Are you there, 2023? It’s us, EduCred Services
A New Year provides a new opportunity for reflection, intention, and perspective. As we launch into 2023 full of optimism (albeit cautious optimism, at times), we wanted to write a collaborative post where we can each share our lessons-learned and hopes for the new year.
Student Success: What should it mean to us?
I will be one of the first ones to tell you that student outcomes matter, but with an increasingly narrow focus on them, is higher education missing the bigger picture in defining graduates’ success? Based on the 27/73% split in the statistic above and how institutions are required to report outcomes, I am not a “success”.
To the Class of 2022
Each graduating class steps out into a slightly different world than did the class preceding them. This is, of course, only natural—as Heraclitus famously said, “change is the only constant in life”—but even so, the class of 2022 has had to persevere through some unique difficulties. In light of that, the EduCred Services Team wanted to, first, congratulate the tenacious class of 2022, and second, offer some pieces of advice that we wish someone had shared with us.
It’s Okay to Be Wrong
Being open to new information and discovery is how humanity progresses, even when it’s inconvenient at the time. This is the fundamental reason we need education—not to teach people to repeat information to pass examinations, but to teach them how to ask questions that allow them to conduct their own examinations.
Pathway for Hope
When people are denied an opportunity to achieve their potential, they act out of desperation. They turn against societal norms to find a way to survive in the absence of opportunities. When we close our minds, doors, and borders, we only hurt ourselves.
Making It Click
Students are distracted by life and overwhelmed by increasing uncertainty. They work to navigate within a changing world. Much of what we have known will be forever changed and impacted by the last four months. Education provides the answer if only we can figure out how to make it click.