MTSU faculty members ‘get in the know’ with MT Engage Summer Institute

Professor Michael Sherr, chair of the MTSU Department of Social Work, sat among his colleagues in the James E. Walker Library conference room Thursday to discuss why students need hands-on experience no matter what field of study.

“Social work is a field where everything students learn in undergrad, in general education courses- actually will use,” said Sherr, one of about 30 MTSU faculty participating in the 2017 MT Engage Summer Institute.

MT Engage, the university’s most recent Quality Enhancement Plan, urges faculty to teach students learning through experience, and the day-and-a-half institute that ended Friday provides training sessions to instruct them on how best to do so.

At Day 1 held Thursday at the Learning, Teaching, and Innovative Technologies Center conference room in Walker Library, faculty and staff representatives recalled their own learning experiences outside of the classroom and recounting how this has been applied to other aspects of life.

Applied learning is a skill used often by the MT Engage program to help students receive maximum results from the MT Engage-based courses they take. Almost 1,900 students were enrolled during fall semester in MT Engage courses.

MTSU’s latest QEP gives the option to “see connections between different academic disciplines while increasing student motivation,” said Dianna Rust, MT Engage Leadership Team chair and associate professor in University Studies.

Rust opened the training session by asking faculty members what “interactive learning” means to them followed by an exercise where each participant paired up with someone and shared one real life experience where they took what they learned and applied it outside of the classroom.

Sherr recounted one of his integrative learning experiences — he was an undergraduate student trying to get an article published — and how it’s helped him apply academic disciplines across the board.

“It was like a game; it’s like a dance — editor, reviewer, writer,” Sherr said. “I thought it was like this objective thing, but it taught me more about what audience I’m writing to.”

The idea Rust used while giving tips on how teachers could ignite the interest of students was challenging them. “We learn more when challenged,” she said.

Upholding the MT Engage motto of “engage academically, learn exponentially, showcase yourself,” the term “productive struggle” is something the group of faculty and staff encouraged each other to use instead of “failure” whenever assessments or evaluations are distributed to students during the course of learning.

MT Engage Faculty Fellow Director Mary Hoffschwelle holds these MT Engage summer institutes once a year to help faculty understand how they can incorporate MT Engage’s concepts and practices to their own courses.

“Seeing this many faculty members reinforces my belief that they truly are committed to student learning and are anxious to find ways to promote a sense of an academic community,” Hoffschwelle said.

Sherr explained different connections between academic disciplines that students in social work in particular need when taking what they learn in general education classes and applying it to real life situations.

“Take a fine arts course. They may have clients where that’s how they communicate and develop a core connect with them, through art,” he said, adding that it’s best for students to know about different perspectives and cultures in addition to their field of study.

Other topics covered during the training included e-Portfolio training, student support services, beyond the classroom activities and value establishment.

MTSU students will be able to learn more about the benefits about the MT Engage program and its future during MT Engage Week, which will be held in September and during CUSTOMS new student orientation.

The Quality Enhancement Plan, or QEP, is a requirement set by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, or SACSCOC, the regional accreditation body for higher education institutes in the South.