By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
An annual conference focused on different ways to provide applied learning opportunities will be hosted at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph.
Missouri Western is designated as the state’s official applied learning institution which means students are engaged in hands on learning opportunities.
Missouri Western Chief Communication Officer Becky Dunn says the city reaps the benefits of the focus on experiential working.
"Every day, Missouri Western students are in our cities classrooms, healthcare facilities, businesses and more, and they're applying their skills and helping meet the needs of our citizens," Dunn tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. "So, hosting this conference is a great way that we're fulfilling that mission as Missouri's applied learning institution, and this conference is for other educators in higher education who are also working through applied learning methods."
Missouri Western will welcome 17 educators from six different states to the 15th annual Conference on Applied Learning in Higher Education.
Dunn says that applied learning has become a selling point for the university.
"We're really focusing on how we're providing these opportunities for students to take what they're learning in the classroom and put it into practice and we've done this intentionally through our four-day class schedule," Dunn explains. "So, students have Fridays open for extra activities focused on research or working through an actual job or an internship."
Dunn says giving students Friday's off to focus on those opportunities has been a great benefit. The conference will run today through Saturday.