An interesting choice of topics from Pavela, he touches on issues regarding academic difficulty, student retention and educational psychology among others.
New research being conducted on children suggests that self-regulation skills (also refereed to as executive function skills, defined as controlling emotional and cognitive impulses) have been shown to play a critical role in the educational experience. Further research suggests that it's very possible that executive-function skills are "relatively" malleable, maybe more so than IQ. Also found was that self-regulation skills are a "remarkably" strong indicator of both long-term and short-term academic success and that compared to IQ, self-regulation skills are more reliable in predicting academic achievement. The report goes on into further detail as to what techniques college educators might employ to develop this described mental development within the college realm.
Pavela cites a total of zero case laws, constitutional amendments and rulings in this outline - why do you think he chose these topics to include in his Report? What higher ed. law and policy issues exist?
I believe that the reason he chose to write about this topic is because it is up-and-coming and there are some legal implications that may be associated with it. More than ever, students are coming to college with more emotional and cognitive issues than ever before. Lack of ability to accommodate these could result in future lawsuits. It's important to consider ahead of time how institutions are judging intelligence and how this affects placement in particular classes or what services are being provided to students. If the predictors of academic success are changing, then institutions need to act quickly to provide the correct accommodations and testing services and also work proactively to avoid legal disputes.
I agree with Vianna that there is a growing trend in higher education settings to address students’ psycho-social needs. Students with psycho-social challenges have the potential to affect many other people on campus, including roommates, classmates, faculty, and staff, in terms of disruptive, disturbing, or even dangerous behavior. At the more extreme end of the continuum, there is the potential that impaired students may physically harm themselves or someone else.
However, I think self-regulation theory would be more applicable as a preventive strategy in K-12 settings, which according to self-regulation, would precipitate appropriate behavior in college and academic success.
Pavela also either co-authored or contributed to an article entitled, “Standards and Expectations for Greek Letter Organizations” (Shonrock, 1998). In this article the authors hypothesize that self-regulation may be a new form of governance for universities/colleges in dealing with inappropriate student behavior (i.e., greek organizations and alcohol abuse, etc.). It is a very interesting concept. Not sure if people who “willingly” or have repeated patterns of choosing to act inappropriately because of alcohol/substance abuse can “automatically” self-regulate, and improve behavior. I am eternal optimist and maybe it’s worth a shot!
While reading this, I thought of the Curriculum Development course and Significant Learning Experiences by Dee Fink. These methods could certainly be applied in college course curriculum. Additionally, it goes back to another Pavella report regarding ethical behavior and who in the university should be responsible for teaching ethics. All professors could have a part to play by implementing some of these techniques in the classroom.
What a find, Dionne! What would you all think about some sort of psychological battery as part of the admissions process to measure incoming students mental development and emotional ingenuity? If it proves to be a significant predictor of academic success (as Pavela suggests), why shouldn't we be able to do this?
What would be the legal implication of incorperating a short, standardized, assessment of self-regulation in the admission's application?
An interesting choice of topics from Pavela, he touches on issues regarding academic difficulty, student retention and educational psychology among others.
ReplyDeleteNew research being conducted on children suggests that self-regulation skills (also refereed to as executive function skills, defined as controlling emotional and cognitive impulses) have been shown to play a critical role in the educational experience. Further research suggests that it's very possible that executive-function skills are "relatively" malleable, maybe more so than IQ. Also found was that self-regulation skills are a "remarkably" strong indicator of both long-term and short-term academic success and that compared to IQ, self-regulation skills are more reliable in predicting academic achievement. The report goes on into further detail as to what techniques college educators might employ to develop this described mental development within the college realm.
Pavela cites a total of zero case laws, constitutional amendments and rulings in this outline - why do you think he chose these topics to include in his Report? What higher ed. law and policy issues exist?
I believe that the reason he chose to write about this topic is because it is up-and-coming and there are some legal implications that may be associated with it. More than ever, students are coming to college with more emotional and cognitive issues than ever before. Lack of ability to accommodate these could result in future lawsuits. It's important to consider ahead of time how institutions are judging intelligence and how this affects placement in particular classes or what services are being provided to students. If the predictors of academic success are changing, then institutions need to act quickly to provide the correct accommodations and testing services and also work proactively to avoid legal disputes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Vianna that there is a growing trend in higher education settings to address students’ psycho-social needs. Students with psycho-social challenges have the potential to affect many other people on campus, including roommates, classmates, faculty, and staff, in terms of disruptive, disturbing, or even dangerous behavior. At the more extreme end of the continuum, there is the potential that impaired students may physically harm themselves or someone else.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think self-regulation theory would be more applicable as a preventive strategy in K-12 settings, which according to self-regulation, would precipitate appropriate behavior in college and academic success.
Pavela also either co-authored or contributed to an article entitled, “Standards and Expectations for Greek Letter Organizations” (Shonrock, 1998). In this article the authors hypothesize that self-regulation may be a new form of governance for universities/colleges in dealing with inappropriate student behavior (i.e., greek organizations and alcohol abuse, etc.). It is a very interesting concept. Not sure if people who “willingly” or have repeated patterns of choosing to act inappropriately because of alcohol/substance abuse can “automatically” self-regulate, and improve behavior. I am eternal optimist and maybe it’s worth a shot!
While reading this, I thought of the Curriculum Development course and Significant Learning Experiences by Dee Fink. These methods could certainly be applied in college course curriculum. Additionally, it goes back to another Pavella report regarding ethical behavior and who in the university should be responsible for teaching ethics. All professors could have a part to play by implementing some of these techniques in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteWhat a find, Dionne! What would you all think about some sort of psychological battery as part of the admissions process to measure incoming students mental development and emotional ingenuity? If it proves to be a significant predictor of academic success (as Pavela suggests), why shouldn't we be able to do this?
ReplyDeleteWhat would be the legal implication of incorperating a short, standardized, assessment of self-regulation in the admission's application?