About Nina

Hello!

Thanks for visiting my blog! This page has information about my teaching dispositions and philosophy, and also serves as my professional portfolio. My current resume is available here: NCSresume2025

I am very passionate about providing good quality education for every student, so I help instructors and teachers around the world to design better learning experiences for their students – so I support LinkedIN group Teachers Who Coach. I also support my local community by volunteering in the Resilience Project to educate people and organizations about resilience and how to apply trauma sensitive care county wide.

I earned my M.Ed. degree in learning sciences and teaching credentials from the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, then worked internationally, and am currently living and working in the U.S., where I earned my Doctorate in Education in 2017. My dissertation research about Learner agency was a phenomenographic inquiry into students’ perceptions of their learning experiences, resulting with a realization that sometimes learner agency can take a negative turn. In the case of detachment driving the engagement, students may decide to use surface strategies and just aim for passing the class or test. This obviously is not the ideal situation, and can be mitigated by designing learner-centered experiences.  

One of the opportunities I have been very excited about, was supporting a school in South Africa to make their pre-K very child-centered. Embedding Social-emotional learning (SEL) to all learning experience design empowers students to learn on their own!

In addition to pedagogical consulting, I mentor instructors, teachers, and trainers pursuing their M.Ed. degrees in Instructional Design, Learning & Technology, and Curriculum & Instruction at Western Governors University. Mentoring consists working directly with every student to support them in their own learning process, but also ensuring the mastery of the content in their academic programs, as well as communicating university policies and procedures. As of April 2025 I have 870 graduates!! I enjoy working with my M.Ed. students guiding them through their coursework in curriculum & instruction, learning & tech and research studies, to successfully finish their capstone research project – which often is their favorite part of their learning experience! So cool!

This blog Notes from Nina discusses SEL and Trauma-Informed education practices, emphasizing learner-centered approach, learning being a process, not a product, and the importance of Positive Learning Experiences among other learner agency related topics. The holistic view of learning considers learning to be an essential part of our everyday lives. The holistic view of teaching extends instruction beyond content presentation, engaging teachers in advanced learning design. In 21st Century we can’t afford to waste learning time in busywork!

In my book “Choosing How to Teach & Teaching How to Choose: Using the 3Cs to Improve Learning” I am sharing the native Finnish know-how of education, as well as my international teaching experiences. As you probably know, Finland has shown its educational success  in OECD’s longitudinal research called PISA and keeps on having a strong emphasis on equitable access to education. Awesome! Here is a link to Finnish education system on the Finnish National Agency for Education website.

I can help you make a difference with your students.

Even if your school or college is not focusing on learner agency and student centered learning practices, there are many things you can do in your classroom to improve learning outcomes. My email is NotesFromNina at gmail dot com, and I would love to help!

🙂

Nina

My dissertation is available here and also on Northeastern University official repository:

Smith, N. C. (2018). Students’ Perceptions of Learner Agency: A Phenomenographic Inquiry into the Lived Learning Experiences of High School Students (Doctoral dissertation, Northeastern University). https://repository.library.northeastern.edu/files/neu:m044hv66f/fulltext.pdf