Student Engagement | Patrick Blessinger

Implementation of sustainable development goals and mountain targets in particular through student engaged learning

Implementation of sustainable development goals and mountain targets in particular through student engaged learning Baktybek Abdrisaev, Rusty Butler, Kimberly Williamson, Yanko Dzhukev, Damon Ashcraft, Samuel Elzinga and Andrew Jensen Utah Valley University, USA Three Utah Valley University (UVU) students spoke through the student engaged learning initiative during general debates at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on sustainable development of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations (UN) on July 19, 2018. The HLPF is the main UN platform on sustainable development to follow up and review the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the global level. This year, 47 countries presented Voluntary National Reviews on how they implemented six particular SDGs in their respective countries among the 17 adopted by the UN. A handful of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in consultative status with ECOSOC were selected to speak on those topics as well, including the [...]

Patrick Blessinger2018-08-08T12:53:45+00:00August 7, 2018|Tags: Baktybek Abdrisaev, Mountain Communities, Student Engagement, Sustainable Development, V5A6|

Reaching hard to reach students through student learning communities

Reaching hard to reach students through student learning communities Patrick Blessinger St John’s University, New York City Introduction A student learning community (SLC) is a curricular-based program and learning-centered social network that moves learning beyond the confines of the classroom. In a SLC, a cohort of students is enrolled in a common set of courses which they take together as a group. Most SLCs are tailored for first-year college students but SLCs may be created for any grade level. SLC courses are integrated and linked in some meaningful way in order to give students a common curricular experience and allow them to make more effective curricular connections across those courses. A core purpose of SLCs is to make learning more personally meaningful by addressing not just the intellectual needs of students but also their emotional and social needs. As such, the core aims of SLCs may provide an effective mechanism [...]

Patrick Blessinger2017-09-21T15:19:42+00:00September 21, 2017|Tags: Learning Communities, Patrick Blessinger, Student Engagement, V4A9|

Transforming learning through student research

Transforming learning through student research Patrick Blessinger St. John's University (NYC) and International HETL Association The demand for higher education has grown considerably in recent decades. Over the past 20 years global higher education has grown at a rate of about 5% per year. This phenomenon, together with the emergence of open education and the diversification of higher education, has resulted in many countries now reaching universal access status. Given the wide-ranging set of interconnected global problems – political, economic, social and ecological – facing societies today, greater importance is now placed on higher education and lifelong learning as catalysts for change to help address these problems. Thus, higher education and lifelong learning have become major factors in shaping the global knowledge society. Because of its increasingly important role in society as a knowledge producer, higher education itself has increasingly become the subject of its own research. For example, within schools [...]

Patrick Blessinger2017-10-15T15:08:38+00:00June 11, 2017|Tags: Patrick Blessinger, Research-Based Learning, Student Engagement, University World News, V4A5|

The shifting landscape of doctoral education

The shifting landscape of doctoral education Patrick Blessinger St. John's University (NYC) and International HETL Association The doctoral education landscape has changed dramatically over the last decade. One of the most important factors driving this change is the greater participation rates in graduate education from all segments of society. As such, doctoral programmes are increasingly diverse in terms of the demographic make-up of students as well as the increasing diversity of programme and degree types. Another important factor is the changing needs of society and of the education sector. Doctoral faculty and programme leaders realise the importance of making doctoral programmes relevant to the contemporary needs of society (the public beneficiary) and to students (the private beneficiary). Thus, the modernisation of doctoral programmes has become a top priority at most universities around the world. Denise Stockley and I, together with several international educational scholars, examine these and other issues in the book, [...]

Patrick Blessinger2017-03-11T19:25:25+00:00October 15, 2016|Tags: Doctoral Education, Patrick Blessinger, Student Engagement, University World News, V3A7|

Brazilian Students Encounter Kindness in American Classrooms

Brazilian Students Encounter Kindness in American Classrooms Susan Codone Mercer University, USA “Buying a $300 textbook is insane! Who does that? At home we check out our textbooks from the libraries. Nobody has to pay for books. And pizza and hamburgers every day for lunch in the cafeteria? That’s crazy. At home we might have those once every few weeks. But here, in America, my professors know my name. I like that my professors know me personally and that they care about getting to know me. I can even visit them in their office. I’ve never been to a professor’s office before. My professors are kind to me.” Surprising? These are the words of three Brazilian students spending a year studying at Mercer University’s School of Engineering in Macon, Georgia. The three students, identified by their first name only as Matheus, Aline F., and Aline J., talked to me over [...]

Patrick Blessinger2015-08-11T14:56:32+00:00May 27, 2015|Tags: Ethics of Care, Student Engagement, Susan Codone, V2A5|

How Sociable are You? How Much Does it Matter?

How Sociable are You? How Much Does it Matter? Patrick Blessinger International HETL Association Like many of my fellow educators, my academic training consisted mainly in developing cognitive abilities with scant regard to the role emotions play in the learning process. But in my role as a teacher, I have come to realize that emotions do play a large part in the learning process. This has required me to change my way of thinking about my role as a teacher in the teaching-learning process and about how I engage socially with students in and out of the classroom. Dr. William Kennedy, Director of Michigan Tech’s Center for Teaching and Learning, provides an insightful article about the relationship between learning and emotions. In essence, he notes that our emotions, and hence our sociability, is hardwired into our brains. Hence, teaching and learning is, to some degree, not just a cognitive process [...]

Patrick Blessinger2015-08-13T15:51:45+00:00January 5, 2014|Tags: Chronicle of Higher Education, Patrick Blessinger, Social Learning, Student Engagement, V1A1|