223 sharing challenges in higher education

Taken from http://www.indiainvestmentjournal.indiaincorporated.com/opportunities-in-indias-education-sector-a-snapshot/

Sharing Challenges in Higher Education A reflection of a teaching practitioner with 20 years of experience

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano School of English Faculty of Social Sciences Universidad Latina de Costa Rica Monday, February 29, 2016 Post 223

Reflecting upon my challenges as a seasoned college professor with over 20 years of experience in English language teaching (ELT) over here in tropical Costa Rica, I must be honest with the truth and confess that a deep change in our local students’ mindset is still a need that has not been yet satisfied. This need for a change is stated over here because there are multi-factors that can directly influence learners’ success at the university level or a drastic failure for students majoring in any study program. Let us review some of these worrisome challenges we all face –from time to time- at our higher level education institutions.

Though I have more than 20 years of experience teaching at the university level, and over 25 years teaching English as a foreign language, it is difficult to work on the change of our local students’ preset mindset in regards to education and “learning” practices. I cannot say that I am overtly encouraging a “surface” approach to learning among my learners, but this is what I sometimes get to see as their response in class or in the papers they have to write as part of their English

Language Teaching major: surface learning because, in terms of hierarchical thinking skills, learners find their comfort zone right there where thinking is not a condition for learning. Because I mostly work with technology-driven courses in education and literature classes now, I insist on the importance of reaching a higher hierarchical thinking process among my pupils, but some of them are still resilient to accept that learning is in their hands and not in mine. They tend to forget that they are part of the learning equation.

Students’ mindset is the one challenge I get to face on a quarterly basis, with the change of university instruction periods, and that challenge prevents them to access deep learning in any college subject. It does take some time for pupils in college to transition from their high school way of studying, -at least in my country (Costa Rica)-, which prevents them from moving from a merely memorizationoriented way of studying to a more deeper understanding and reflective way of learning the subject-mattered for each course they are taking. When confronted with moving away from that comfort zone they seem to enjoy greatly, you experience lots of complaints from their part, but in the end, they set their feet out of the comfort zone that –professionally speaking- will not make them succeed in higher education, especially when it comes to discuss their possible and realistic opportunities to get a well-paid job.

If I sit down for a while to consider more teaching challenges I currently face in the encouragement of deep learning with my college students, I have to cope with several other ones. I have come across indecision on the learners’ part to acknowledge whether they are interested in becoming a professional in the area they have opted to enroll. At the college level, I have seen students changing majors because of their inner dissatisfaction with what they originally thought about their “favorite” study program. Another issue I have witnessed for quite a long time is linked to concentration problems due to Internet surfing and the powerful influence social media has on them. Their cognitive focus regularly shifts

from what it is really transcendental for their learning, and their cognitive load for apprehending the gist of the subject-matter is insufficient due to distractions they do not know how to deal with. A higher level of concentration is required from them because of the amount of distractors people are exposed to nowadays.

There are more teaching challenges to have in the lookout to work on the development of deep learning in higher education. If college learners are easily seduced by social media and their needs to be connected with their social circle(s), what can be done to catch their attention longer? Though this is not the place to venture an answer, we teaching professionals need to develop our ability to catch students’ attention for longer periods. We need to find ways to stimulate students cognitively to go for deep learning and its immediate and long-life benefits. In addition to student attention for learning, another area connected to our ability to capture learners’ attention is their willingness to participate. In my college setting, participation willingness is always an issue that needs to be addressed. But it is not just participation in in-class activities, but in any other blended learning task that gives students their chance to express themselves without being exposed to social environments they are not comfortable with. If these two challenges are connected to learner child-raising background, the need to understand this situation is a must to help pupils succeed in college and in their professional life.

To finish with my considerations of teaching challenges, whether they are linked to learner child-raising background or not, competency formation must be part of learning in university classrooms. The need to learn new competencies to excel in this new world of technology-oriented jobs is a must; we cannot overlook this need for competences that can help students fit in the working world. It looks like the panorama for challenges in education is quite vast and needs to be taken care of and studied. A bit of research on challenges faced by teaching professionals and ways to cope with them should be part of the training provided to guarantee

that learners can become fully-equipped with what it is needed to succeed in college life.