Antoinette Russell
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As an institution devoted to research, N.C. State has been perceived by some students as a university where teaching is not the main priority of many professors, such as those who are working to get tenure or have already achieved tenure [you could say “such as those who are on a tenure-track”]. Students often complain about being stuck in classrooms where they are forced to listen to a teacher whose monotone voice resembles that of Ben Stein’s, and at the end of the day they have not managed to even grasp the concept of the mind-numbing lecture.
While students may complain amongst themselves about teachers who are too busy doing research to actually teach, the only conclusion reached may be that the staff doesn’t care, and that is just the way it is going to have to be.
However, three faculty members have shown that this is not the way it has to be. Patti H. Clayton, Audrey J. Jaeger and Jessica Katz Jameson were recently awarded a grant that allows 24 faculty members to participate in a program to advance community-engaged scholarship on campus. This program is called “EDGES” (Education and Discovery grounded in Engaged Scholarship).
As a land grand university, NCSU has an obligation to serve people in North Carolina, and it is also a research-intensive university, which requires faculty members to publish academic research. For, Jameson “one of the goals of the EDGES program is to get people to recognize that you can do engaged research, also called community-based research,” in all academic majors offered by the university.
Engaged scholarship integrates research, teaching and service. Engaged scholarship gives undergraduate students the chance to escape sometimes tedious lectures and to work hands on in the community. A study done by Purdue University found that “youngsters taught science in classes where the goal was to design and build a device to perform a specific task scored significantly higher on a final test than students who got traditional classroom instruction.” Purdue University researchers’ conclusions provide substantial evidence that “hands-on, problem solving learning” will prove to be more beneficial to students in the long run. Instead of simply memorizing information for exam purposes, students will be living the information and will retain it for life.
While the EDGES program will provide a good foundation for the University as it explores a new way of teaching, it is impossible for 24 people to change to climate of learning at NCSU. It is possible however, for the 30,000 plus students enrolled here to look at EDGES as an example of what learning can encompass at our University and to take the initiative and get involved with the research of their professors to engage in community-based research, for the benefit of the community as well as to complete the goals of an education.
Tell Antoinette your thoughts on student involvement in community-centered research at letters@technicianonline.com.