Transformational Education For 2030

Texas A&M University faculty and staff met Tuesday in a town hall meeting titled Transformational Education and to discuss its role in the university’s Vision 2030 plan.

Led by committee co-chairs Reuben A. Buford May, Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence in the Department of Sociology, and Rick Giardino, Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, participants gave input and heard comments about how education is changing and will continue to change in the years ahead.

“We are here to take the next step and to prepare Texas A&M as we enter 2030,” Giardino said. “One of the main questions we have is, what will education at Texas A&M be like in 2030?”

May said attempting to define exactly what is transformational education can be challenging.

Suggestions from participants included that transformational education should be life altering; also a lifelong process; that it should develop creative thinkers; a student should come out of college a totally changed person; and that to be truly transformational, education must be different from what it is today.

Participants agreed that distance education and artificial intelligence are two trends that are growing in popularity and must be adequately addressed.

Several main topics were presented by the committee to consider for future discussion. These include interdisciplinary courses; multimedia communication; high impact learning; undergraduate research; underrepresented students; 21^st century skills; and service orientation and giving back to the community.

Participants said online education and distance education will continue to grow in popularity, but what will this mean to education? What will it do to the “college experience?”

Many said that study abroad programs are also becoming more popular and that some of the best transformational experiences a student can have come outside of the classroom, but not all students have the resources to participate in them.

Other discussions included about the ways students access information today, and are these hindrances or aids to their overall education.

Also discussed: are learning and education the same thing? Where and how does information literacy fit in?

Members said one of the key points to consider going forward should be: How can Texas A&M continue to set the bar of excellence as the key leader in transformational education at the state, national and global level?