Launching Heroic Journeys

By Jeff King, Ed.D. Executive Director for UCO’s Transformative Learning

For those who are past the college years, it’s easy to forget how dramatic that time of life is, for both traditional and nontraditional students.

As faculty, I think we need to be attuned to that — that this is a full life-transition for our students, requiring more of us than teaching content and skills. We need to help our students through a time of transformation as they take their own heroic journeys, whether they are 18 or 55 years old.

We also need to be aware that as faculty, we, too, are on heroic journeys of self-discovery. The art of asking ourselves questions is something to cultivate on our heroic journeys as college professors, and it also is a shortcut to helping students experience transformative discoveries.

The classic hero’s journey has an individual leaving the security of home for an adventure into the unknown. To succeed, the individual must question old ways of thinking, explore new possibilities, then return home to share new understandings.

It’s a journey any of us can take at any time in life — if we’re willing.

Penn State biology professor Chris Uhl has developed a reputation for helping each student in his 400-person environmental science class begin their journeys. He encourages students to get over their “fear” of questions, instead taking “delight” in them. He challenges them to discover what they are “unwilling to experience” and see how it limits their lives. He also encourages journaling — “to record the story of their journey.”

One of his assignments is known as “100 Questions.” He asks students to make a list of 100 personal questions, “things about themselves that they would like to understand.” He asks that they make the list in one sitting, writing quickly, not concerned about spelling or grammar. His one requirement — ask questions that are deemed significant.

His examples range from, “How can I save money?” to “How can I have more fun?” to “What is the meaning and purpose of my existence?”

What Uhl has found is that the first 20 questions tend to be off the top of the head. As the questions continue, however, themes begin to emerge, questions from deep within come forth. And students begin to see paths for their own heroic journey emerge.

It’s a lesson — and a challenge — that we can all use to open ourselves to heroic journeys of seeing the world in a new way.