutions to community colleges. Dr. Whitteck’s experience with diverse institutions, faculty, and students has given her a unique perspective on higher education and the importance of context. Dr. Whitteck is also the Assistant Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, where she creates inclusive professional development opportunities that honor and build faculty’s strengths and expertise and meaningfully incorporate students in working toward a more equitable learning environment. Dr. Whitteck’s transformational work has been recognized through several teaching awards, and her scholarship has been published in peer-reviewed chemistry and educational development journals.

My favorite anecdotes about failure are about team failure and how leaders respond to failures. In my opinion, how a leader responds to a team’s failure indicates the level of psychological safety on the team and the quality of the leader. Adam Grant’s book “Think Again” has a lot of great examples of this type of anecdote.

Yasmin Abdellatiff is a 4th-year undergraduate research assistant for the Failure Learning in Progress project. She is doing a dual major in Biology for Health Sciences and Chemistry at the University of Toronto. Her research interests include exploring the dynamics of the educational system in relation to students’ experiences and overall well-being as well as DNA hybridization nanotechnology.

One quote that really stood out to me from last year is this: “It is simply a matter of the attitude toward the bouncing back. A privileged person will find it easier to see it as a positive learning experience. The un-privileged person will more likely feel as if their world is crumbling and they must clutch onto its remnants as hard as they can ” – BIO152-T778

It really shows that bouncing back from failure is not a simple process but one that is influenced by many intersecting factors and that while everyone can eventually recover from failure, for some it takes much more effort and support.

As a mature student I have had my share of failures, however l have learned to overcome them. As a testament to perseverance and passion, I have just completed my Bachelor of Science with high distinction with a double major in Psychology and Biological Anthropology.

“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life.”

Esther Baffour was an undergraduate research assistant for the Failure: Learning in Progress project during the 2021-2022 academic year. Her research interests include medicine and youth in higher education. She is currently in her final year of university majoring in the Biology-Health Sciences program.

Failure is thought as a steppingstone to success if one can supposedly ‘bounce back’ from the failing experience. The ability for students to ‘bounce back’ after a failed test, however, may involve more than performing a research study on class attendance and studying habits. There should also be consideration of the complexity and intersectionality of factors set in place (from the individual to societal level) that influence one’s ability to ‘fail and get up.’

My name is Angela Bakaj! I am a UTM student currently completing a double major study in Biology for Health Sciences and English. I am also a documentary poet of Albanian immigration and diaspora.

Failure can be scary but nothing is more terrifying than missing a chance to try.

My name is Terence Coltess and I’m a fourth-year student studying Biology for Health Sciences and Psychology. I’ve always had an interest in the human mind and body which led me to my current goal of pursuing a physiotherapy career.  When I’m not working, I enjoy being active, playing soccer and squash, rock climbing, and listening to music (Hip Hop, R&B, and Afrobeats)!

Throughout my time working on the FLIP research project, I have come to learn that people’s perception of failure can be changed. Like many other students, I initially believed that failure was a negative aspect of life, however, after understanding the importance of failure in the learning process, I gained a new personal philosophy about failure. My motto is: “Failure is not the opposite of success, it’s a part of success”.

Hi, my name is Laura Crupi! I’m currently studying biology and have a strong passion for teaching. Some of my favourite pastimes are baking, cooking and long-distance hiking. One of my fondest memories of working on this project was hearing and putting into light students’ diverse voices and opinions of failure through interviews.

Maria is a postdoctoral fellow working with the FLIP project. She holds a PhD in Religion and an MA in Comparative Literature. Her research and teaching interests include media, materiality and Christian formation in late antiquity; the role of the arts in social formation; religion and film; historical imaginaries of creation and the creative process; and pedagogical materials and power (both ancient and contemporary).

“Creations are rarely enacted through a series of decisive strokes that follow a strategic plan. It is a process of ongoing accretion and deletion, saving and cutting…. People doing creative work for the first time do not realize how one of the most essential skills of the artist can be likened to what carpenters call ‘fiddling and diddling,’ moving materials around until they find their place.” — Shaun McNiff, Trust the Process: An Artist’s Guide to Letting Go

Progress isn’t linear; I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn this over and over again (and across a variety of disciplinary perspectives) as I work with this fabulous team of researchers, instructors and students.

Pooja is a Master of Public Health student at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. She is interested in neighbourhood and systems-level factors that influence individual health behaviours. Pooja believes that understanding failure in context to one’s social identify is crucial to understanding one’s ability to fail and bounce back.

Sherry Du is a Masters student in the Murray Lab at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Currently, Sherry is interested in investigating the effects of urban stressors (like road salt) on freshwater communities. When she is not out doing fieldwork, Sherry is either hanging out with her friends, reading a book, or fiddling with Adobe Illustrator.

“When we give ourselves permission to fail, we, at the same time, give ourselves permission to excel.” —Eloise Ristad

My name is Zainab, and I am a pre-med student at UTM. I had the honour of being part of Dr. Rawle and Dr. Laliberte’s FLiP project in the 2021-2022 year where I facilitated a holistic mission to destigmatize the negative connotations encompassing failure. Pre-COVID, I enjoyed playing basketball (amongst other sports) competitively, and I learnt quite early on that any good player can win games, but only a great player can bounce back from failures to come back and play stronger than ever. I was inspired by how LeBron James faced 3 consecutive losses in a 7-game series in the 2016 NBA finals, yet stood resilient in the face of failure, reigned victoriously, and cemented his name as one of the greatest to play the game.

Hey everyone! My name is Sara Khan, and I graduated from the University of Toronto Mississauga with a Bachelor of Science in Biology for Health Sciences and Chemistry in 2021. Currently, I’m a medical student at Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Dubai, U.A.E.

Whenever I’m faced with failure, I remember this quote I once found online: “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” It reminds me that my failures are not the “full stop” of my journey, and there’s always something good that can come out of them.

Harleen Kundan is a fourth year student pursuing a combined specialist in History and Political Science and minoring in Sociology at the University of Toronto Mississauga. She is passionate about expanding her horizons in the field of education and pedagogy.

“Our successes and failures come and go—they neither define us nor do they determine our worthiness.” – Dr. Kristin Neff

Resiliency, for me, is being able to pick yourself up and keep trying. Resiliency is being able to look for another way, another route. Not letting an initial failure stop you. Resiliency is not making excuses for yourself: why you can’t do something but looking for how you can do something. Resiliency is learning to ask for help. Resiliency is understanding what your weaknesses are and looking for ways to strengthen them. Or looking for how to draw on the things that you are strong at and use those to help you through.

Hello! My name is Shirley Liu, I am in my 4^th year of undergraduate studies, and I am pursuing a Biology Specialist at the University of Toronto Mississauga. I was a research student and assistant on the FLIP, Humanizing Learning, and Arrival Activity projects where I interviewed students for their perspectives on failure, gathered input on how to make courses more student-centred, and collected arrival activities used by faculty members. Researching productive failure was a valuable experience as it showed me how kindness, compassion, and intentional course changes have far-reaching positive impacts on student wellbeing and success.

Experiencing failure is inevitable and you can’t control what has already happened. But what you can control is how you react, learn, and bounce back from failure, and it is those controllable thoughts and actions that determine how failure impacts your life.

Rini is a former life science undergraduate student at UTM and contributed to the FLIP project as part of a research opportunity in her fourth year under the supervision of Professor Fiona Rawle. She  recently completed her masters degree at UofT in medical physiology, and is a teaching assistant in the department of biology at UTM as she aims to use her experience in failing forward research to create a stress-free and welcoming learning environment for students.

“In my first year of undergrad, I failed my first calculus test! Coming from highschool and thinking that I could get away with not studying, I thought it was the end of the world and remember crying for hours. What I didn’t realize at the moment was that experiencing failure was necessary for my own character development and really helped me push myself to find different and effective  methods of studying, allowing me to adapt to the university setting. I ended up finishing the course with a great mark and owe it all to that first test. So my advice to students is that although it may be taboo, failure is completely normal and to use it as a stepping stone because it can only go up from here!”

I am currently a second-year graduate student at the University of Toronto studying neuroscience. I completed my undergraduate degree in neuroscience at the University of Toronto in 2020. My current research focusses understanding the molecular processes underpinning Alzheimer’s Disease.

Working on the FLIP project has made it abundantly clear that we all have the potential to grow and learn from our past failures.

My name is Zainab Mansoor and I am currently pursuing a Masters in Biomedical Engineering degree at the Toronto Metropolitan University. During my final year of undergraduate studies in Life Sciences at the University of Toronto, I was accepted into a Research Opportunity Program about Resiliency Learning. With Dr. Fiona Rawle as our supervisor, our team was able to determine the importance of failure in learning through FLIP research. I was able to implement the results of this FLIP project in my own personal life, as I learnt how to use failure as an aid to learning and educational growth. This research project was one of the highlights of my undergraduate experience!

Think of failure as an opportunity to grow – a tree does not fall as it sheds of a leaf; it simply grows more leaves! (quote by me haha)

Ida Marchese studied Health Sciences at UTM and previously worked on an ROP exploring how we can encourage students to embrace failure. This research was presented with a group of ROP students at WCSE 2019. Ida’s favourite failure is missing an application deadline for undergraduate programs by confusing noon with midnight. Without this, she would have unlikely have had the opportunity to go to UTM and experience all the wonderful things and meet all the wonderful people!

My name is Klea Mosho, and I am a 4^th year undergraduate student at University of Toronto (Mississauga) pursuing a BSc in Biology for Health Sciences and Psychology. I had the privilege of being a research assistant in Dr. Rawle’s study in 2020, where we examined the attitudes of high school teachers towards failure and resilience in learning. I highly value this experience, not only as my first official research study, but as a lesson which granted me success in my undergraduate journey.

Me and my loved ones refer to failure as “FAIL = First Attempt In Learning”. Failures are like teachers: sometimes strict and scary, but you can always rely on them to learn and grow.  I think we should start respecting failure, just like we do for our teachers. At the end of the day, there are only 3 outcomes after failing: learning what you should keep doing, start doing, or avoid doing.”

“Failure is a much more faithful teacher than immediate success.” – David Duchemin

Hello! My name is Mohammed Majd Mourad and I was a Research Opportunity Student with Dr. Fiona Rawle for the stigma of failure paper. I am really interested in biology and medicine, and I am currently in St. George’s University of London Medical school.

To me failure is something that pushed me to work harder and perfect my skills. In my first year of medical school, I failed one of my exams, which was the first exam I have ever failed. This experience allowed me to completely overhaul my study methods and develop an effective way of studying that I use today.

Hi my name is Inis and I am a 4^th year biology specialist student. On my free time when I like to listen to music, workout, spend time with family and friends and go out for ice cream! I am so proud to have been a part of the FLIP project that teaches students how to learn and bounce back from failure.

My name is Brendan and I’m a 3^rd year Forensic Biology student at UTM. I’m super interested in forensic and psychiatric genetics, as well as learning, education, and mental health. I’m excited to be a part of the FLIP team and see where the project is headed in future!

One of my favourite quotes about failure is: “he who never made a mistake, never made a discovery” – Samuel Smiles

I am a graduate student in the department of Molecular Genetics, studying mitochondrial DNA selection. I have a great passion for learning and aspire to do something that contributes to the development of better learning experiences.

I firmly believe FAIL stands for First Attempt In Learning. Some of the most valuable lessons I have learned always came from a mistake or failure. So, although failures can appear scary, I’d say they are often the best teachers in disguise.

UTM 2021 Humanities graduate, Philosophy and Professional Writing & Communications. Passionate about all things art, I strive to promote storytelling in all my work. An adventure-seeker with a curiosity for life, I love to travel, learn new things, and meet cool people along the way!

As an ex-perfectionist, I’ve learned to embrace failure as a necessary part of life. Failure exists everywhere, in academics, relationships, family, goals, plans… But if you accept what is and what can be, life can take you to some surprising and wonderful places. You are more than any failure; You are worthy of all success.

Fatima Tasabehji studied biology and French teaching at UTM and is now a teacher candidate at the University of British Columbia. She is a very passionate learner who loves transforming and evolving education practices to incorporate more mindfulness and ecological consciousness into curriculums.

Often, we view failure from a student centric approach but what if we begin approaching failure from an institution perspective and ask the question: Why do some institutions implement procedures that ensure student failure and what are the consequences of that?

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” ― Thomas A. Edison

Emily is currently a second year master’s student in the Biomedical Communications (MScBMC) program offered at the University of Toronto. She is passionate about communicating the complexities and intricacies of the scientific world through beautiful, thoughtful, and accessible visualizations.

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” – Robert F. Kennedy

Loridee De Villa is a third-year BSc candidate pursuing a major in Health Sciences and a double minor in Psychology and History of Religions at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Her research interests involve investigating the intersection between physical and mental health, systems neuroscience, and the study of failure related to learning. She is a co-creator of the Fish Outta WaterPodcast and enjoys sharing her own (embarrassing) failure stories with the world.

One of my favourite professors introduced me to this quote by G.K. Chesterton: “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly”. For me this means that you can’t chase perfection or else you won’t do anything at all. Instead, you must fail, do poorly, and even make embarrassing mistakes, before you can do whatever it is you are interested in.

I am currently completing my M.Sc. at Trent University where I study wetland restoration ecology. I spend my summer slogging through marshes to learn about the impacts of invasive species on wetland biodiversity. When I’m not in the marsh, I spend my time browsing through used bookstores and playing with my two dogs, Chewie and Solo.

Embracing failure as a normal part of science was my secret weapon throughout five months of fieldwork during my M.Sc. My motto was: make 100 mistakes, find a solution 101 times.