“What if we use the research on brain development as a point of reference to rethink what it means to provide a high quality, rigorous education?” asks President S. David Wu.
In my last blog, I argued that Baruch breaks away from “higher education isomorphism” by not only providing access to a historically underrepresented population but also insisting on the highest academic standards. I believe this is critical because public confidence and trust in the value of a college degree are derived from the reputation of an academically rigorous institution, and only rigorous, high-quality education truly challenges and unlocks human potential. As we enter a new semester of remote instruction and student services, I ask that we ponder how we maintain the highest level of academic excellence for all students by unlocking their true potential.
As my blog allows me to think out loud with you, I will first take a small detour. Over 20 years ago, my father suffered from a brain aneurysm. After a period of drastic and painful decline, he passed away. To understand how a warm, intelligent, and dynamic human being could have the light turned off at a moment’s notice, I have since developed a keen interest in the inner workings of the human brain and have followed the wonderful advancement of modern neuroscience research. Over the past two decades, research has revealed amazing new insights about the human brain and mind. I have found their advances to not only be fascinating but also relevant to a deeper understanding of our role as educators.
Researchers study the functional organization of the human brain as a window into the architecture of the mind. They have found that while some regions of the brain are specifically engaged in a single mental function—identifying faces, places, understanding the meanings of sentences, or perceiving the mental states of others—other regions of the brain are designated to synthesize and orchestrate a complex combination of functions to perform a certain task, including a sense of consciousness or “self.” Researchers also have studied brain development from children to young adults and discovered that brain connections continue to take shape into the late twenties, which offers us tremendous new insights into human learning.
Re-examine Learning
What if we use the research on brain development as a point of reference to rethink what it means to provide a high quality, rigorous education that will help unlock human potential and shape the development of healthy, well-adjusted, successful young adults? This will prompt a set of interesting questions. Some may coincide and some may differ from the conventional wisdom and long-held beliefs in education.
Brain research has confirmed the conventional wisdom in academia that it is important to challenge students in critical thinking and honing specialized skills. During this highly important period of brain development, young adults are able to absorb insights that help them to curb their impulsive tendencies and learn to become more structured and efficient in their reasoning while enhancing their understanding of the world. It is also a critical time to develop knowledge and know-how. By this time in life, young adults not only understand and constantly absorb new information but are also able to put their knowledge (now experience) to practical use, sometimes through the special knowledge of a particular field or domain.
It’s important, and perhaps more interesting, to note that there are many overlooked—but no less important—areas that we as academics can identify to re-examine our idea of learning. In past decades, developmental psychologists have uncovered numerous significant factors that impact brain development and learning. Allow me to focus on three key findings that are most relevant to our current environment.
Mitigate Environmental Stress
Young adults are particularly vulnerable to environmental stress as coping mechanisms in the brain are yet to fully develop and can experience anxiety as a result of school, work, and personal relationships. Some of these young adults must deal with setbacks, such as family issues and social pressures as well as food and economic insecurities. In 2020 these stresses are compounded by the global pandemic, racial strife, economic uncertainty, and multiple natural disasters. A 2019 survey by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America found that 80 percent of college students reported feeling stressed sometimes or often, while 34 percent reported feelings of depression. Further, research conducted by the American Institute of Stress found that the rising rate of stress in college students reveals the sharply intensified need for mental health and counseling services on campuses. Yet, most institutions consider these to be non-core issues and have relegated them outside the academic realm. Recognizing these environmental factors that could deeply affect learning, can we envision a holistic approach to support our students?
Leverage Technology and Facilitate Human Connections
As we look at our rapidly changing society, we can’t fail to acknowledge that today’s young adults are the most digitally saturated generation in history. Their world doesn’t know a reality without technology. It has not only seamlessly been integrated into their everyday lives but this constant access to information has actually rewired their ability to process information. The ways in which they problem-solve, network, communicate, learn, and consume information have all been greatly impacted by culture constructs and digital technologies. How could incorporating their reliance on technology with academic subjects ensure they are learning what they need to know?
While young adults are tech-oriented, they also strongly value relationships and interactions with others and are increasingly sensitive to social evaluation, including feelings of belonging, acceptance, admiration, and respect. The connections students form with their peers, both on campus and virtually, can have a significant impact on their college experiences personally, socially, and academically. It is through these relationships that they develop skills in organizing and planning learning activities, working collaboratively with others, giving and receiving feedback, and evaluating their own learning. In the current remote learning environment, how do we transform class or group projects into opportunities for peer growth and scholarship? How might this assist in or expand a young adult’s connection to their community? Some of our Baruch colleagues are already at the forefront of this innovation.
Instill Purpose and Meaning
Researchers find that social and emotional development for young adults involves exploring meaning and finding purpose, and it is important to offer them opportunities for agency where they learn to influence decisions and practices that shape their lives. The brief moments they spend in the pursuit of higher education provide them with opportunities to formulate their own identity by seeking unique experiences, making mistakes, trying new things, and both succeeding and failing. What are ways we can share diverse ideas and knowledge without indoctrinating opinions but by influencing and leading them to discover their own truth? And, as I asked in my last blog, how do we bring learning beyond lecture halls while instilling a sense of pride and willingness in our students to get involved in serving our community?
Realizing Their Full Potential
The world is filled with talented but under-challenged minds that are waiting to be discovered, polished, and matured into their full potential. Between the internet, smart devices, and immediate connectivity, a young person’s developing brain is often overwhelmed by information. It is our job as educators to impart knowledge to students—but it is also to be aware of the many difficult personal as well as academic challenges they face. If we consider the ultimate goal of education is to fully unlock the human potential, how far are we willing to go to insist that our students continue to receive an uncompromised, highest quality education in a tumultuous time such as this? As we continue to adapt to remote learning, what are the new opportunities for us to adjust, to fill in gaps, and to shape new ideas for learning? I look forward to engaging further with you on this subject.
23 Comments
Strongly agree that facilitating human connections is a crucial part of our work as educators.
One way to compensate for the lack of student interaction in the current online environment is to make more assignments the responsibility of teams. This requires them to find ways to communicate with each other and develop additional skills
Excellent point, Jay. Making team work and peer interactions an integral part of learning will help to make online classes much more interesting and effective.
The website makes it difficult to subscribe to the blog unless the reader makes a comment.
The pandemic is bringing to light what must be changed in education for students to learn in our technological world. This is not only an academic issue but a societal one.
As a Mathematics/Computer Science researcher, I have witnessed what is lacking and what should be addressed in order to institute change.
Andrea DePaolo, Baruch alum, MBA 1985
Mental health should be a part of each curriculum, allowing for greater understanding, knowledge of sign of mental health problems and condition for receiving help and ending stigma of mental health problems.
Very interesting.
Thank you for raising important questions about how best to serve students while teaching remotely. The Faculty Senate is initiating a related conversation about the mental health of faculty during the pandemic. We have breakout rooms planned and hope that we will be able to have a productive conversation about what can be done to support faculty so that they can support students!
Thanks for the preview of the breakout rooms, Carla. Great idea!
Thank you so much, Carla, and I am glad to know that the Faculty Senate is paying close attention to this issue.
Building community is one of the great challenges in a commuter college–even more so during this pandemic. This makes programs, such as the Conversation Partners Program (http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/cpp) so important. Student pairs (one native and one nonnative speaker) meet for at least an hour at least six times per semester–currently on Zoom. Meaningful and repeated interactions such as these build community and promote friendship development. Indeed, many of the partners become friends and stay in touch even beyond graduation, expanding their international networks. As with all initiatives that aim to facilitate optimal intergroup contact, however, the CPP needs institutional support to thrive. Let’s hope that it can survive through the pandemic and its expected financial repercussions.
Absolutely and thank you for the great effort!
Great article, thanks Dr.Wu. I believe it should be mandatory for all student to take a Mental Health class.
Remote learning is the new way of education. Assignments should be project base so that team members can collaborate on a regular basis. This will provide daily interaction via Zoom calls etc. Project base assignments are essential for students to be responsible and understand that each person has a vital role and will be held accountable. Moreover, it allows students to share ideas and develop their critical thinking skills.
Faye Johnson
Alumni ‘04
Watch “Most likely to succeed”. It addresses many of the issues with the traditional education system.
Welcome to Baruch Dr Wu; a fellow alumni shared your blog which was quite informative. Lots of luck.
Continuing with the brain analogy, we can say that society has suffered a crippling stroke. And so, even as we strive to regain as much of our mobility as we can, we’re diligently developing another of our capabilities, namely, the ability to communicate electronically. We are rewiring every aspect of our society. And so, here at the university, all of us,
must creatively rethink our roles and functions.
Instructors should be open to suggestions, input and assistance from students, given their extensive knowledge of the terrain, and the potentialities, of cyberspace. Students should feel free to step up and offer their expertise insights, ideas, and their helping to fashion the learning experience, in and of itself, is a learning experience.
Administrators should actively identify and publicize creative “hot spots,” giving them exposure that somehow breaks through the welter of new tasks and adjustments bombarding us. We must find creative ways to have particularly creative members of the Baruch community made aware of what other creative actors are doing, thus stimulating even more innovation.
We don’t know how things will turn out, but we’re certain that creativity, teamwork and computer literacy will be paramount. Yes, we have quite a job before us, but we can surely do it. After all, doesn’t the university contain the society’s thinking faculties?
These are excellent points although I’d prefer to think we are experiencing a temporary setback rather than crippling stroke. In any case, I love the idea of creatively rethinking our roles and functions–opening up our minds for mutual learning. Also liked the notion of creative “hot spots” where good ideas evolve into great ideas…
I agree, President Wu. When I said “crippling,” I meant that our frenetic, meaningless, mobility is hopefully forever curtailed. There was never any need for people to hop around the globe, at will, on massive 747s mindlessly destroying the atmosphere, and creeping to work in endless, dangerously polluting, high blood pressure inducing, traffic jams to go to the office and basically sit behind the same computers we have at home. No matter how the pandemic turns out those days are over. At least I hope so. Don’t you?
Wow – so much truth in what you write David, and truth is increasingly challenged by unbending belief – yet another factor that adds to the stress Baruch students experience. I love that Baruch is encouraging students to take ownership of their learning experience and thereby to build a more resilient approach to learning and the synthesis of new truths.
[…] are shaped during our formative years, when our brains are still undergoing major developments (see my September blog). As I have encountered points of view or perspectives throughout my life that contrast my own, […]
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[…] an earlier blog, I talked about my keen interest in the inner workings of the human brain and have followed the […]
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