College of Education

Faculty and Student Scholarship and Research

Faculty and students regularly co-present at state technology and reading conferences, i.e., South Dakota Technology and Innovation in Education Conference, and Regional Reading Conference. Education students are also required to present workshops on software applications to area teachers as part of EDFN 365 Integrating Computers into the Curriculum course.

Education students also contribute to the virtual Campus School

—see website www.campusschool.dsu.edu -- through their various courses.

Programs Stimulating Personal, Social, and Civic Values

Students preparing for entry into the Teacher Education Program must perform thirty (30) hours of community service in a volunteer setting. This community service must be completed after the student has declared the major in education. The College of Education encourages service not only in the classroom, but also in the community at large, especially for those people with special needs or from diverse populations. Students must examine the multiple perspectives gained in this community service by writing a Reflection on Community Service requirement for the portfolio for admission to the Teacher Education Program.

College of Natural Sciences

Throughout upper level courses in the majors, students and faculty engage in scholarship investigating current literature on scientific advances in the field and consideration of the social issues and consequences of scientific discoveries and their application. That scholarship often takes the form of small non-laboratory research studies which require collaborative work and formal presentations of findings.

In addition, all students in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics undertake a Capstone Experience which requires independent research or an internship, the development of a written report and an oral presentation on their results. Students completing their capstone experience work make oral presentations to the assembled faculty of the College. This past spring, a group of seven students reported on their work in a very successful mini-symposium. Those presentations were comparable in quality to student presentations at regional meetings. In fact, College faculty actively encourage their students to go to meetings elsewhere in the state or the region to report on the findings of their projects; papers are commonly given at the South Dakota Academy of Sciences meetings.

Students in Respiratory Care complete a detailed independent study of a current issue in the field and make an oral presentation of their report to fellow students, faculty, and hospital medical staff. This project aids them in developing their skills in presentation, scientific writing, information access, and critical thinking.



All programs in the college are characterized by a high degree of intellectual interaction between faculty and students and among the students. Faculty know the students quite well, even those who are not their advisees. Furthermore, the faculty engage in various forms of alternative delivery which place greater responsibility for the learning on the students and require them to participate actively in discussion and group projects. In those settings, the result is a notable increase in dialog among all parties, the faculty member(s) and all the students.

In recent years, as alternative delivery methods have been incorporated in a large number or courses, this trend toward an increased student role in the content and progress of the course has also increased. As noted in education literature, this democratization of the learning environment can meet with considerable student resistance to the increased responsibility for their learning success. Based on that literature, the faculty are working on ways to produce a learning environment and a working relationship which will best support an increased student role as active participants and collaborators in determining the nature of the courses.