The Mayville State University Division of Education considers partnerships and professionalism to be of utmost importance. This is evidenced by increasing student enrollments, continuous program improvement, preparation for the division’s upcoming Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) accreditation visit, outreach for K-12 schools and community events, and faculty collaborative work for local, state, regional, and national committees and conferences.
Outreach and professionalism extends to teacher education students as well. This past spring, three students were named the Mayville State 2018-2019 outstanding students in teacher education at the annual North Dakota Association of Colleges for Teacher Education conference. Awardees were Jacob Leier, secondary math and chemistry education; Sarah Glen, early childhood education; and Marissa Schuldheisz, elementary education. Jacob Leier participated in a student-led conference presentation titled “Developing Student Connectedness to School and Community through Service Learning.” This presentation centered on the service learning project he led during his student teaching experience last spring.
Mayville State’s Education and Innovation Center (EIC) coordinated and hosted three children’s/community events in 2018-2019. The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) carnival, which was funded through a $3,550 grant from North Dakota Career and Technology Education, was the largest community event.
Collaborative work with the Red River Valley Education Cooperative and area school districts led to another successful Martin Luther King Day professional development day for 313 area educators and administrators in January.
The MSU EIC, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and Division of Education hosted their annual teacher education symposium on campus March 26. Nearly 150 students and teachers from Mayville State, Turtle Mountain Community College, and area schools participated. The symposium focused on leadership, innovative practices, and cultural awareness in education. Enikő Bús, a Fulbright Scholar from the University of Szeged, Hungary, was the keynote speaker.
Several Division of Education faculty members have been active in collaborative research that has been published. Dr. Sarah K. Anderson, associate professor of education; Dr. Brittany D. Hagen, assistant professor of education; Dr. Andrea L. Dulski-Bucholz, associate professor of education and dean and chair of the Division of Education; Kayla D. Smith, instructor of education and Student Placement and Data Management Coordinator; and Dr. Ann M. Willeson, professor of elementary education; together with Christopher M. Whitsel, authored “Leveraging Case Study Research: A Mechanism to Measure Teaching Effectiveness.” The piece shares the findings from a descriptive, multiple case study assessing graduate outcomes two and a half years after the completion of a teacher education program. See more at https://www.mwera.org/MWER/.
Kayla Smith, the Division of Education’s Student Placement and Data Management Coordinator recently completed a study titled: “The Relationship of Academic Indicators and Professional Disposition to Teaching Skills: A Secondary Data Analysis.” Dr. Sarah Anderson was among the other authors who examined the indicators of success for admission for education preparation programs and licensure. See more at https://aij.scholasticahq.com/article/6829-the-relationship-of-academic-indicators-and-professional-disposition-to-teaching-skills-a-secondary-data-analysis.
Dr. Kelli Odden, associate professor in the MSU Division of Teacher Education, is a Region 8 representative for the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Education and an officer on the national board as well. She has played a critical role in developing the ECE Position Statement for the NAECTE and has also recently been a member of the committee that re-wrote the North Dakota Early Childhood Standards. Dr. Odden also serves as a regional officer for the North Dakota National Association for the Education of Young Children and is on the North Dakota Infant and Toddler Impact Committee. She is a leader in early childhood education and brings Mayville State University’s teacher education programs to national attention.
Other members of the faculty are involved in work with educational organizations. Dr. Brittany Hagen, assistant professor, is a part of a state-wide team of higher education faculty who have developed a common metric for teacher candidate disposition evaluation, and Dr. Andi Dulski-Bucholz serves as an executive board member for the North Dakota Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and is also a program approval advisory committee member for the North Dakota Education Standards and Practices Board. Faculty members have recently presented at national conferences on the topics of: model code of ethics for educators, common metrics, teacher mental health well-being, and relationships of the cooperating teacher and student teacher.
Teachers prepared at Mayville State University leverage rapidly changing learning environments and recognize how they will, as effective educators, make a difference. The Mayville State University Division of Education shares information about the impact of graduates from educator preparation programs with alumni and stakeholders on an annual basis. Annual reporting outcomes and consumer information are available at www.mayvillestate.edu/teachereducation.
Photo Captions
Top: (L-r) Jacob Leier, Marissa Schuldheisz, and Sarah Glen, Mayville State’s 2018-2019 outstanding students in teacher education, were recognized at the annual North Dakota Association of Colleges for Teacher Education conference.
Bottom: Mayville State’s Education and Innovation Center hosted a STEM carnival for area school children and their families this spring. Activities were led by Mayville State teacher education students.