Two neuroscientists make a compelling case that higher education must move beyond classroom learning.
KIRKUS REVIEW
As an Interim University Executive Director of CUNY Online, and after a long career in education, including some co-authorship with James, I was pleased to see this book on the development of what is called professional wisdom in college students. In higher education, the primary focus continues to be on classical knowledge transfer from faculty to students; however, we need to be cognizant that our students are living in a world outside the higher education walls and can and should learn from it as well. This book drives home that point and even does it from the perspective of how we are built with a brain that not only processes information but adds feelings from direct experiences to create value out of that information. Students gain a deeper understanding of the material because they see its relevance and utility. Abstract concepts become tangible when used to solve actual problems in workplaces or communities, and these experiences help drive students to their aha moment as they pursue their interests and passion. For anyone who cares about higher education from the student perspective, this is a must-read.
JUDITH CAHN, EdD, Interim University Executive Director, CUNY Online
The book Professional Wisdom by James Stellar and Brandy Eggan hits at the core of what experiential education adds to a classical college education. As a Vice President of Cooperative Education at Drexel University, I see every day the maturity our program of experiential education brings to college students. I really like that the authors grounded that observation in basic, easy-to-understand brain facts and ideas that makes it seem more fundamental. I recommend particularly that non-cooperative education university students, faculty, and administrators read this book. It will reframe their thinking about a college education.
IAN SLADEN, Vice President of Cooperative Education, Drexel University
The book that James Stellar and Brandy Eggan have written grows out of an experience James and I had together as President and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Northeastern University, a cooperative education school that rose rapidly in reputation while we were in office together and continued after. Professional Wisdom helps explain the notable maturity we saw in our students as a result of the off-campus work experiences that were an intrinsic part of our educational program. The book extends that thinking to all higher education by pointing out the neuroscientific reasons why experiential education can significantly enhance classroom studies and thus greatly enhance student growth. I urge college-going students and families as well as higher education administrators and faculty to have a look and pay attention to these important principles.
RICHARD FREELAND, Former President, Northeastern University and former Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education
In todays word of holding educational institutions accountable for the value of their outcomes, students must develop the professional wisdom needed to be career or grad school ready. Institutions of higher learn- ing and their students need to upgrade the development of professional wisdom from an occasional occurrence to an intentional outcome based on an institutional commitment. In our world, filled with an abundance of technology and rapidly emerging AI, the question is How can educational institutions work with their students to develop the needed level of professional wisdom? What role does brain functioning play in bringing about professional wisdom? If you are at all curious about this, then you must read this book.
RICHARD PORTER, Past Vice President of Cooperative Education and Professor of Mathematics, Northeastern University
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