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Dr. Crystal Eustice (Department of Community Sustainability Studies Assistant Professor of Practice, Academic Advisor, Internship Coordinator) & Jackie Martin (MSU Extension Leadership & Civic Engagement Educator, 4-H Program Supervisor)
 
The Thank an Educator Initiative was born out of the #iteachmsu Commons project, an effort to recognize the great practices of individuals on campus who contribute to student success by supporting MSU’s teaching and learning mission. On such a large decentralized campus, it can be difficult to fully recognize and leverage the expertise of educators. The #iteachmsu Commons' current focus has been to develop and launch a web platform for educators across campus to share their expertise and experience, connect with others, and grow in their practice.
 
You’ll notice that we’ve specifically chosen to denote the audience of this platform as “educators” which the #iteachmsu Commons’ founding units (the Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology, the Academic Advancement Network, and the Graduate School) define in the broadest sense – anyone who contributes to MSU’s teaching and learning mission. This includes but is not limited to faculty, academic advisors, librarians, coaches, graduate teaching assistants, undergraduate learning assistants, infrastructure planning and facilities, learning designers, IT, planning and budget, staff, etc.
 
We (the #iteachmsu Commons team) have had unwavering enthusiasm for the platform, which is now live at iteach.msu.edu, but we weren’t sure that the Spartan community would identify with the goals of the project (despite the platform’s for educators – by educators development). As a part of my 2018-19 Hub Graduate Student Fellowship, I was able to further observe and investigate how individuals on our campus qualified their work (as it related to the mission and vision) and how they identified with the role of educator. While I found overwhelming support for the type of platform we were building, many of the individuals I spoke with did not personally identify as an educator despite their work contributing to teaching and learning at State. Thus Thank an Educator was born.
 
I designed and launched the inaugural year of Thank and Educator as a part of my Hub fellowship last year as a way to celebrate all the individuals who contribute every day to helping MSU be the institution of higher learning that it is today. By intentionally launching the initiative across the MSU community and asking for individuals to share stories of the positive impacts made by MSU educators, we were able to not only recognize the great efforts of invaluable Spartan community members but also showcase the diverse roles and ways in which people take up being educators on our campus. 80 Educators were nominated by fellow Spartans and were recognized at the first annual #iteachmsu Educator Awards during last year’s Spring Conference on Student Learning and Success. This initiative wouldn’t be possible without the support of Dr. Jeff Grabill (Associate Provost for Teaching, Learning, and Technology) and the Provost’s office, and I am excited to say that it is continuing in this 2019-20 academic year.
 
I have been at Michigan State for the entirety of my postsecondary experience. I came here in 2008 for my B.S., finished a M.S., and plan to complete my doctoral degree by the end of this academic year. Throughout my time as a Spartan, I have encountered countless individuals who were invaluable to my experience but weren’t limited to those who stood at the front of my classes. Thank an Educator gives me the opportunity to recognize those people who made a difference in my MSU experience (as both a learner and a colleague), and for that I am thrilled. I have received correspondence from individuals directly, saw posts featuring educator awards on Twitter, and have even seen award certificates hanging in offices or by desks. I am deeply honored by the idea that I have played a small part in amplifying the work educators do at MSU, and reinforcing the value of that work through this initiative and community.
 
Anyone can recognize a Spartan educator who has made an impact in their lives by clicking “Thank an Educator” in the left panel of this site! You can also read about educators who have been recognized in our "Featured Educator" posts!
 

Vivek Vellanki (College of Education Doctoral Student) & Terry Edwards (Assistant to the Chair, Department of Teacher Education)
 
https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2019/honoring-msus-educators/ 

Check out January’s courses available at no cost to all students, faculty, and staff. Visit SpartansLearn for more information and to register.
Microsoft Teams – Managing Teams and Settings
January 31, 1:30 p.m. (Virtual)
Instructor – Megan Nicholas
Specific to collaborating with others, this course will help you understand Team properties, Private Channels, and options for members, owners, and guests. Learn how to change status messages, participate in another Teams tenant, review saved messages, and set notifications.
What participants are saying...
“This course had LOTS of information and Megan was great at explaining it."
To register for the following virtual instructor-led training courses go to SpartansLearn.
 
Microsoft OneDrive- Working with OneDrive
January 12, 1:30 p.m.
Expanding on the basics of OneDrive, learn more about this great storage tool. Discover navigation strategies, explore the desktop app settings and options, manage accessibility of files and folders, and more.
 
Zoom – Getting Started
January 16, 9:30 a.m.
A great tool for scheduling and hosting virtual meetings, learn how to access Zoom at MSU and explore its settings.
 
Microsoft Teams – SharePoint Site
January 19, 1:30 p.m.
This course expands on the collaborative capabilities of Teams to show how it connects to Microsoft SharePoint to store document libraries, create site pages, and use lists. 
 
Microsoft OneNote – Getting Started
January 22, 10:00 a.m.
Join us for a free training on OneNote where you will be able to see live demonstrations and be able to ask questions to our trainers. Learn how to use OneNote to access information across multiple devices and with multiple users.
 
Can’t attend a live course? Each is available on-demand to watch anytime at SpartansLearn.
Weekly office hours are available for those with questions about content shared in the courses. Find the schedule at SpartansLearn.
For any other questions about technology training, please contact train@msu.edu. 
 

Michigan State University was an early leader adopter of an integrative studies approach to undergraduate general education. Unfortunately, this program has experienced structural changes that resulted in a significant increase in class sizes for ISS classes in particular. As a result, instruction in these classes has become largely didactic, and in many classes, student assessment is primarily measured through high-stakes, multiple-choice exams. For so many MSU students, this passive pedagogical approach leaves them disengaged and disinterested. The question remains: How can ISS faculty facilitate engaged and project-based interdisciplinary curriculum with the current scale of their large-format classes? It is in this context and around these challenges that this project takes shape, and with the support of a Hub Faculty Fellowship in 2020-2021, we set out to bring innovation to ISS. Over the course of three semesters and amidst mandated remote online learning, our instructional team designed and implemented a meaningful, engaged, interdisciplinary, and team-based research project into an ISS general education course (with enrollments of 300 students) on the broad topic of Material Culture Studies. For the course project, students were required to explore a complex integrative research topic of their choice related to Material Culture Studies. Their research developed within weekly benchmark steps and culminated in the production of a short documentary film over their chosen topic. All student films were then showcased in an end-of-semester virtual student film festival. The course project design and the student outcomes and experiences with this project are the focus of our presentation. Our research proposal team includes the ISS professor of the class, two teaching assistants (both who completed the film project as students in SS20), and three participant students (all who created films in FS20). Together with our various positionalities, we propose to present the findings of this innovative ISS pedagogical research in the form of an academic poster—a common format to present preliminary findings of a research project that is still in progress. Additionally, we will embed into our poster a link to our team-produced short film that documents this guiding course project in engaged digital storytelling within an ISS general education course. We hope this film will demonstrate that we are pedagogically practicing what we preach to our students.To access a PDF of the "ISS Innovation: Documentary Storytelling as Engaged Learning in General Education" poster, click here. Please note: This poster contains embedded videos that are accessible via the PDF or below. 
The title of this poster is:  ISS Innovation:  Documentary Storytelling as Engaged Learning in General Education. 
This poster contains several sections. The first section outlines the research problem and purpose and provides a brief literature review on the topic. This section ends with the articulation of the guiding research question. 
The second section is a table that describes the research methods and data collection choices for the project. This is followed by the third section that provides a detailed iconic logic model of the data analysis scheme for the research project. 
The fourth section presents selected findings from the project. There are three major findings presented, and accompanying each of the findings is a short YouTube video/film that was produced by the research team to give the viewers a comprehensive picture of the guiding course ISS project that this pedagogical research investigates.  
ISS Innovation: Active and Engaged Learning
Culturally Responsive CurriculumMotivating Creative Risk Taking
There are links to the associated film festival that showcases the documentary films that MSU students in the ISS class produced as their guiding course projects. The poster has a brief conclusion section and a references section. 

This week, we are featuring Norman Scheel, a Research Associate in MSU’s Department of Radiology Cognitive Imaging Research Center. Norman was recognized via iteach.msu.edu's Thank and Educator Initiative! We encourage MSU community members to nominate high-impact Spartan educators (via our Thank an Educator form) regularly!
Read more about Norman’s perspectives below. #iteachmsu's questions are bolded below, followed by their responses!

You were recognized via the Thank an Educator Initiative. In one word, what does being an educator mean to you? Share with me what this word/quality looks like in your practice? (Have your ideas on this changed over time? If so, how?) 
The word would be “rewarding”. For me, teaching and learning is a two-way street and no matter in which direction you are driving, it is always an investment in the future and there is always traffic in both ways. Above all, I want to set up my students for success. As a teacher, I see myself as a conductor to help my students achieve their personal goals and as a role model who possibly has a substantial influence on the future of my students. So, seeing my students excel is highly rewarding, but I am also learning so much from my students, every day, which is also immensely rewarding.
Tell me more about your educational “setting.” This can include, but not limited to departmental affiliations, community connections, co-instructors, and students. (AKA, where do you work?)
I am now in the final stages of my postdoc in the Radiology Department of Michigan State University and am currently applying for Assistant Professor positions. Together with Prof. David Zhu I supervise and mentor the graduate students in our lab as well as students that rotate through it. I also mentor and advise students remotely for their bachelor’s and master's theses at my home University of Lübeck, Germany where I did my Ph.D. in Computer Science and Computational Neuroscience. In my research, I work interdisciplinary with many different universities, e. g. Vanderbilt University, University of Texas, John Hopkins University, or the Max Planck Institute Tübingen, Germany, on a variety of research questions. With my collaborators at these institutions, there are always students working on joint projects where it is natural to mutually teach skills important for the project’s success but also in the personal interest of the students.
What is a challenge you experience in your educator role? Any particular “solutions” or “best practices” you’ve found that help you support student success at the university despite/in the face of this?
My German Diploma in Informatics taught me the importance of multidimensional learning, or as Aristotle said, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. Over the last few years, I saw a trend that students are taught highly specific topics, without relating these to a “grand scheme”. Integrating information from multiple perspectives gives cross-references to other related topics and courses. This integration facilitates the ability to abstract learned information and helps to apply it in a more holistic way of connecting “the bigger picture”. For clarity, the content in my lectures is presented in a way that is illustrative rather than abstract, so that students are able to grasp the content and put it into relation to what they have learned before. I always try to highlight cross-references as much as possible, so that students see past the boundaries of final exams.
What are practices you utilize that help you feel successful as an educator?
The most important I think is to find a way to effectively communicate. As my teaching is typically in a small group or individual setting, I am able to tailor my teaching directly to the needs of my students. This helps tremendously in finding ways to communicate expectations between my students and me. 
What topics or ideas about teaching and learning would you like to see discussed on the iteach.msu.edu platform? Why do you think this conversation is needed at MSU? 
It would be amazing to have a central place on the platform, where educators could advertise potential master’s or bachelor’s theses, or rotation projects, or vice versa, students could advertise that they are on the look-out for these projects, with a few skills that they have, to see if there might be a fit. In my time here at MSU, it has been very difficult to find mid-level academic hands, especially interdisciplinary ones. The lack of or at least problematic communication between different parts of the University makes local collaboration very difficult.
What are you looking forward to (or excited to be a part of) next semester?
I am excited for a few of my students to get the chance to present at scientific conferences. It is always such a rewarding experience and always such a big push for motivation and new ideas.


Don't forget to celebrate individuals you see making a difference in teaching, learning, or student success at MSU with #iteachmsu's Thank an Educator initiative. You might just see them appear in the next feature!

Work with us to create a unique teaching and learning experience at CMERC.
You are invited to incorporate nature into courses and create learner‐centered experiences at CMERC (pronounced ‘see‐merk’), the Corey Marsh Ecological Research Center. CMERC is a 350‐acre ecological research center located 20 minutes from MSU campus in Bath Township, Michigan. It is a place for making scientific discoveries and integrating the arts and sciences in a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and inclusive space. CMERC welcomes educators, researchers, and citizens across MSU to explore, co‐create, facilitate and grow experiential courses for students.
CMERC seeks faculty and academic staff collaborators to develop learning experiences that will bring together educators, students, and community members to explore and learn from this vibrant ecological field site. MSU faculty and staff from across campus interested in this funded opportunity to join a SoTL Fellowship in land-based learning can connect with Jeno Rivera, Center Educational Program Development Leader at jeno@msu.edu.What is Corey Marsh (CMERC)?
CMERC is more than a physical place. It is a space that offers meaningful place-based experiences.CMERC was once MSU’s Muck Soils Research Center and operated from 1941 – 2012. In 2018, Fisheries and Wildlife associate professor Jen Owen, with the support of MSU AgBioResearch, led the reimagined CMERC into a place for integrating ecosystem science research with student learning and community engagement. In addition to training MSU undergraduate students in field‐based research and science  communication, the center aims to promote better land stewardship practices and the relevance of science to society. While still early in its development as an AgBioResearch site, CMERC has been engaging in a people-centered approach to the planning, design and management of the space. CMERC foresees a collaborative process transforming the space to a place that engages a diverse community – internal and external to the university in scientific discovery.Location of Corey Marsh Ecological Research Center in Bath TownshipHow can I contribute?
Given the unique opportunity CMERC provides to enhance student learning, we want to make sure that it serves a diverse student community that spans disciplines and units. We want educators in our SoTL Fellowship in land-based learning to reflect that diversity and help develop curriculum that will foster collaboration among students and serve to integrate arts and humanities with sciences.  Consider these examples of possible learning experiences at CMERC:

Edible and Medicinal Plants – for humans and wildlife. What is good for humans vs. wildlife?  What grows in muck soils? How can ecological restoration efforts incorporate edible plants? What is missing that was likely at CMERC in the past? 
Trails – People – Nature – Wildlife: How does trail design enhance natural experiences and maintain integrity of the ecosystem? What informs the development of a trail?
Land Grant or Land Grab?: Who was here before us? How did this land become a part of the land-grant system? How can this land honor those who used it in the past, present, and the future? 
Agriculture and Natural Resources – how can we document and understand how historic land-use affects ecosystem integrity now and in the future?

CMERC actively seeks MSU faculty and staff interested in designing and facilitating an interdisciplinary, learner-centered, sense-making experience built on the resources of CMERC. This curricular/co-curricular programming will be titled Lessons from Nature: Stories from CMERC. We envision that the learning inquiries would be co-created by faculty and students together. More specifically, the lessons will be shaped as a studio experience that is akin to Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars (BSP) integrated learning/self-directed courses or modular programming. These experiences would be facilitated by a faculty member, but inquiry and assessment are student led. Alternatively, you can develop learning experiences to enhance an existing course or curriculum. You may also be interested in giving your students the opportunity to facilitate place-based informal learning for youth in the local community.Next Steps: Have Fun. Explore Nature. Get to Know Us!
We invite your ideas and input for designing meaningful experiences at CMERC. Collaborators who are selected for our Fall 2022 cohort will receive $2,000 to support their participation. To explore how you can partner with CMERC, contact Jeno Rivera, Center Educational Program Development Leader at jeno@msu.edu  
Deadline to apply: June 15th, 2022.