At Thursday’s Faculty Council meeting, associate professor Linda Bennett discussed previous talks she had with Pearson, a leading educational resource company, about the integration of the MU student experience.
“We spent the day today with the Pearson company,” Bennett said in the meeting. “(We talked) about learning and the way technology is being integrated into education.”
The main points discussed with the Pearson company served as the central focus of Bennett’s presentation, entitled “Integrating the Mizzou Student Experience.” The presentation discussed methods of learning and how MU ranks itself academically.
Bennett said this is “the meat of what the (Provost Office on Integrating Mizzou Student Experience has been) doing this semester.” She emphasized that faculty need to ask themselves if they’re doing well enough. Additionally, she stressed the importance of integrating modes of delivery for classes.
“It’s a big picture kind of thing,” Bennett said. “(We’re) looking at how we offer courses.”
The discussion of integrating the Mizzou Student Experience was split up among many work groups. The groups, made up of faculty and students, have been conducting analyses about course delivery methods. It’s especially important that students have their voices heard, Bennett said.
“When we first started this (and it was proposed), we didn’t have students as a (work group),” Bennett said. “(Somebody) said, ‘Where are the students in this picture?’”
One of the main notions Bennett highlighted was that change is necessary. The same model of course delivery that MU used when they had half of the current student population is still in effect, Bennet said. She said that with a broad base of students that is “growing and growing and growing,” different methods need to be readily available.
Her presentation established that this should not just be from online courses. Bennett said this change needs to be evolving.
“It’s not an end product,” Bennett said. “It’s a process.”
Faculty councilman Kattesh Katti voiced concern over the pace of change.
“Are we approaching this with all the seriousness (we need)?,” Katti said. “And is there an inherent pace that goes with this, or are we too slow with this changing landscape?”
Bennett, after establishing that she thought the question was loaded, said MU has made strides in the way they deliver courses. She told Katti that she is “very much an innovator person” and was among the first people to get courses online. After visiting many other systems, she also said MU looks like it’s “at a comparable stage” but there is room for improvement.
“Are we where we need to be?” Bennett said. “I don’t think we are.”
As her time drew to a close, Bennett left the faculty with one more thought.
“We have to have a common (goal),” Bennett said. “We have to say, ‘Let’s go for X.’”
