Co-authored Blog Posts

Wisdom, unconscious decision-making, and experiential learning

Wisdom, unconscious decision-making, and experiential learning Darya Rubenstein QC 14 and Jim Stellar In an interesting YouTube piece, Rabbi Akiva Tatz addresses an issue that is under emphasized in the Western world: wisdom. In the world we live … Continued

Education that Works and the Brain

by Jim Stellar

A book on the topic of higher education, experiential learning, and the brain is forthcoming from IdeaPress in the winter of 2015. The book is based on the ideas discussed by so many of us in this blog. When it becomes available, a link will be provided here.

Guest Papers by Students, Staff, and Faculty (edited by JS)

Experiential learning builds social capital: Here’s how

Experiential learning builds social capital: Here’s how by Anna Luerssen Assistant Professor of Psychology, Lehman College, CUNY Introduction Although the classroom is the epicenter of learning in the American education system, much can be gained by students if they … Continued

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News

Jim Stellar just interviewed by Civitas Learning

Here is the link to the interview. It largely deals with an incredible service learning program, the CUNY Service Corps, on which a group of us gave a paper at a past WACE conference in Sweden.

Economist run Higher Education forum on prep for the workforce

Check out this great forum run by The Economist. It is part of a national trend that fits very much with the topic of this blog.

Recent Gallup article of interest

8-19-14 Check out “College Is Worth It, But Only if we Make the Most of It,” by Brandon Busteed, Executive Director, Gallup Education. He writes about the power of experiences such as connecting with mentor. We would add that this is one of many types experiences colleges could broker for their students that we write about here. Get his blog by clicking here and read our postings.

Amygdala, faces, and trust

Here is an interesting new paper on the amygdala and how very fast we can judge trustworthiness of faces even when we are unaware of doing it. This point relates to the unconscious decision-making processes that we think play a role in learning from experience in higher education.

WACE research – past conference and future research grant

Here is a link to the June 2014 conference in Sweden and the papers presented and the recent announcement of a new research grant possibility - click on WACE Research Grant

Clark U. Seeks to Define ‘Liberal Education 2.0, Chronicle of Higher Education article 6-23-14

On Leadership, By Dan Berrett

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The Other Lobe launches new website

As of today, otherlobe.com has a brand new website design!

Who We Are

Who We are and What We Do

The blog began as a partnership between an older (Jim Stellar) and a younger (Shwen Gwee) guy. Then when Jim began doing research for the book, he was helped by one of the first blog co-authors (Adrienne Dooley) who became a project manager for a team of researchers, ranging from students to professionals who worked to develop the book. Now, the three of us have added a third section of short papers that examine topics in greater depth than possible in a blog.

The whole idea of the website is to discuss experiential education programs and learning with a focus on what can be taken from neuroscience, cognitive, and social science research. We believe that this research is showing that the brain is built to operate and make decisions in two ways - in conscious rational decision-making mode and in unconscious instinctive decision-making mode. We think that this dual view, which applies to economics, also applies to higher education. It suggests important and natural ways that learning from direct experience can powerfully complement the classical classroom-based curriculum to improve student outcomes in and after college.

For more, click on the About link at the top