Oct. 17, 2023

Welcome to Week 8! 

We have reached the high point on the roller coaster we’ve been riding on for seven weeks! Enjoy the view! This week marks the moment when the cars almost pause at the peak and we have just a few moments to glance around. You can look back toward the last days of summer where we came from and you can look forward into the distance where we see the first inklings of the December holidays and our winter break! It is coming. In between here and the end of the term is an exhilarating plunge through the few remaining weeks – the next half of the semester will pass as the last few weeks have, all in a hurtling rush.

Here at the top, however, is a great opportunity to take a moment to take stock. How are you doing? Are you caught up with all your work? What is the nature of that work? What are you expected to learn and are you on top of all that stuff?

Whoah! Hold on there a moment. What are we expected to learn? What does that even mean? Some things are obvious and explicit. In chemistry we learn the periodic table and electron orbital shells, in biology, we learn about the Krebs cycle and evolution. In art, we learn about impressionism, and so on… All those ideas, information, and concepts are all very valuable. However, mastery of concepts and ideas is not the only goal of learning. What are the deeper goals of your grand adventure that might be less obvious?

Many smart people have put a lot of thought into what it means to learn and what kinds of things we can learn, or what kinds of things we expect people to learn from really great learning experiences. One of my favorite structures for this way of thinking is called the Taxonomy of Significant Learning. Check out the following diagram. You will see that much of what we consider to be the most important things learned in college is relegated to the small wedge of the pizza just to the right of the top of the diagram.

Take a moment to peruse the chart. What does each ‘wedge’ and its contents mean to you? Which dimensions of learning are your favorites? Are there some that are more important to you than others? My favorites are on the left side of the whole diagram. These are truly significant. They are all important, but the left side of things is the most exciting for me. What kinds of experiences are you seeking and what steps are you taking to make those happen?

How do you feel about this view behind the curtain of learning experience design? Does it excite you or overwhelm you? If it seems a bit overwhelming – have no fear. All of the deeper things on this chart happen naturally while on this journey we call college. That’s what makes our collective endeavor so amazing. It can be truly transformative. Each day you show up to class, each day you engage with your student job or student club or organization, and each day you pursue these transformative outcomes. Congratulations to you for stepping out into this journey. Keep up the great work!

Things to do:

Do your UA Title IX Training. Really. It takes just a few moments. It will take 5 minutes and you’ll feel better about it.

National Transfer Student Week (Oct. 16-20)
Join us for a series of virtual sessions for students planning to transfer to UAF.

If you haven’t already – check out the Nanook Engage Platform. You can log in with your university login credentials and find tons of exciting things to do and events to attend. To connect via your mobile device, download the CampusGroups app (iOS, Android) and login with your UA login credentials. 

Have a great week eight!

You made it! Amazing! We are officially at the halfway point – or even a little beyond! Excellent work. It will be a fast ride down to the end of the term – hang on!

As ever, if you’d care to share your perspective, and comments about what is going great or what could be better, please share! You can find me at obguthrie@alaska.edu.

— Owen Guthrie, vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment management