Listen to this post
|
I have been low-level upset at recent discussion about the need for higher education institutions to respond to student expectations. I had a bit of a rant about it on Twitter, for instance.
I'd like to keep in mind that among all the "what learners want from…" is embedded a great deal of what they are told they should want
— Donna Lanclos (@DonnaLanclos) June 4, 2015
If learners think being able to compare themselves to others or fit their major into a career path is impt, spend time thinking about why
— Donna Lanclos (@DonnaLanclos) June 4, 2015
The messages students get about the purpose of education and how to be successful are not neutral, politically or otherwise.
— Donna Lanclos (@DonnaLanclos) June 4, 2015
Think about where the messages to students come from, what the motives are, whether they are grounded in the model of education we want
— Donna Lanclos (@DonnaLanclos) June 4, 2015
Student priorities, while important to know about, don't always have to be marching orders, we can and should know enough to question
— Donna Lanclos (@DonnaLanclos) June 4, 2015
I was tweeting in an apprehensive way about “Student expectations” on the same day that there was a great deal of conversation going on about the death of tenure at Wisconsin universities, and the implications for higher education labor conditions and teaching and learning in that context.
What’s Gone Wrong in Wisconsin? http://t.co/txPUoKUukC
— Jesse Stommel (@Jessifer) June 4, 2015
And then the next day I started thinking about the problem of tying perceptions of effective education to “comfort” or “satisfaction” (other ways of talking about meeting student expectations).
YES if professors are fearful of student complaints its because they are less supported than ever by institutions: https://t.co/ozQKWBR3Lm
— Donna Lanclos (@DonnaLanclos) June 5, 2015
Education can be uncomfortable and challenging. "Students=customers" makes that difficult to achieve safely, esp by adjunct/nonTT profs
— Donna Lanclos (@DonnaLanclos) June 5, 2015
I am not suggesting that people should get to be assholes in classrooms. But students asked about "satisfaction" set up to expect "nice"
— Donna Lanclos (@DonnaLanclos) June 5, 2015
I don't need my students to want to have a beer with me, or feel like they want a hug, I want them to stretch and learn & feel safe doing so
— Donna Lanclos (@DonnaLanclos) June 5, 2015
I don't need my students to want to have a beer with me, or feel like they want a hug, I want them to stretch and learn & feel safe doing so
— Donna Lanclos (@DonnaLanclos) June 5, 2015
Students don't have to "like" their professors to learn from them–mutual respect & real institutional support for *learning* is key
— Donna Lanclos (@DonnaLanclos) June 5, 2015
Institutional support for "student experience", I want to note, is NOT necessarily the same as support for education or learning. It's not.
— Donna Lanclos (@DonnaLanclos) June 5, 2015
words matter WORDS MATTER this "customer" stuff isn't just benign semantics and labelling it comes from an insidious framing of education
— Donna Lanclos (@DonnaLanclos) June 5, 2015
If the survey you are so in love with = abt "satisfaction" ASK YOURSELF is that the low standard to which you want to hold your institution?
— Donna Lanclos (@DonnaLanclos) June 5, 2015
I am seeing the connection between concern about “Student experience” and “Student expectations” as driven by these capitalistic, marketing framed approaches to education and how we decide what we should be doing for our students. And I am distressed that “experience” and “expectation” seem to be edging out “education” as what we want Universities to be focusing on.
But, what about University expectations for their students? What about educator-driven desires for their students? What is our responsibility, given what we know students should be doing to become constructive citizens? To what extent should we limit ourselves to or be driven by what is “expected” to be “experienced” by our students? And what about linking the larger “experience” of others at university, of faculty and staff, of researchers and teachers–how can we make visible those experiences, and make it clear that those people and their work are crucial parts of educating students.
Because if you think that the "student experience" at your Uni is gonna happen without attendant emphasis on faculty exp, you are delusional
— Donna Lanclos (@DonnaLanclos) May 29, 2015
Student expectations are informed by their pre-university experiences. And those are not uniform. We have students with a variety of levels of experience and preparedness for what university education requires. And we do not, as educators, have to buy the argument that the purpose of our work is to prepare students for “jobs.” Our work, collectively, in higher and further education, is to provide students with experiences and support within those experiences to learn, to grow, to find and shape their voice, to be prepared to exercise citizenship, to live engaged lives, to shape their world in constructive ways.
I see people around me writing around this sort of concern, for example most recently Dave White, Peter Bryant, and Lindsay Jordan. So, I’m glad I’m not alone. But these concerns need to filter up, to become more a part of the conversation happening in policy and political areas around education. We cannot continue to allow operational, transactional assumptions about “expectations” and “experience” to rule the day, and ruin the processes of “education.”