Building a healthy community through life-long learning

What is the essence of learning? For the past 25 years I have been engaged in educational publishing in higher ed. I spent the last twelve years of that time period as the editor for student success. Most people in my generation don't realize that there is a course offered for freshmen in college to help them learn how to learn, how to be successful in college. Many schools focus on very basic skills - how to read actively by taking notes in your text and highlighting; how to organize your notes; how to manage your time; how to manage your finances; etc.. While these basic skills are essential for success, I would argue that they are just the tip of the gigantic college completion problem. At the end of the day, these basic skills should be the responsibility of the student and their K-12 educators. College should be the next level of learning that moves students successfully into graduate level work or into the knowledge economy. While the current administration is promoting an aggressive college completion agenda, it seems to me that if we want a healthy economy in the future, we should focus not so much on the number of graduates, but rather the quality of their ability to learn and solve real problems.

What skills will set students up for a lifetime of continual & engaged learning? Do we really want to define student success by grading memorization skills, i.e., the ability to retain information long enough to regurgitate it on a test? Wouldn't it be more meaningful and interesting to help students develop not just the ability, but the desire to question facts they encounter, to dig deeper to discover the why, where, when and how of those facts? In this age of information, with a deluge of data to ingest, organize, reflect on, synthesize etc., aren't we obligated to set up our learning environments whether online or on-site in such a way to teach students higher order thinking skills. Furthermore, any skills taught in a vacuum without application are doomed to a very brief shelf life.

Why are students disengaged in education? No doubt there are numerous reasons, but I would bet that if they were learning something personally meaningful, they would engage that internal motivation center. You can't teach motivation, but you can create an environment in which students develop their innate sense of motivation. In my estimation, the problem-based model in which students are working independently and together in teams to solve real world problems that resonate with their interests is an excellent way to inspire learning. Mandating that the outcomes focus on communication, critical and creative thinking, and collaboration will also set students up for continued success in the workplace.

Success is not the opposite of failure, rather failure is a tool that, if used properly, ultimately fosters success. Focusing on grades and allowing students to earn failing grades is counter productive. But, that's another topic for another post.


"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely." - Henry Ford