Free to Imagine
If every barrier—money, politics, precedent—disappeared, what’s the one bold experiment in teaching, learning, or community you would launch tomorrow?
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I would create a learning space modeled after the TV show The Voice, where identity—appearance, voice, and even titles—is masked so that participants engage solely with ideas. Imagine a room in which every contribution is heard without the influence of bias or assumption. Stripped of visual and auditory cues, we would practice radical listening, valuing substance over status and message over messenger. This experiment would dismantle hierarchies and strengthen authentic dialogue, revealing how much preconceptions and prejudices shape interactions. In this space, belonging would not depend on who you are but on what you share and how deeply we listen.
—Dawn S. Brown, Northwestern University
I would build senior living communities on or near campuses and invite older adults to audit undergraduate courses and teach continuing education classes for the broader community. Activities, including game nights, movie nights, recitals, and monthly birthday parties, would encourage students to interact with older adults and build common bonds. The result would be a win-win-win for seniors, students, and the community.
—Peggy Glenn, Northeastern State University
I would broaden the concept of study abroad to emphasize sustained, relationship-based, boundary-crossing intellectual and cultural engagement. A small cohort of students and faculty from each continent would learn and travel together over a year, creating a portable intellectual commons—a Magic School Bus of liberal arts education. Meaningful time in each participant’s home country would enable the students and faculty to serve both as hosts and guests, insiders and outsiders. Long-term engagement with the local academic and cultural community over months rather than weeks would foster deeper learning about our shared humanity.
—Wendy Cadge, Bryn Mawr College
I would eliminate the current practice of tailoring instructional materials to varied learning styles such as kinesthetic, auditory, and visual. Instead, I would design materials that require students to engage each learning style in turn, strengthening their education muscles so they can draw on all of these learning approaches throughout their coursework. The result would be graduates who are more accomplished students.
—Joseph Hébert, Oklahoma State University
I would launch a radical experiment in human-centered AI literacy. Students would use AI not to replace thinking but to reveal assumptions, test arguments, and interrogate their own reasoning. The curriculum would pair AI tools with ethical reflection, interdisciplinary dialogue, and real-world decision-making. The bold move is this: teaching students how to question AI—and themselves—more deeply. Liberal education’s task is not to compete with artificial intelligence but to form human intelligence capable of wisdom, restraint, and moral judgment.
—Jake Goering, Concordia College
I would create housing on or near campus for every interested faculty and staff member. Faculty-in-residence programs deliver powerful results for student success, and proximity facilitates participation in campus events. This model would deepen our sense of community and connection while acknowledging that students do much of their learning beyond the classroom.
—Heidi Bostic, Marquette University
I would launch a teacher training model that embeds student educators in “uncommon spaces” that traditional programs often overlook, such as prisons and refugee camps—places where education is urgently needed but rarely occurs. These classrooms would blend public pedagogy with culturally responsive teaching, benefiting both learners and student educators. In this model, education would serve as a bridge between institutions and society, ultimately transforming both.
—Christabel Kanayo Anumenechi, Purdue University
Illustration Pla2na/Shutterstock
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