Learning pedagogy - balancing challenge and support

The idea of pedagogically balancing challenge and support in students' learning dates back to the early work of L. Lee Knefelkamp and other colleagues in the 1970s. The idea, and the research that supported it, was that students' responsiveness to learning differed based on developmental level and that modifying the balance to match readiness would result in improved student learning and development.

Assertions by faculty, one advocating improv as a model for increasing freedom and the other proposing music and its structure, beautifully demonstrate the merit of challenge and support in learning. Improvisation and the free expression associated with it, is often seen as very intimidating. In order to create an environment where students are able to deal with this freedom, focusing on students, using pretend to inform reality, supporting everyone, and assuming that all can be successful, serve as principles to enhance not only the improv experience but learning overall. In the music example, releasing the emotional dimensions of a subject and engaging learners with one another in structured interaction, offer additional principles that could deepen learning. Balancing these variables of support and challenge then offer a scale on which pedagogy can move back and forth to enrich learning and development opportunity.

Although these ideas were proposed separately, their combination brought back a simple, and extremely valuable, lesson in how to improve students' experiences both in and out of class. An integrative balance in educational experiences, focus on improving teaching, and integrating more experiential methods offer the most promising means of reimagining undergraduate learning. As experiential learning is enhanced, it's also important to strike a balance by not throwing out the best of other traditional pedagogies. A combination of commitments that faculty can freely make to help students learn to "solve problems, evaluate evidence, analyze arguments and generate hypotheses" will likely meet with the greatest success.

One of the distinguishing characteristics of higher education is the extra or cocurriculum, which offers enrichment outside of or in conjunction with classroom learning. In order to make these experiences more broadly available to all students, rather than those who have the privilege of time and money, institutions should create "for-credit learning experiences that incorporate elements that make extracurriculars educationally purposeful." Providing institution-wide internships opportunities that are not just add-on credits is another way to enhance students' learning experiences. Replacing the focus on selecting lucrative majors and having high grades with a focus on experience, including part-time jobs and internships, will help students develop real-life skills that will benefit them throughout life.

Attending to student engagement in general, while integrating learning experiences and balancing challenge and support, will not only improve learning but it will also help institutions improve their retention and graduation. The Power of Systems initiative is based on this assumption. Campus building design can also encourage student engagement. Combining these ideas with policy changes related to transfer credits, stopping in and out of full-time learning, can all do a great deal to bring students across the finish line of degree completion. But one of the impediments to progress in improving the quality of student learning is the disconnect between what faculty and administrations see as important. The recent American Council on Education's research recommended "elevating the importance of civic skills and global learning; more intentionally focusing curricula on developing student mind-sets, aptitudes and dispositions; establishing equity goals; and increasing transparency." Advancing these ideas will require deeper conversation among all educators, whether faculty or administration, in order to tackle the inertia of current discipline-based curricula on many campuses.

Germany prioritizing universities

New governmental leadership in Germany is pledging to increase funding for universities. With Germany already leading the EU is economic growth and influence and with a continuing commitment to welcoming immigrant populations, it is securing its future in the decades to come. Paraq Khanna in Move provides voluminous evidence that Germany is in a very good place to benefit from climate changes and population migrations that are underway and will continue. Coupling the commitment to "increase government spending on research and development to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2025, and create a 'digital university' program covering teaching, qualifications, infrastructure and cybersecurity" is an alignment to watch.

COVID just won't go away

The aching reality that is emerging around the world is that COVID is not going away but, instead, continues to morph in ways the allows its spread in vulnerable as well as prepared communities. Spring breaks in 2022 may have contributed to a rise in the latest COVID variant, resulting in some campuses returning to mask mandates. The persistence of COVID and its variants in 2022 was addressed by new recommendations from the American College Health Association. The ACHA recommendations remained in place but variation in campus approaches increased as campuses moved into 2023.

The COVID pandemic has become an endemic and campus changes from the last two years will likely morph into long-term adjustments. With the shift to viewing COVID as an endemic to be managed, and changing policies related to its control, those with preconditions that potentially make them more vulnerable to the virus will become more at risk again. The good news is that American College Health Association's research demonstrated that higher education was more effective in implementing vaccination policies than the broader public. Going forward, perhaps higher education can continue to be a leader in mitigating the ongoing presence of COVID.

The impact of the initial waves of COVID (previously summarized) caused educators to ponder and respond to a "lost generation" of students whose experience is captured in a collection of essays by first-year students at Oregon State University. Part of addressing current students' needs involved masking and vaccination mandates, which turned into booster mandates but the "ripple effects" of the pandemic went far beyond what these measures will achieve. Faculty and their ability to respond to the pandemic received mixed reviews from students. Some educators have warned that a false narrative, which includes sweeping generalizations that don't reflect the reality of diverse enrollment, should be corrected if institutions are to navigate toward a positive future.

Multiple assessments documented the impact of the COVID pandemic. The disruption wrought by COVID resulted in many high school graduates being less well prepared. The National Survey of Student Engagement found that the impact of moves to virtual and other restrictions to students' engagement was more impactful for first-year students. However, NSSE findings indicated that students have been relatively satisfied with teaching and learning at their institutions during a very difficult time. Steps to take for the pandemic that has become endemic, tips from a counselor about fostering wellness during continued COVID uncertainty, as well as Inside Higher Education's "Back on Track" offered some help as institutions planned to support students struggling to stay afloat during this very difficulty time.

As the Omicron variant gained recognition, higher education institutions were warned to prepare for its inevitable arrival (or recognition) in the U.S.A. Some institutions responded to the spread of Delta and the emergence of Omicron by reinstating previous mandates, moving exams online, and cancelling campus events, while the majority of institutions resumed in-person instruction, utilizing other mitigation strategies instead. Cornell University reported 469 cases and cancelled mid-year graduation and moved finals online. Georgetown, NYU, and Princeton quickly followed Cornell's example, reflecting fears that the Omicron variant could quickly spread through in-person events. Striving to stay open during the Omicron scare led to innovation on the part of some institutions, resulting in their leading their communities to better testing and more effective mitigation.

While institutions switched back and forth in reinstating or dropping previous COVID control strategies, the question of how 2022 would look remained unclear. Institutions with rising COVID rates reinstated mask mandates in the Summer of 2022. This lack of clarity was perhaps behind Inside Higher Education's "Live Updates" which pulled their posts related to COVID management together in one place. As the winter surge of the Omicron variant declined and legal challenges to mask mandates undermined a consistent response, states began to roll back mask mandates and colleges followed their lead.

Unfortunately, politics sidetracked consistent response with Arizona institutions being a prime example - some responding with paused mandates and others maintaining their efforts to prevent COVID spread. Governor DeSantis declared that higher education institutions in Florida should refund 100% of tuition if they go virtual, an obvious assertion of a political view. The newly elected Republican Attorney General of Virginia issued an advisory that state institutions cannot impose vaccination mandates. University of Virginia President, Jim Ryan, responded by saying that the issue of vaccinations is moot because 99% of UVa's students are already vaccinated. Jason Miyares (the Virginia AG) isn't only seeking to restrict state institution's COVID strategies but also has dismissed two institution's legal counsels, because as his spokesperson says, "The attorney general wants the university counsel to return to giving legal advice based on law, and not the philosophy of a university."

The effects of the pandemic impacted niches within the student population in very different ways, with Black and Latino students and students with work and personal life complexities hit more heavily. Students aren't the only people who have been impacted by COVID. The higher education workforce contracted by 4% in fall 2020 and we don't know whether this portion of the workforce has now returned or has declined further. The distribution of decline was very different, depending on type of work, with part-time faculty, administrative, and student support staff suffering the most. Another way that faculty and staff have been impacted is in compensation. Michigan State University faculty recently protested loss of salary which has now been restored with a $1,500 bonus granted from excess revenue that resulted from more robust enrollment. Staff were not included in the bonuses, resulting in the trend of protecting faculty first and foremost.

Numerous lawsuits sought tuition and fee refunds for loss of educational benefit when institutions shifted to online and shut down, or limited access to, campus resources. The decisions vary significantly depending on the circumstances and the jurisdictions involved, with some cases dismissed and others resulting in millions of dollars of reimbursements.

Regardless of the challenges institutions faced, their presidents are confident and believe that adjustments have been made that will promise a positive future. Some question if this confidence is justifiable or warranted but the survey results are likely to have been influenced by the common expectation that leaders are the custodians of hope. Institutions will be best served if leaders can maintain hope while still facing the reality of adversity. Facing adversity is particular important in one of the findings of the presidents' survey - a shocking proportion of them (73%) indicated that race relations were either good or excellent.

Now two years and beyond the COVID pandemic, I'm left wondering what we knew or could have predicted about the devastation that the world has experienced. Unfortunately, higher education has not been seen by the public as helping to address COVID. The U.S.A. government has also wavered and lost credibility as a result of action or inaction. Critics charged Trump from the beginning with ignoring the pandemic plan assembled by the Obama administration (wouldn't you love to know what it recommended?). I've begun to think that no one could have predicted the impact of global inequities in health services, public skepticism about science and research around communicable diseases, or the fact that a virus could so effectively evade control by changing its very composition.

It's truly amazing that as COVID emerged in 2020 that the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) advised that the world's "lack of unity is a bigger threat than the virus." How prophetic of where we are now! And perhaps the battle against COVID should study and propose strategies that could begin to deal with this devastating and systemic contributor to the pain that has reached deeply into so many people's lives around the globe.

Serving refugees through higher education

The evidence has been very clear - immigrants, and specifically refugees, can be some of the most loyal and productive citizens of their new host countries. However, opportunity is key.

A new model has been launched to improve access to higher education for refugees in the U.S.A. "Laura Wagner, project manager for the Initiative on U.S. Education Pathways for Refugee Students at the Presidents Alliance, said the initial goal of the campaign is to spread awareness of the university sponsorship model 'so that communities and current college students as well as higher ed institutions know and understand what university sponsorship is...'"

The Pathways for Refugee Students would include institutions' willingness to "agree to flexible admissions policies for refugee students that take into account their unique situations" and it would also include the need to address individual needs as well as prospective students' families situations. Family concerns are particularly important in order to address gender imbalances in educational opportunity. The focus for refugee students would start small and scale up over time. Funding will be the responsibility of host institutions but could be compiled from; government, philanthropic groups, faith-based organizations, corporations, U.N. agencies, and institutions themselves.

A lesson that will hopefully be incorporated from both positive and negative experiences of international students is that campus culture will also be critical. Faculty, staff, and students will need to learn how to respect the resilience and strength of students who come to campus as refugees in order to avoid stereotyping and stigmatization.

Diversity statements in academic applications

With the pressures of diversity and equity increasing in U.S.A. higher education, many faculty and staff positions now include requests for a diversity statement. While this requirement may seem very natural for those familiar with the struggles for inclusion that have been present for so long, diversity statements may present considerable challenge to international applicants, and perhaps others as well.

Justin McBrayer's opinion, articulated in "Diversity statements are the new faith statements," asserted that diversity statements are so common that they impose compliance. Asking applicants to issue statements could result in further concentration of liberal faculty in U.S.A. higher education, a dynamic that could exacerbate the political tensions on campus and throughout society.

It's important to consider the opposition to diversity statements, with McBrayer's being only one. A "jumping through the hoop" filing of a diversity statement will not produce an authentic commitment to improving diversity. And, if the reason for requesting diversity statements is improperly framed, more seeds of opposition will be planted. While not directly related to diversity statements, the law suit against Texas A&M for its targeted fellowship program for minority faculty demonstrates how resistance can undermine well-intended policies and practices.

Olga Koutseridi offers four pieces of advice that can help. They include: reflect, leverage cultural competence, create a list of stories, and seek targeted feedback. At the center of Koutseridi's advice is introspection about the strength that international candidates bring to any campus. Not being considered a "minority" in the typical sense of U.S.A. institutions does not mean that a candidate has not experienced the dynamics of discrimination.

Reflecting, searching for stories, and then presenting how one can contribute to inclusive learning should be the goal. And, by the way, readers and reviewers of these statements might pursue a bit of reflection themselves - opening up to the lived experience of international academics in ways that could expand perspective beyond the U.S.A.

Central European University's move to Vienna

After tensions with Hungary's government made the location of Central European University in Budapest increasingly intolerable, it is moving to Vienna. Shalini Randeria, a U.S.-born academic whose research in sociology and social anthropology focused on questions of forced displacement now finds herself navigating the displacement of an entire university, including faculty and students, to a new home.

Vienna and Budapest share significant histories as former Austrian Imperial cities. Both also share histories of persecuting Jews. Central European University's move from Budapest to Vienna, and renovating a former early 20th century progressive psychiatric hospital for its campus, lays open one of the most difficult connections between the two cities - CEU's new campus was used between 1940 and 1945 by Nazis to torture and kill 789 children in their euthanasia program.

George Soros, a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor and prominent liberal political figure, is the major benefactor of CEU. The relocation of CEU to Vienna, a dislocation from Soros' own birthplace in Hungary, and to a campus first representing progressive ideas that were turned into oppression, provides a canvas for learning about the potential of horror and hope in human existence that is likely not to be rivaled by any other university in the world.

Technology integration

Whether in higher education or practically any for-profit or non-profit sector, technology has transformed much of the way we interact. Some people blame the pandemic for the imposition of technology but it only accelerated what was inevitable. And so, higher education must incorporate technology, even though some evidence has indicated that students' learning has suffered during this time of technology invasion.

Continuous Relationship Management (CRM) is one way that technology may offer not only improved quality for students but savings for institutions. Some institutions are using CRM to integrate disparate student services in a unified system. The advantage of this approach is reaching students who may not otherwise research the resources available to them or walk into an office. These one-stop technologies also offer the opportunity to track students' inquiries and responses, which is key to growing services or programs that are in high demand.

An important element of any technology innovation is the awareness of both internal and external stakeholders. Because hesitancy to return to in-person interactions and new habits of relying on virtual participation have taken hold of faculty, staff, students, and external audiences, moving communications strategies from informing to engaging will likely be a necessity. When it comes to student recruitment, external audiences may be accessing information that many current faculty, staff, and students don't know is available. It is critical that internal constituencies understand the invisible marketing that is underway, often shaping prospective students' expectations.

While improved and greater reliance on technology is underway, campus IT workers are looking outside of higher education for opportunity. The exodus of key staff may present greater vulnerability as institutions try to do their best to integrate and enhance technology presence.