Learning Strategies

Metropolitan State’s curriculum reflects basic educational principles adopted at the university’s founding. Two of the most important principles are that the university focuses on student learning outcomes and that the university emphasizes using community resources. Therefore, the university encourages students to seek alternative learning strategies, rather than to depend solely on course work and traditional classroom learning. So, in addition to its many courses, Metropolitan State has developed strong internship, learning assessment and independent study programs.

Courses
Metropolitan State courses are consistent with the university’s educational philosophy and are designed, when appropriate, to build on the knowledge of experienced students. Classes are smaller than classes at many other institutions; the average class size is less than 25. Most courses are taught by faculty members who have practical experience in addition to academic training in their fields. Since students in Metropolitan State’s classes have varied experiences, courses are designed to integrate those experiences, giving students the opportunity to learn from each other and to integrate their experiences into the classroom by doing special projects, papers or assignments directly related to their jobs or civic and volunteer experiences.

Building on Metropolitan State University’s commitment to community-based learning, some university courses make extensive use of the many theaters, museums, art exhibits and libraries available in the Twin Cities, including field trips, guest lecturers, workshops and other learning opportunities in the community. The university encourages its students to work with their instructors to incorporate public educational events and civic engagement into their classroom experience.

Most Metropolitan State University courses are designated as 100-, 200-, 300-, 400-, 500- or 600-level courses. The 100- and 200-level courses are freshman and sophomore level courses, providing introductory, foundation learning. Junior- and senior-level courses are numbered 300 or 400. In these courses students acquire the ability to investigate, analyze and consider multiple perspectives. These include an extensive amount of reading, writing and library research. Courses taken by both undergraduate and graduate students are 500-level. In these, students address comparative analysis, complex learning and information structures. Graduate-level learning is numbered at the 600 level.

Internship Program

See the Center for Community-Based Learning website at www.metrostate.edu/ccbl for more information.

Prior Experiential Learning

Metropolitan State University was an early pioneer in granting students college credit for learning that resulted from life/work experience. Just as the university challenges its students to explore new learning through formal course work, so it also recognizes the value of learning students gained prior to admission to the university.
In other words, what students have learned in their lives and work is important and, when appropriate, is recognized and credited as legitimate university-level learning. Students may pursue assessment of prior experiential learning at any time of year. Prior learning experience may be a factor in the design of your degree program, though policy varies throughout the various colleges and departments. Please contact the program directly for more information about your planning options.

The university’s First College offers free workshops every semester to help students identify learning from life and work experience. In the Creative Learning Strategies workshops, faculty members clearly outline the process of evaluating prior learning. The First College also offers a one-credit course, Metro 100, Getting Credit for What You Know, designed to assist students in having experiential learning assessed. If you do an individualized degree through First College, you will learn about prior learning assessment in the Perspectives course that is required for all students doing individualized degrees. Information about all of these learning opportunities is included in the Class Schedule.

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Benefits

Several benefits result from the recognition and assessment of prior experiential learning. Perhaps most important from a student’s perspective is the fact that including prior experiential learning in a degree program can save time when compared to the time needed for classes or independent studies.

A second benefit is that it is efficient. Instead of asking students to repeat past learning, recognition of prior learning encourages them to use past learning as educational building blocks for future learning.

A third benefit of prior learning assessment is that it provides recognition of important and significant past learning. By evaluating this learning and placing it on the transcript, Metropolitan State clearly verifies that the particular learning was important and was at a university level.

Such learning can also be more impressive than course work, since prior knowledge can serve to add breadth or depth, which might otherwise be difficult or impossible, to include in an area of study. For example, in counseling, applying previous knowledge beyond the scope of the usual academic program strengthens a student’s learning experience. In another example, the resulting learning from political campaigning, campaign management and political parties can make the classroom work in political science stronger.

Finally, Metropolitan State research shows that transcripted prior experiential learning is seen by transcript readers as high-quality, in-depth learning.

Examples

There are many life and work situations through which students may have acquired college-level learning, particularly if the experience has been supplemented by workshops, seminars, training sessions, reading, professional conferences and/or individual study. Some examples of prior learning (based on students’ composite experiences) which could be recognized by Metropolitan State as university level are listed below.

• Counseling: Many students have served as counselors in a variety of paid and volunteer settings. If they have also done reading and attended training in the field, they may have university-level learning in counseling.
• Equal Employment/Affirmative Action: In another instance, a student employed in the area of personnel management has become familiar with court rulings and government programs pertaining to equal employment opportunity, affirmative action and due process in hiring and firing.
• State and Local Campaigning: A student who has been active in political campaigns and who has supplemented that experience with extensive reading and/or research may be able to demonstrate competency in elections and political campaigns or issues in state and local government.
• Visual and Performing Arts: Many students have had extensive involvement in the visual and performing arts. These students have performed as actors, singers, dancers and musicians; they have created sculptures, paintings, theatrical pieces or musical compositions; or they have researched or analyzed history and styles of art and drama or the organizational structures of art institutions.
• Additional Examples: To see more examples of prior learning assessment topics, go to www.metrostate.edu/academic/creative.html and look under Prior Learning Assessment.

Assessment Process

The university’s First College offers free workshops every semester to help students identify learning from life and work experience. In the Creative Learning Strategies workshops, faculty members outline the process of evaluating prior learning. The workshops are listed in the Class Schedule. The First College also offers a one-credit course, Metro 100, Getting Credit for What You Know, to assist students in having experiential learning assessed.
Any student who has gained significant university-level learning from life/work experience before attending Metropolitan State follows several steps to have the learning approved, assessed and transcripted for credit. First, using a Prior Competence Evaluation Proposal, students clearly define or state their learning. This often involves discussions with one or more faculty members. Second, students identify a faculty member who is knowledgeable in the area to evaluate their learning. Departments participating in prior learning assessment assist students with this step of the process; many faculty have been trained to evaluate student prior learning. Third, the student has the Prior Competence Evaluation Proposal signed by the appropriate academic department or unit. Fourth, the student registers for the assessment of prior learning. Fifth, the student meets with the faculty evaluator who evaluates the extent and level of learning. The faculty is committed to high-quality learning, but they also seek to be supportive and helpful. The assessment process is educational as well as evaluative.

Early Childhood Assessment

The early childhood assessment program is designed for early childhood professionals who wish to have their experiential learning assessed for college credit. The program is a partnership with Metropolitan State, the Alliance of Early Childhood Professionals (and the Child Care Professional Leadership Project), the Minnesota Child Care Resource and Referral Network, and the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL). The program is grant funded through the Minnesota Department of Human Services to Metropolitan State.
For more than 30 years Metropolitan State has assisted students who wish to have their experiential learning assessed for college credit. The university believes that students’ experiential learning in the child care profession is important, and now students may be able to earn college credit for it.

Theory Seminars—Augmenting Prior Experiential Learning

Theory seminars are learning opportunities designed specifically for students with extensive experience and practical knowledge in a subject, but with limited theoretical learning. In these seminars, students enjoy learning with others who are experienced in the same topic or area. Because students already have a knowledge base, theory seminars involve fewer classroom hours than regular courses but require considerable work outside of the classroom. The seminars combine assessment of prior learning, independent study and classroom instruction to integrate experiential learning and theoretical learning for college credit.

Theory seminar topics vary greatly; they are listed in each Class Schedule. Students interested in theory seminars may complete diagnostic evaluations to help them decide among taking a theory seminar, or a regular course, or doing a prior learning assessment. For more information about theory seminars and for copies of diagnostic exams, go to the Theory Seminar link at www.metrostate.edu/academic/creative.html. Diagnostic exams are also available from Metropolitan State’s Center for Teaching and Learning.

Independent Study

Independent study is a flexible learning strategy for students balancing school with career and family activities and offers students an opportunity to build learning skills that are indispensable to the workplace and to personal, lifelong development of the intellect. It is designed for students who are self-starters, able to study and work successfully alone and are good with managing their time. At Metropolitan State, independent study opportunities are divided broadly into two categories: faculty-designed and student-designed independent studies.

Faculty-designed Independent Studies

Faculty-designed independent studies (FDIS) are, as the name suggests, put together by Metropolitan State faculty members and are available in almost every curricular area, and either parallel classroom courses or cover subjects that are more specialized, more topical in nature and not easily offered in a class. Independent study students work on their own (FDIS are not in a tutorial format) with limited communication by phone and e-mail with instructors. Faculty-designed independent studies are listed in the Class Schedule.

Student-designed Independent Studies

Student-designed independent studies (SDIS) give Metropolitan State students the opportunity to plan their own study. This type of independent learning strategy can be useful for many reasons:

• to study a subject in more depth, at a more advanced level;
• to pursue a unique project that requires specialized study;
• to draw together several knowledge areas or interests into a specialized study;
• to test independent learning capabilities and skills; or
• to use special learning resources in the community, taking advantage of community education opportunities which, in themselves, would not yield a full college competence.

During the First College Creative Learning Strategies Workshops, which are publicized in the Class Schedule, students learn how to design their own independent study, locate faculty members who can help in the planning process, and identify evaluators appropriate for their learning goals. Student-designed independent studies must be approved by an appropriate faculty member prior to registration. To do this, students must complete a “Student-Designed Independent Study Proposal Form” and have it signed by the appropriate faculty member.

Examples

The following examples (based on students’ composite experiences, suggest the range of student-designed independent studies.

• Communication and Writing: A student began to consider the options for creative learning in the field of communication and, upon talking with faculty consultants in the field, discovered opportunities to work for community newspapers as an editor, writer, reporter and photographer by means of an internship. However, he knew that he wanted to improve his understanding of the field of writing first, especially how to develop an individual “voice,” as well as to have a hand in shaping information about issues of community interest through the written word. So before signing up for the internship, he worked with an instructor to create a student-designed independent study in “developing ‘voice’ through written communication,” which involved journaling assignments, critical papers on social issues and “write ups” of interviews with community leaders.
• Children’s Literature and Communication: A student wanted to study children’s unique forms of communication, so she designed a cluster of courses, independent studies and an internship. She began with a course in Children’s Literature, which had a special focus on Spanish short story fiction. This study aroused her interest in a literary campaign geared to the Hispanic population in her metropolitan area, so she designed an internship focused upon the skills and knowledge needed to be an effective children’s tutor, to be developed through training and volunteer activities at a community-based literary center. Finally, she took a faculty-designed independent study unit in cultural anthropology, to gain increased understanding of cross-cultural perspectives. Through successful completion of this cluster of learning units, the student achieved her goal of learning how to communicate more effectively with children from other cultures, as well as from her own.
• Natural History–Wildflowers: Having studied and appreciated Minnesota wildflowers for many years, a student used his experiential knowledge as the basis for a student-designed independent study in botany, tailored to the resources of a local nature center. This learning unit provided an experiential “base” for his more theoretical studies in the natural sciences, to be pursued in future semesters.

Online Learning

Online learning enables students to take courses over the Internet. At Metropolitan State University, we understand that a majority of our students are adult learners with fulltime jobs and hectic lifestyles. Therefore, we are committed to making the learning process convenient and readily accessible to our students.

Desire-2-Learn

Courses are made available online through Desire-2-Learn (D2L). These courses offer students the flexibility to participate in learning activities no matter where they are as long as they have access to the Internet. Through the course site, you can access course content such as curriculum and assignments as well as interact with other students and the instructor via built-in tools such as discussion forums. You may also submit assignments and quizzes online.

About Online Study

It would be incorrect to assume that online study is easier or harder than traditional classroom study. The truth is that online courses have the same rigor and expectations as classroom courses. Just like a regular class, students are expected to meet course requirements by submitting assignments, conducting research, taking tests, participating in class discussions, and writing papers. The only difference is that instead of sitting in a brick and mortar classroom, all these activities are performed online and may be accomplished in different locations and at different times as long as course deadlines are met.

Program Offerings

Metropolitan State University offers completely online study that includes courses, independent studies, certificates and a number of completely online degrees, both at the baccalaureate and master’s levels. These courses may fulfill general education and liberal studies requirements and span across a number of disciplines, including courses required for majors in the College of Management, College of Professional Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, and First College.

As a student, you can enroll in online courses in addition to regular classroom courses, internships and other creative learning strategies, or complete your entire degree online. Students in online degree programs can accomplish all program requirements online, including orientation, program information “meetings,” financial aid application and advising.

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Online Programs

College of Management
B.S. degree in Business Administration
B.S. degree in Management
B.S. degree in Marketing
Masters degree in Public and Nonprofit Administration (MPNA)

School of Law Enforcement
B.S. degree in Law Enforcement for licensed police officers
Certificate Program in Police Supervision

School of Nursing
Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)
Wound, Ostomy, and Continence (WOC) program leading to certification

First College
Individualized B. A. degree at First College
These programs may have eligibility requirements that are different than their classroom equivalents. For example, the online B.S. degrees in management, marketing and business administration require a cumulative minimum g.p.a. of 2.5 for admission.

Online certificates currently offered include:
An undergraduate certificate in Law Enforcement Supervision; and a graduate certificate in Wound, Ostomy and Continence (Nursing).
Visit www.minnesotaonline.mnscu.edu for an online catalog of more than 1,000 courses and 70 academic programs offered online by Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System.

Center for Community-Based Learning: Community Action and Civic Engagement

Metropolitan State University’s Center for Community- Based Learning (CCBL) provides support for efforts, across the university, to integrate community-based learning and civic engagement initiatives with academic reflection through internships and courses which provide a meaningful experience that benefits the participating community organization, business and the student.

The Center for Community-Based Learning strives to assist and support Metropolitan State students, faculty and staff in being responsible citizens and partners in the community. The center provides quality individual internships, group internships, applied research projects, service-learning activities, courses with field components and community partnerships, which address mutually defined interests and build on the capacity of the community.

For more complete information on the Center for Community-Based Learning or any of these programs, contact CCBL, or go to www.metrostate.edu/ccbl/

Academic Internships

Metropolitan State’s academic internship program is designed to assist students and sites in developing practical and challenging opportunities in credit-bearing experiential learning which meet personal and/or professional goals. Students can do internships related to their major and minor as well as any field of interest through electives. The program is designed for maximum flexibility, so internships are meaningful for the student and of benefit to the participating businesses or organizations.

School and Youth Outreach

Metropolitan State University created its School and Youth Outreach Program in 1994 to provide programming efforts that facilitate the success of inner-city youth in educational activities, while providing university students the opportunity to work with youth. As a community-based urban university, Metropolitan State has a responsibility to assist young people who attend inner-city public schools to pursue post-secondary education and career development. Reaching young people as early as possible and directing them effectively toward educational goals and career preparation is the best way to avoid social and academic challenges that youth might face.

Library-Community Outreach Program

Metropolitan State’s Library-Community Outreach Program offers collaborative programming through the university library, public library and art gallery to provide St. Paul’s East Side Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood and university students, faculty and staff with a full range of technology, informative and cultural resources. The Library-Community Outreach Program currently encompasses a homework help center that provides reading, writing, math, and computer literacy tutoring, family literacy programs, library-based literacy and cultural programming for the community, field trip opportunities and cultural/multicultural events. In addition, the Library-Community Outreach has enhanced existing Center school and youth outreach programs by providing additional library-related workshops, classes and resources.

American Democracy Project

The American Democracy Project is a multi-campus initiative that seeks to create an intellectual and experiential understanding of civic engagement for undergraduates enrolled at institutions that are members of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). The goal of the project is to produce graduates who understand and are committed to engaging in meaningful actions as citizens in a democracy.

Metropolitan State University is one of over 200 AASCU institutions participating in the project. An ad hoc committee of faculty, students, staff, and administrators meet monthly to discuss issues and coordinate activities to fulfill goals.

Service-Learning (Community-Based Learning)

Service-learning is a university wide approach of teaching, research, or experiential learning that combines authentic community or public service activity with academic instruction, focusing on critical, reflective thinking as well as evidence of civic responsibility and/or personal growth.

Project SHINE

Project SHINE (Students Helping in the Naturalizations of Elders), a collaboration between Metropolitan State University and Minneapolis Community and Technical College, links students with older immigrants and refugees seeking to learn English and navigate the complex path to U.S. citizenship In community centers throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul, students tutor elders in English, helping them become more actively engaged in their communities and teaching the U.S. history and civics needed to pass the citizenship exam. Project SHINE began at Temple University in Philadelphia in 1997 in response to legislation that jeopardized the public benefits of legally immigrated non-citizens. Today SHINE is operating at twenty colleges and university in nine urban centers across the nation.

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