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Opinion
Risk and Responsibility
Cognitive development and the implications for higher ed
4/5/2007
The same studies show that youths particularly make relatively poor choices about their actions when they face a host of distractions:
Devoid of cues and the physiological hardware to initiate deliberate and thoughtful critical thinking, young people may act or react without reflection on the implication for self and others (Bergsma, 2000). As a result, adolescents typically underestimate the influence of digital technologies on their behavior or the potential for risk. Influences are especially powerful when youth cannot readily perceive potential threats nor access skills to create a barrier from harm (Berson & Berson, 2003). Nonetheless, modern technologies captivate youth because they draw on one of the most powerful genetic biases of the human brain—a preference for visually presented information.This very concise article, "The Connection Between Brain Processing and Cyberawareness: A Developmental Reality" (PDF), goes on to state:
Modern technologies require young people to make sense of an overload of information. Despite the amplification of the quantity of data available, the nature of the sensory input restricts and often distorts the quality of visual and tactile cues, the primary modalities used by the brain to represent experience. While filled with superfluous data, virtual interactions provide limited access to the critical signals needed to differentiate safety from harm (Anderson, 2002). Moreover, without the biological structure necessary for deliberate and thoughtful action, young people may impulsively act and react in cyberspace without forethought to the influence of powerful sensations or be easily lured by the artificial distinctions between virtual encounters and real life activity (Berson & Berson, 2003).Universities take responsibility
One of the higher education trends I have been following is the growing tendency of higher education institutions to broaden their scope with regard to being somewhat more responsible for the behavior of their students. In this Web document, I have been collecting a variety of news stories about student risk-taking behavior and the reactions of higher education institutions. You may find some interesting and useful stories there.
Despite the fact that I spent the years of my youth when I could have been a hippie, serving instead in the military, I still retain enough of the rebelliousness of the age towards authority to be a bit dismayed when colleges and universities reach beyond the campus and the classroom in attempts to control student behavior. However, the science does seem to be supporting at least the need to be cognizant that a 20-year-old's brain has not yet fully matured, even though the rest of his or her body has. I expect that over time we will see some significant changes in the structure of higher education based on this new knowledge.
About the author: Terry Calhoun is Director of Communications and Publications for the Society
for College and University Planning (SCUP). You can contact him through CT's IT Trends forum by clicking here. View more articles by Terry Calhoun.
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