NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
ERIC Number: EJ1182999
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: N/A
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0024-1822
EISSN: N/A
Nudges, the Learning Economy, and a New Three Rs: Relationships, Resilience, and Reflection
Bowen, José Antonio
Liberal Education, v104 n2 Spr 2018
In this article, Jose Antonio Bowen, president of Goucher College, writes that a new technological society inclusive of all students and graduates, a new model of education geared toward the learning economy, where more--maybe even most--content learning takes place after graduation may be required. Bowen believes that in order to prepare students for this new economy, educators will need to focus less on the content and more on the potential higher education releases, prompting graduates to become voracious self-regulating learners. The emphasis on helping students master the process of learning rather than only the specific content of any field, presents the opportunity to reimagine everything higher education does as it reevaluates how to deliver on the most important promises to students. Bowen affirms that while most educators see releasing potential as one of the most rewarding parts of their work, there exists the need to ask themselves: Is this goal really embedded in this institutions core missions? Are grades, credit hours, majors, two- and four-year degrees, departments, classrooms, and office hours essential representations of our values, or merely structural reflections of our cultures? Can institutions restructure themselves around the things known most help students learn to change? Drawing on new research demonstrating the relationship between learning and change, a convergence of behavioral economics, neuroscience, and cognitive psychology suggests a new educational "three Rs": relationships, resilience, and reflection. These three Rs can supply a new focus (the "what"), while behavioral science suggests new techniques (the "how") for designing and delivering education keyed to the new learning economy. In a climate where Liberal Arts are now often seen as arcane and less practical than more vocational training, Bowen asserts that the key to reclaiming the public trust in higher education and the liberal arts is to foreground higher education's existing commitment to graduating self regulated learners, and to embrace the fact that one's choice of major matters less now than it has in the past. Bowen posits that multiple surveys have demonstrated that employers are more concerned about students' capacities for critical thinking, solving complex problems, working in diverse groups, and writing well than they are about students' particular choice of major.
Association of American Colleges and Universities. 1818 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20009. Tel: 800-297-3775; Tel: 202-387-3760; Fax: 202-265-9532; e-mail: pub_desk@aacu.org; Web site: http://www.aacu.org/publications/index.cfm
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A