The traditional methodology of higher education at ETSU is about to get a remodel.
With the implementation of “Go Beyond the Classroom,” a large-scale initiative created as a part of the institution’s Quality Enhancement Plan, students will be provided with community-engaged learning opportunities to get them up and out of the classroom.
Major goals of the initiative are to better prepare ETSU graduates for the transition from education to employment, as well as to connect students to the community through their curriculum.
Students will also reflect on how their work in the community will affect their future, and will be expected to articulate how their community-based experiences will prepare them for a diverse society.
“ETSU was founded to serve this region and to uplift the people in this region,” said Susan McCracken, vice provost for Community Engagement and director of the QEP. “The sense of service and being connected to the community is part of who we are.”
For students in criminal justice and criminology, biology and brand and media strategy, opportunities for community-engaged learning are already abounding.
Those enrolled in ETSU’s criminal justice and criminology programs have the opportunity of obtaining 200 to 400 hours of field experience, through partnerships with police departments, juvenile courts, private security agencies and local, state and federal prosecuting attorney offices.
Graduate students studying biology had the opportunity to participate in a partnership with Steele Creek Park in Bristol, Tennessee, during which they created a natural history of the park, uploaded trail statistics to the park website and created a digital maintenance survey that allows for the efficient reporting of any park issues.
A capstone project for students of brand and media strategy allowed them to create and launch a full-scale marketing campaign for the fall 2022 event “Growing the Future: Symposium on Innovation and Education for the Bioeconomy.”
The event brought national leaders in education, government and industry together to discuss the global bioeconomy opportunities and initiatives in the Appalachian Highlands. The students’ marketing campaign was successful– more than 200 people were in attendance at the event, which surpassed the class goal by 30%.
“This is going to broaden the opportunities that [students] have at ETSU to participate in internships, capstone projects, study abroad and study away at all levels of their undergraduate education,” said Kimberly McCorkle, provost and senior vice president for Academics. “The legacy of Go Beyond is that community-engaged learning becomes the hallmark of the ETSU undergraduate experience.”
For more information on Go Beyond the Classroom and ETSU’s community-engaged learning opportunities, visit: www.etsu.edu/community-engagement/.
