Memory and the Freedom to Fail

Memory and the Impact of Learning

In this episode of the Think Education podcast, Chris and Judith talk about memory, the past, the present and the future.  We ponder the student experience, motivated by our own understanding of what impacted us along our respective journeys.

The impact of a good teacher should not underestimated, nor should the road less travelled.  The intangibles have been instrumental in our development, even if they are hard to quantify.

The value of a university is based on reputation, credibility, accreditation and so a lot of the value for the student is based on the past but the degree will be awarded in the future. But we don’t know where we are going to be in the future despite how many of us talk about being ‘future focused.’  We are assigning a future value to a degree that rests on the past. 

This led us to rambling on about how we assign value and what function does memory play in this?  We talked about things that impacted us over the course of our careers; who were those teachers that we remember; the situations that impacted us; how we measured success along the way.  This led us to consider the extent to which we actually measured these by any of the metrics we employ on a daily basis to ‘understand’ success?

We talked about the research infrastructure that universities operate within and the extent to which the metrics at the heart of it are relevant or appropriate to fully understand impact and value.   This led us to ponder the student experience and the value of a degree as connected ideas.

We don’t know what is coming and we can’t legitimately say that we know where we will be in 5-10 years’ time.  The uncertainty of learning can be incredibly valuable.  We linked this to travel and the need to adapt to shifting circumstances.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could say ‘as part of your studies, take different options and if you fail, that is fine’.

It is important to be able to fail at things, along your learning journey.  The freedom to engage with things that interest us, even if there is no direct link to employability, was a luxury that is perhaps no longer possible – but maybe should be.  Come to universities and think about things; read and engage with problems and be part of a think tank on an institutional level.

Creating an environment where failure is possible is a more accurate reflection of life – even if the term ‘failure’ is such a loaded one.  As our approach to expectations has shifted over time, there is very little room for flexibility, disruption, or even failure.  We manage the approach much more efficiently these days – in terms of course selection, degree progression and overall student experience – but we have perhaps lost sight a little bit of the variety and unknown that could lead to unexpected outcomes.

 

#memory #learningpatterns #learningstyles #internationalstudy #study #futureready