University Boards: Empowering Students For Success

A board of trustees is the most common name for the governing body of a university in the United States. The board of trustees is responsible for the university's operations and policies, and its members are often selected by the state governor or appointed by the university's president. The board can also include elected officials and alumni. The board's role is to make decisions that support the university's goals and mission, and represent the voices of the student body. The board can also help students by providing work-integrated learning opportunities, fostering collaboration, and building student-professor trust.

Help students build self-awareness

In the United States, a board often governs institutions of higher education, including private universities, state universities, and community colleges. Governing boards of universities vary in size, formal name, powers, and membership.

Boards can help students build self-awareness by:

• Teaching students about the meaning and purpose of life, and about happiness, mindfulness, and the art of living.
• Teaching students about the importance of well-being and proposing positive practices, including how to manage emotions, how to engage in the workplace, how to have positive relationships with others, and how to find meaning in life.
• Providing work-integrated learning opportunities to help students gain genuine business and industry insights, develop their awareness of workplace culture, and enhance critical workplace skills such as positive leadership and communication.
• Encouraging students to build their own internal motivation and work together, rather than against each other, to foster collaboration.
• Encouraging students to learn from their mistakes and view them as an opportunity to improve.
• Encouraging students to get out of their comfort zones and explore both their academic and personal lives.
• Identification of emotion: Help students identify and differentiate their feelings. For example, explain the difference between feeling upset and feeling sad. This will help them navigate their emotions and understand their peers without judgement.
• Honesty development: Encourage students to see themselves with honesty and express how they feel about themselves. Learning to be positive about oneself is a key component of self-awareness. Acceptance of oneself, both physically and mentally, is a major part of this.
• Recognition of strengths and weaknesses: Help students identify their strengths and weaknesses to increase self-awareness. This can be done through activities where teachers identify and help build students' skills.
• Knowledge sharing: Teachers should spend time in one-on-one sessions with students to allow them to talk about themselves and increase their self-awareness.
• Mindfulness: Teach students mindfulness techniques to increase their attention span, concentration, and working memory.
• Self-compassion: Help students learn to love themselves and not judge themselves based on test scores, exam papers, etc.
• Reflection: Teach students to reflect on their actions and emotions to help them develop self-awareness and identify their interests and skills.
• Feedback: Provide guiding support and feedback to students to help them become more self-aware of their actions and thoughts.

Outline why students learn what they learn

Students often ask, "When are we ever going to use this stuff?" and many teachers struggle to identify content that is important and relevant. However, there are several reasons why students learn what they learn.

Firstly, teaching and learning should always be relevant, whether related to a degree or extra-curricular activities. For example, students should be taught necessary workplace skills, as well as the importance of wellbeing and positive practices, such as how to manage emotions and engage in the workplace.

Secondly, active learning strategies have been proven to produce better educational outcomes at virtually all levels. Students may feel they learn more through traditional lectures, but they actually learn more when participating in active learning classrooms. This is because active learning requires deep learning, which is hard work and can be frustrating. In contrast, a superstar lecturer can make students feel like they are learning more than they actually are.

Thirdly, students need to know facts. Cognitive scientists have shown that committing certain facts to long-term memory frees up working memory, which is the limited system where new information is consciously processed. For example, memorizing multiplication tables is important because pulling out a smartphone in the middle of a complex math problem will slow down thought processes and cause students to lose track.

Fourthly, tests can improve student learning. Low-stakes quizzes and self-tests are useful drivers of learning because they require students to focus on specific material they need to remember.

Finally, content should not be kept from students because it might be deemed developmentally inappropriate. Learning happens in fits and starts and is not dictated by discrete age-related stages. Teachers should focus on whether students possess the existing knowledge needed to understand new content, and this is where a carefully sequenced curriculum is advantageous.

Provide work-integrated learning opportunities

A university board can help students by providing work-integrated learning opportunities, which are becoming increasingly popular. Work-integrated learning (WIL) allows students to participate in real-world experiences within their chosen field, which can directly contribute to their degree. WIL activities integrate academic learning with practical workplace applications, giving students the chance to apply their knowledge and solve genuine issues they will encounter in their industry.

WIL can take several forms, including work-based projects, internships, clinical placements, work simulations, and mentoring programs. For example, students in the UNSW Business Accelerator program in 2020 gained valuable experience in consulting, coordination, and collaboration.

There are numerous benefits to implementing WIL for students:

• Broaden perspectives: Students meet and work with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures, learning to think differently and complement one another's skills.
• Increase awareness of global challenges: By being in the middle of a work environment, students gain a better understanding of how theory can be applied in real-life scenarios, enhancing their learning capabilities.
• Enhance soft skills: Students learn and develop various soft skills, such as friendliness, empathy, confidence, and enthusiasm, which are essential for professional relationships.
• Enhance transferable skills: WIL provides transferable skills that can be used in various occupations, such as teamwork, listening, leadership, and analytical reasoning.
• Guide future career aspirations: Students can explore different career paths and choose the one they enjoy the most, allowing them to pursue their dream career from the start.
• Boost employment prospects: Work experience gained through WIL makes students more attractive to prospective employers, increasing their chances of employment.
• Build a network: Students can establish industry connections and meet colleagues, clients, and managers, which can lead to better career opportunities and exclusive industry event invites.
• Make a positive impact: Students are exposed to real-world problems and have the chance to develop creative solutions, potentially benefiting their employer, clients, and the industry as a whole.
• Enhance academic knowledge: Research indicates that WIL experiences help students enhance their academic knowledge and develop transferable skills.
• Develop teamwork and communication skills: Students learn to participate in teamwork and problem-solving, improving their communication skills with colleagues across diverse roles.

Foster collaboration

Collaboration is key to student success and can drive positive factors such as communication, productivity, trust, and creativity. Here are some ways university boards can foster collaboration among students:

Encourage active learning and group work

Design learning activities that are complex and require students to work together. This could be in the form of rigorous projects that demand students identify a problem, conduct research, discuss and debate, and propose a solution together. Ensure that the tasks are too difficult and have too many components to complete alone, creating a situation of "positive interdependence."

Minimize free-riding

To prevent one group member from doing all the work while others benefit, keep groups small (no more than four or five people). Assess students both individually and as a group to ensure individual accountability. Design meaningful team roles that relate to the content and task, giving students ownership in the process.

Build discussion and consensus

Encourage rich discussions that connect students with diverse experiences and engage them in a shared intellectual experience. Promote consensus-building by having students defend or propose a common vision, develop a set of beliefs or principles, and negotiate meaning. This enhances both academic and social skills, teaching students to argue constructively and analytically.

Prepare students for teamwork

Help students understand the benefits of collaboration and what successful collaboration looks like. Guide them through the stages of team-building, giving them opportunities to develop leadership, decision-making, trust-building, communication, and conflict management skills.

Utilize online discussion groups

Online discussion groups or forums can facilitate communication and collaboration among students. They create a sense of community and help keep students motivated to participate and learn. Students tend to help each other, so providing a space for them to exchange ideas is an excellent way to foster collaboration.

Foster an environment of open-mindedness and community

University boards can promote a culture that values collaboration over competition. This includes celebrating leadership that champions collaboration, encouraging open-mindedness, and building a strong sense of community. This shift in focus can greatly benefit the entire institution.

Show students how to learn from their mistakes

University boards can play a pivotal role in helping students learn from their mistakes and fostering a growth mindset. Here are some ways in which university boards can achieve this:

Encourage a Growth Mindset

University boards can promote a culture that values learning from mistakes. This involves shifting the perception of mistakes from "failure" to "learning opportunities". By doing so, students will be more willing to take risks, engage in the learning process, and view challenges as opportunities for growth.

Normalize Mistake-Making

University boards can work with instructors to normalize mistake-making among students. This involves sharing their own experiences with making mistakes and how they learned from them. By seeing their instructors and peers embrace mistakes, students will be more likely to follow suit.

Provide Supportive Feedback

Instructors should be encouraged to provide timely and supportive feedback when students make mistakes. This helps students understand where they went wrong and how to correct their errors. It also fosters a positive attitude towards mistakes, as students realize that mistakes are a natural part of the learning process.

Foster Perseverance

University boards can encourage instructors to promote perseverance in the face of mistakes. This involves reminding students of past challenges they have overcome and how they can apply those lessons to current setbacks. Sharing examples of successful people who have faced adversity and learned from their mistakes, such as Michael Jordan, can also inspire students to keep trying.

Utilize Class Discussions

Instructors can facilitate class discussions about mistakes, where students can openly share their experiences, emotions, and strategies for dealing with errors. Knowing that their peers have similar experiences can reduce the shame and fear associated with making mistakes.

Teach Self-Reflection

Students should be taught to reflect on their mistakes and progress. This can involve keeping a journal to track their improvement and identify areas where they can continue to grow. Self-reflection helps students develop a learning mindset, where they view mistakes as opportunities for self-improvement.

By implementing these strategies, university boards can empower students to learn from their mistakes, build resilience, and develop a positive attitude towards challenges, ultimately fostering a culture of growth and innovation.

Frequently asked questions