2023 Year-in-Review: Top Five of My Most Viewed Education Posts

#2023 has been a transformational year for #education. Not only has the negative effect of #COVID on #studentlearning shown throughout #k12education and #highereducation, but the #generativeAI tsunami has also forced #instructors and #institutions to rethink and focus on what #value they bring to the #students.

Surely, with all the #learningchallenges that students are faced with, #k12 #teachers and #college #faculty cannot afford to only focus on effective #pedgogy; more effort is also required to ensure the students have the right #motivation and the state of mind to internalize the #learning. #instructors need to do more than just teach. However, this is nothing new, and hopefully, the #public and the #institutions have been made more aware that the #teachers in the #classroom need more support than ever. They need scalable assistance to understand each student's unique learning context and barriers and address them in a timely manner.

Furthermore, in the age of #AI, it is more clear that the #students able to regurgitate #classroom material back on tests for a grade through #rotememorization is not #authentic #learning. True learning is mastery of a subject, able to think through the problems and practice #criticalthinking through a #growthmindset, #grit, and #agency. Being able to learn and apply #criticalthinking is more important than ever to understand the limits of artificial intelligence to properly take advantage of its benefits.

The following are my #2023 most viewed education-related posts:

Many workplace- and non-workplace-life-related issues cause #workingprofessionals?not to be?#motivated?on the?#job?and not be in the right?#stateofmind?to function at their best. The same can be said for #k12?and?#college?#students?going to?#school?to?#learn. It is also a #fulltimejob?that requires lessening ?#academic?and non-academic ?#learning?barriers to enable the right #motivation?and the?#stateofmind?to achieve?#effectivelearning.

Many reasons cause students to struggle with learning. But if you had to choose only one of the following factors, which would you choose?

Having the right?#motivation?to?#learn?is a force multiplier that can help?#students?overcome?#education?#challenges. It starts with a better understanding and minimizing any possible non-academic?#barriers?that may hinder a student's learning readiness. Then create a #classroom #learning environment with a strong #senseofbelonging, where #failuretosuccess is normal, everyone can achieve #success through #grit and #agency, and #learning is #relevant to their #futuregoals.

Mindsets: Four Beliefs That Lead to Highly-Motivated Students

The recent increasing #student #absenteeism trend can be attributed to #covid19 effects; however, what the #pandemic had done is also highlight and accelerate the need for #k12education and #highereducation to demonstrate their #relevancy to #careergoals and #lifegoals. And it's not about getting A's, maintaining high GPAs, or graduating from #college. It's about the "So what?" Without a clear connection in the #classroom between #education and the #realworld, no wonder #students (and #parents) are not #motivated to attend class given all the #reallife stressors and questioning why they need to invest the time, effort, and money on something they can't see the #value of.

A ‘Stunning’ Level of Student Disconnection Professors are reporting record numbers of students checked out, stressed out, and unsure of their future.

We often lightheartedly joke that we rarely use all that we learn in #college in our #careers. With the needed time commitment and increasing cost, the joke lately has become a serious question to ask about the #returnoninvestment of #highereducation. We must do a better job of explicitly connecting #collegeeducation to #careerreadiness.

Why Faculty Must Learn to Swim in Other Waters

Authentic #learning is achieved through #criticalthinking where #students can #reflect on their own #learningjourney, self-identify gaps and needed improvements, and then able to transfer the #knowledge and #skills beyond the #classoom into their #futurecareers. While few will disagree with this logic in #k12education or #highereducation, in practice, #criticalthinking is not commonly explicitly taught or integrated into #pedagogy with intention.

Do universities teach students to think critically?