Students are facing an increasingly complex socioeconomic milieu in which they need skills not taught within the traditional classroom setting. The ability to function in this emerging and complicated world necessitates students receive a holistic education that extends learning outside of the classroom. This requires instructors to teach in a holistic manner whereby students learn the material required and extrapolate such knowledge into myriad settings. Teaching therefore needs to shift beyond rote-style learning where students merely regurgitate memorized material for a test or some other measurement scheme, toward a paradigm where students develop a complete understanding of the material and how they can apply the knowledge they learn to their everyday lives. By creating a pedagogical model that creates holistic learning, we can help students scaffold their knowledge as they move toward new endeavors.

Mahmoudi, Jafari, Nasrabadi, and Liaghatdar (2012) noted there are four important learning pillars of holistic teaching: learning how to learn, learning how to do, learning to live together, and learning to be. Teaching students to learn how to learn involves teaching the research process, developing their curiosity, and engendering the ability to discern the massive amounts of information they will encounter. Learning how to do requires we teach the application of skills and knowledge to real-world settings. This is about moving from esoteric knowledge to the application of knowledge for personal improvement. Learning to live together is about building collaboration skills, teaching tolerance for new ideas and innovations, valuing differences, and building communities of participation. Learning to be concerns allowing students to discover themselves, helping students ascertain their internal and external nature, developing a student's creativity, and encouraging students to imagine new paradigms. 

The question then becomes how might we a faculty help our students learn to learn, learn how to do, learn to live together, and learn to be in an online environment in which connections to students are often fleeting and transactional. 

Thanks,

Eric

Reference

Mahmoudi, S. M., Jafari, E., Nasrabadi, N. A., & Liaghatdar, M. J. (2012). Holistic education: An approach for the 21^st century. International Education Studies, 5, 178-185. doi: 10.5539/ies.v5n3p178