Joana Franco

For education to remain relevant in the disruptive times we are immersed in, both educators and leaders in the educational system need to reassess the role and purpose of learning. Particularly, it is important now to reconnect and reintegrate all dimensions of the human intelligence, recognizing the core role of consciousness to regenerate and promote human flourishing. With the advancement of AI, the traditional goal of academic learning being for the development of cognition and knowledge solely might be limiting and insufficient. If education exists to support humanity and bring about societal evolution, adapting to the current conditions is a pressing necessity. To empower humans to collaborate rather than compete with the rapidly evolving AI technology, learning ought to promote the whole human intelligence that have been previously neglected or denied. This is where Regenerative Learning (RL) offers a framework to rethink learning experiences to remember, cultivate, and integrate back all human capacities. This regenerative invitation is a call for education to contribute to human wholeness and a flourishing life. The suggested path of RL to regenerate the whole human intelligence requires learning to consider consciousness at the center of evolving the innate capacities and reconnecting the three domains of the human experience that have been lost. First and foremost, for learning to regrow somatic intelligence, it needs to reconnect the individual with its nature and its biological capacity to feel. Second, for learning to renew emotional intelligence, it ought to support the individual in reconnecting with others and strengthen the ability of the human heart to relate. Third, for learning to restore the fullness of cognitive intelligence, it has to value more than intellect and help the individual to reconnect with something greater within themselves - call it human spirit - and the capacity of the mind for creativity. By rethinking learning to be regenerative, expanding consciousness to awaken all the other innate capacities that have been dormant within the whole human intelligence, education might undergo a profound transformation and become a path to individual and collective flourishing.

Joana Franco has a Ph.D. in Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences from Utah State University, in which she researched transformative learning with mindfulness as a way to support the well-being of graduate students. Her current areas of research interest are regenerative learning and awareness-based practices for human flourishing in higher education. She is also certified as a mindfulness teacher, a yoga instructor, and a somatic breathwork practitioner. She has also been trained in mindful communication and mindful leadership to bring applied mindfulness into the workplace. She holds a master’s in Communication and Society and a bachelor’s in Social Communication, both from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil.

She created and leads the Mindfulness Trainings for Flourishing program at the Institute for Disability Research, Policy and Practice, offering every semester courses focused on developing mindfulness and well-being within higher education and the broader community. She also currently serves as a mindfulness teacher for the Center for Anticipatory Intelligence, where she supports students and faculty in building resilience and flourishing.

Her most recent work has been on developing an educational framework called Regenerative Learning for Whole Human Intelligence & Flourishing, which brings consciousness to the center of learning and invites awareness-based and spiritual practices to awaken dimensions of human intelligence that have been neglected in the field of education.