CATLab CATLab Director's Note: January 2025

Industry Thoughts

For those that enjoy a deeper dive, this section's for you. Below, I highlight three resources, and I encourage you to read through the full linked articles.

First: Jeff Selingo. He's a leading scholar on issues related to higher education, often advocating for new learning models. He is officially tied to Arizona State University as a Professor of Practice and Special Advisor to the President. He's the keynote speaker for Salesforce's Education Summit in March of this year.

Selingo's most recent newsletter describes many current, large-scale trends, pretty much all of which are hard news for schools like Westmont. From declining high school graduation numbers nationwide, to aging building infrastructure created in the 'aughts', to students today being less willing (or able) to pay for education than ever before, we may be headed into "the third era" of rapid change for higher ed. This era, he says, "will require institutions to figure out where they want to 'play' in the decade ahead." There are many challenges before us, and it inspires those of us in the day-to-day at Westmont to call on our networked, larger community for wisdom, enthusiasm, and support. The best way through the days ahead is together.

Second: David Brooks. Brooks is a NYT columnist and annual visitor to Westmont's Lead Where You Stand conference. Brooks' latest article, The Character Building Tool Kit, describes in crystalline prose the core purpose of institutions like Westmont. To highlight one passage:

Moral formation isn't just downloading content into a bunch of brains; it involves an inner transformation of the heart. It involves helping students change their motivations so that they want to lead the kind of honorable and purposeful lives that are truly worth wanting. It's more about inspiration than information.

Westmont is not just about moving through a pipeline to jobs, it's about forming people of character. A Westmont education is a unique treasure in today's chaotic landscape.

Finally: Julia Freeland Fisher. Fisher is the Director of Education at the Clayton Christiansen Institute, and advises many institutions on policy related to technology in education. She has also been a keynote at Westmont's Impact Conference the last two years. She delivers new and helpful research in a recently published article with a core theme that "human connection is becoming more valuable and more vulnerable in the age of AI."

Fisher's research is especially poignant for CATLab, as we seek to build AI tools over the next year. There are many reasons to celebrate how AI is enabling better outcomes in advising and motivation for students, but we must be careful to build with measurable goals promoting the enhancement of human relationships. Fisher points out, "An estimated half of internships and jobs come through personal connections. Students with access to mentors are significantly more likely to graduate feeling prepared for life after school. Young people who have an adult encouraging them to pursue their goals are more than twice as likely as those without to have a promising future." Bots are great and needed, but person to person connection is so important. There's a need for both the products CATLab makes, but also the environment of CATLab to produce a culture where human to human connection is developed.

Thanks!

I hope you enjoy the new email newsletter format. I welcome your suggestions on what is most fun for you to hear about CATLab, Westmont, or current development efforts. Also, if you have connections you think would benefit CATLab students, I'd love to hear about them.

Until next time.

-Zak