By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Western State University is getting more of its students involved in the workforce, in research, and in service to the community.
Missouri Western is the state’s only designated applied learning university.
And Director of the Griffon Office of Applied Learning, Mike Ducey, says the university has renewed efforts to combine work in the classroom with work in the real world.
“One of the things that we do I think that is really important to point out is that we try and engage our students not only outside the classroom in those applied learning activities, but also to build it into our curriculum so that they’re experiencing those opportunities also within their course work,” Ducey tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline.
Ducey, chair of the Missouri Western Chemistry Department, says it’s important to prepare students for their careers while they are still in college.
Ducey says applied learning simply seeks to engage students in the activities they will encounter once they graduate and begin their careers.
“As part of our recent Master Academic Plan, one of the things that we did as it relates to applied learning is to set a goal and that goal was that 100% of students before they graduate from Missouri Western are going to have an applied learning experience.”
Ducey says applied learning takes many forms and can even address topics in the news, such as legislative redistricting. He notes one class explores how math is used in the politics of redistricting.
“And those are really great examples of where we get some inter-disciplinary or cross-disciplinary interaction as well on current topics that affects students’ lives, that affect people’s lives and gives you a forum to hear about those and engage in discussion,” Ducey says.
Ducey says his office works to help students get involved in applied learning, develop essential skills for the workforce, engage in innovative curriculum, and gain a sense of community.
He says several of the student exercises involved work with companies or nonprofits in the St. Joseph area.