Belmont University | FYI


December 18, 2008

BELMONT NEWS


General Education Program Awarded Teagle Foundation Grant
Belmont University’s Department of General Education was recently awarded a $288,000 grant from the Teagle Foundation to assess the impact of experiential learning in the core curriculum. Over the course of the three-year project, titled “Learning by Doing: Assessing the Relationship Between Liberal Learning and Experiential Education,” Belmont will collaborate with Wagner College in New York to seek ways to better assess how experiential learning improves student engagement and enhances important skills such as critical thinking. The project builds from a one-year, $25,000 planning grant obtained in 2007.

Teagleheader-logo.gifThe BELL Core, Belmont’s innovative and nationally-recognized general education program, features courses that encourage students to engage in “active learning”—service learning, community-based research and field studies, problem-based learning and other experiences in which students are challenged to move beyond the classroom and develop knowledge and skills that are rooted in real-world experiences.

Dr. Jeff Coker, associate professor of history and director of Belmont’s General Education program, served as project leader for the planning grant and will serve in that capacity again for the three-year study. He noted, “The Teagle Foundation grant will allow us to learn a great deal more about what faculty at Belmont already sense—that active, ‘hands-on’ learning leads to a high level of engagement and promotes an array of skills that better prepare our students to succeed. This long-term project will spell out the benefits of experiential education, and even more importantly, it will provide us with strategies for improvement. The study also will place Belmont on the cutting-edge of innovative assessment strategies and will be of great interest for colleges and universities nationwide.”

Belmont Provost Dr. Dan McAlexander added, “Belmont University is nationally recognized for its innovative, interdisciplinary general education program which emphasizes learning both in and out of the classroom. The awarding of this highly competitive grant gives us the opportunity to assess the impact of this kind of learning and to share our findings with the nation's higher education community.” Click here for more on this story.

Belmont to Hold Winter 2008 Commencement Dec. 19
Belmont University will hold its Winter 2008 Commencement ceremony on Fri., Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the Curb Event Center. More than 350 undergraduate and master’s degrees will be conferred.

Dr. Robert C. Fisher, president of the University, will preside over the event and present the graduates with their degrees as well as provide commencement remarks. Bachelor of Music candidate Dwan Hill will offer the Student Reflection for the ceremony. President and Mrs. Fisher will host a reception for the graduates and their guests at the conclusion of commencement in Belmont’s Beaman Student Life Center.


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