tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/flexibility-in-learning-7910/articlesFlexibility in learning – The Conversation2023-04-26T15:12:44Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2042592023-04-26T15:12:44Z2023-04-26T15:12:44ZCognitive flexibility is essential to navigating a changing world – new research in mice shows how your brain learns new rules<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522864/original/file-20230425-26-ozwsdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2121%2C1412&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A class of inhibitory neurons can make long-distance connections across both hemispheres of the brain.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/brain-shape-labyrinth-with-staircase-royalty-free-image/1384468191">akinbostanci/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Being flexible and learning to adapt when the world changes is something you practice every day. Whether you run into a new construction site and have to reroute your commute or download a new streaming app and have to relearn how to find your favorite show, changing familiar behaviors in response to new situations is an essential skill.</p>
<p>To make these adaptations, your brain changes its activity patterns within a structure called the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.24.1.167">prefrontal cortex</a> – an area of the brain critical for cognitive functions such as attention, planning and decision-making. But which specific circuits “tell” the prefrontal cortex to update its activity patterns in order to change behavior have been unknown. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The prefrontal cortex of the brain is involved in executive functions like self-control and decision-making.</span></figcaption>
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<p>We are a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=a-dRpwgAAAAJ&hl=en">team of</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EYE8lYIAAAAJ&hl=en">neuroscientists</a> who study how the brain processes information and what happens when this function is impaired. In our newly published research, we discovered a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06012-9">special class of neurons</a> in the prefrontal cortex that may enable flexible behavior and, when they malfunction, may lead to conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.</p>
<h2>Inhibitory neurons and learning new rules</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.brainfacts.org/brain-anatomy-and-function/cells-and-circuits/2021/how-inhibitory-neurons-shape-the-brains-code-100621">Inhibitory neurons</a> dampen the activity of other neurons in the brain. Researchers have traditionally assumed they send their electrical and chemical outputs only to nearby neurons. However, we found a particular class of inhibitory neurons in the prefrontal cortex that communicate across long distances to neurons in the opposite hemisphere of the brain.</p>
<p>We wondered whether these long-range inhibitory connections are involved in coordinating changes in activity patterns across the left and right prefrontal cortex. By doing so, they might provide the critical signals that help you change your behavior at the right moment.</p>
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<span class="caption">Interneurons connect other neurons together.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/G2ScFK">NICHD/McBain Laboratory via Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>To test the function of these long-range inhibitory connections, we observed mice performing a task that required them to learn a rule to receive a reward and then later adapt to a new rule in order to continue receiving the reward. In this task, mice dug in bowls to find hidden food. Initially, the smell of garlic or the presence of sand within a bowl might indicate the location of the hidden food. The specific cue associated with the reward would later change, forcing the mice to learn a new rule. </p>
<p>We found that silencing the long-range inhibitory connections between the left and right prefrontal cortex <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06012-9">caused the mice to get stuck</a>, or perseverate, on one rule and prevented them from learning new ones. They were unable to change gears and learn that the old cue was now meaningless and the new cue signaled food.</p>
<h2>Brain waves and flexible behavior</h2>
<p>We also made surprising discoveries about how these long-range inhibitory connections create behavioral flexibility. Specifically, they synchronize a set of “brain waves” called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0990-16.2016">gamma oscillations</a> across the two hemispheres. Gamma oscillations are rhythmic fluctuations in brain activity that occur roughly 40 times per second. These fluctuations can be detected during many cognitive functions, such as when performing a task that requires holding information in your memory or making different movements based on what you see on a computer screen. </p>
<p>Though scientists have observed the presence of gamma oscillations for many decades, their function has been controversial. Many researchers think that the synchronization of these rhythmic fluctuations across different brain regions doesn’t serve any useful purpose. Others have speculated that synchronization across different brain regions enhances communication between those regions.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Fluctuations in neural activity manifest as brain waves, or neural oscillations.</span></figcaption>
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<p>We found a completely different potential role for gamma synchrony. When long-range inhibitory connections synchronize gamma oscillations across the left and right prefrontal cortex, they seem to also <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06012-9">gate communication between them</a>. When mice learn to disregard a previously established rule that no longer leads to a reward, these connections synchronize gamma oscillations and seem to stop one hemisphere from maintaining unneeded activity patterns in the other. In other words, long-range inhibitory connections seem to stop input from one hemisphere from “getting in the way” of the other when it is trying to learn something new. </p>
<p>For example, the left prefrontal cortex can “remind” the right prefrontal cortex about your usual route to work. But when long-range inhibitory connections synchronize these two areas, they also seem to shut off these reminders and enable new patterns of brain activity corresponding to your new commute to take hold.</p>
<p>Finally, these long-range inhibitory connections also <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06012-9">trigger long-lasting effects</a>. Shutting off these connections just once caused mice to have trouble learning new rules several days later. Conversely, rhythmically stimulating these connections to artificially synchronize gamma oscillations can reverse these deficits and restore normal learning.</p>
<h2>Cognitive flexibility and schizophrenia</h2>
<p>Long-range inhibitory connections play an important role in cognitive flexibility. The inability to appropriately update previously learned rules is one <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16965182/">hallmark form of cognitive impairment</a> in psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. </p>
<p>Research has also seen <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0990-16.2016">deficiencies in gamma synchronization</a> and abnormalities in a class of prefrontal inhibitory neurons, which includes the ones we studied, in people with schizophrenia. In this context, our study suggests that treatments that target these long-range inhibitory connections may help improve cognition in people with schizophrenia by synchronizing gamma oscillations.</p>
<p>Many details of how these connections affect brain circuits remain unknown. For example, we do not know exactly which cells within the prefrontal cortex receive input from these long-range inhibitory connections and change their activity patterns to learn new rules. We also do not know whether there are specific molecular pathways that produce the long-lasting changes in neural activity. Answering these questions could reveal how the brain flexibly switches between maintaining and updating old information and potentially lead to new treatments for schizophrenia and other psychiatric conditions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204259/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vikaas Sohal receives funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, the UCSF Dolby Family Center for Mood Disorders, and the Bay Area Psychedelic Research consortium.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathleen Cho receives funding from the Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Inserm) and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (MSCA-IF). </span></em></p>Learning new rules requires the suppression of old ones. A better understanding of the brain circuits involved in behavioral adaptation could lead to new ways to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.Vikaas Sohal, Professor of Psychiatry, University of California, San FranciscoKathleen Cho, Principal Investigator in Neuroscience, InsermLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/794982017-07-13T20:12:56Z2017-07-13T20:12:56ZStudent employment and inflexible university policies drive online drop out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176677/original/file-20170704-13632-yt4lfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Inflexible online assessment policies are inappropriate for working students. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flikr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Employment is the main reason students drop out of online degree courses, <a href="http://www.jofdl.nz/index.php/JOFDL/article/view/286">our new research shows</a>. This is despite claims that online university programs offer greater flexibility to workers and employers who want to up-skill.</p>
<p>Most online dropouts occur due to students’ changing employment commitments, which affect their ability to complete assessments on time.</p>
<p>However, the assessment policies of many universities offer no concession for work-related challenges, so working students often fail to resume their studies. To tackle the biggest driver of attrition, university policies must offer flexibility around employment and assessment. Only then can universities truly provide the flexible online learning experience that workers and industry require.</p>
<h2>What is the problem?</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.jofdl.nz/index.php/JOFDL/article/view/286">Our research</a> shows the assessment policies of many online courses are no more flexible than their on-campus counterparts. Some vaguely mention that employment and leave extensions are subject to course co-ordinator discretion. Others explicitly state that work is not a valid reason for granting extensions for assignments.</p>
<p>Some universities have merely adopted traditional on-campus policies for their online programs. This approach highlights the disconnect between university policymakers and the needs of online students.</p>
<p>Retention is the biggest challenge facing online educators. For example, Open Universities Australia, a provider with <a href="https://www.open.edu.au/yearinreview2016/">more than 41,000 online students</a>, experienced <a href="https://openpraxis.org/index.php/OpenPraxis/article/view/95">attrition rates above 20%</a> for its introductory online units. </p>
<p>A recent Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency <a href="http://www.teqsa.gov.au/sites/default/files/AttritionReport_V2_Jun17.pdf">report</a> stresses that such high attrition represents huge revenue loss and creates reputational issues for governments and institutions. </p>
<p>Retention rates are <a href="http://www.jofdl.nz/index.php/JOFDL/article/view/286">often mistakenly used</a> as a measure of a university’s quality.</p>
<p>Since online education serves nontraditional students, it automatically experiences higher attrition compared to traditional on-campus learning. Using completion rates as a benchmark for education quality therefore places institutions with higher proportions of online students at an unfair disadvantage.</p>
<h2>What should universities do?</h2>
<p>Considerable research and investment has sought to improve the retention of online students by focusing on the design and curriculum of learning websites. </p>
<p>However, this focus alone will not really help retention; it ignores the key driver of online attrition. What we need is fundamental change in the way universities think about online education.</p>
<p>Online students are offered flexibility in terms of study location, separate learning activities, and study progression. But considerable scope exists for improving retention by effectively accommodating the needs of online students in relation to assessment.</p>
<p>Or, at the very least, institutions could better manage student expectations by clearly communicating exactly what – if any – flexibility is offered in relation to employment.</p>
<p>Rather than imposing traditional on-campus student assessment extension policies, online students’ employment commitments should be taken into consideration. This could come in the form of assessments aligned with workplace challenges by offering a choice of assessment options and flexible deadlines. </p>
<p>A more radical move would be to allow online students to drop out and pick up again where they left at a later date. </p>
<h2>What is the chance universities will change?</h2>
<p>Potential opposition to such suggestions could be anticipated from institutions that want to be seen as fair by treating on-campus and online students equally. </p>
<p>However, this argument is flawed. It merely illustrates universities’ unwillingness to move beyond their comfort zones.</p>
<p>Other potential challenges relate to resource planning. Teaching staff would be required to process assessments and grades over a longer period. Administrators would also find it difficult to apportion revenues and costs to students who study a unit across more than one semester given current management practices.</p>
<p>Regardless of the challenges posed, reviewing online assessment policy in relation to student employment, and offering more flexibility around assessment, is essential. This would not only enhance student satisfaction, but enable universities to overcome – or at least lessen – the biggest driver of online student attrition.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79498/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Research undertaken with Catherine Moore of the University of South Australia.
Swinburne University of Technology Researcher Development Grant (RDG) of $10,000 received for investigating the drivers of online student attrition.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Research undertaken with Prof. Steven Greenland of Charles Darwin University. Swinburne University of Technology Researcher Developer Grant (RDG) of $10,000 received for investigating the drivers of online student attrition. </span></em></p>Universities need to better accommodate student employment to improve the retention of online students.Steven Greenland, Professor in Marketing, Charles Darwin UniversityCatherine DT Moore, Online Course Facilitator, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/455312015-08-12T04:36:17Z2015-08-12T04:36:17ZRadical adjustments needed if universities are to make it easier for people to study while working<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91171/original/image-20150807-27571-ys7zox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's not easy for those who are already working to study towards a degree.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa’s government <a href="http://www.dhet.gov.za/SiteAssets/Latest%20News/White%20paper%20for%20post-school%20education%20and%20training.pdf">wants</a> to make it easier for more people to enrol in higher education. Part of its mission is to improve access for adults who are already working but wish to qualify for either a first or further tertiary qualification. The reasons for this relate to issues of redress and provision of lifelong learning opportunities for economic, social and personal development. </p>
<p>But for flexible learning and teaching to really work, there must be major structural changes and attitude shifts – both within universities and from companies whose employees want to study further while keeping their jobs.</p>
<p>The University of the Western Cape, led by a team from its <a href="http://www.uwc.ac.za/Students/DLL/Pages/default.aspx">Lifelong Learning</a> division, and the <a href="http://www.saqa.org.za/">South African Qualifications Authority</a> (SAQA) have spent the past three years <a href="http://www.flexiblelearningandteaching.blogspot.com">exploring</a> whether it’s possible to move beyond university education’s familiar binaries. These binaries include the ideas of part-time versus full-time tuition and daytime lectures versus night classes.</p>
<h2>New thinking</h2>
<p>The university is about 20 minutes from Cape Town’s city centre. Over the past few years it has seen the partial closure of after-hours or evening classes. This has been driven by a number of factors: government pressure to increase the number of young students without increased financial support; pressure on academics to publish which limits their capacity to do a double shift; the scarcity of safe public transport in the evenings. </p>
<p>New thinking on the issue has been driven by access for working and first-generation students being a core part of the university’s <a href="http://www.uwc.ac.za/Pages/Mission.aspx">mission</a>. This dates back to when it was established in 1960s. Since the 1980s, in opposition to the apartheid government, it continued to prioritise access for politically and economically disadvantaged students, most of whom were working or needing to work. </p>
<p>Several relevant units have been involved in the research and pilot sites were established in three different faculties – political studies, library and information sciences and public health. </p>
<p>We sought to make the process as participative as possible through:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>developing a working definition of what is meant by flexible learning and teaching provision. This was tested in 31 interviews with senior teaching and learning specialists, deans and academics and a survey across all faculties;</p></li>
<li><p>supporting pilot sites to develop and theorise innovative approaches to teaching and learning; and </p></li>
<li><p>making documentation available regularly to the university’s leadership and to academics through seminars, workshops and Senate committees. This encouraged discussion and the building of “common knowledge”. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Institutional change</h2>
<p>This research lays the ground for flexible learning and teaching that will meet the needs of all students. But for it to work, there must be major changes within a university’s own structures.</p>
<p>For starters, universities must have a framework for flexible teaching and learning provision for all students. This should work with all four institutional sub-systems – those for teaching, students, delivery and administration.</p>
<p>There are often blockages to flexibility in all four of these sub-systems. These include regulations around staff <a href="http://www.flexitimeplanner.com/flexi-time-policy.aspx">flexi-time</a>, the use of venues, rules for assessment and admissions.</p>
<p>The next step is to implement, as a pilot, an entire undergraduate degree using flexible learning and teaching principles. This should follow a process of research and development. It would need to be linked to a detailed project implementation plan for a three- to five-year period. It requires political will from university leaders and dedicated funding to work.</p>
<p>There are already pockets of innovative, flexible, quality teaching and learning taking place, which should be rewarded and incentivised. This encourages a sustained culture of educational access and innovation across an institution.</p>
<p>For this to happen, leaders at all levels of an institution must undergo professional development that teaches them about these concepts. This kind of training is available through organisations such as the Cape Higher Education Consortium, which <a href="http://www.chec.ac.za/about.html">represents</a> all four of Cape Town’s universities.</p>
<p>Many of the processes followed during the research, and the resources created, have been gathered <a href="http://uwcflexiblelearningandteaching.blogspot.com/">in one place</a> so that institutions can access them and explore the role of flexible learning and teaching for themselves. Popular materials are also to be disseminated by SAQA.</p>
<h2>Employers have a major role to play</h2>
<p>Employers also need to make some changes so that their employees can take advantage of flexible learning opportunities.</p>
<p>They need to check their own study leave policies against the country’s labour laws and make sure that what is offered is adequate. Working learners then need support in the form of bursaries, flexi-time facilities and negotiated access to and use of computers for study purposes.</p>
<p>Crucially, working learners’ newly acquired knowledge must be affirmed and drawn on to add value to the workplace. Studying while working must be seen as what it is: something to be celebrated, which carries forward the government’s goal and improves both individual’s lives and their company’s capacity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45531/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shirley Walters receives funding from National Research Foundation and the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS).</span></em></p>Flexible learning and teaching can help those who want to study while working. It requires structural changes and attitude shifts within universities and companies whose employees want to study.Shirley Walters, Emeritus Professor, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.