An Industry-Sector and Community-Needs Approach to Interdisciplinary Programming

Thursday, January 5, 2023
11:40 AM - 12:30 PM
Zoom

Presenters: Brian F. Martensen, ph.d., and Molly Schaefer, Ed.d., Minnesota Polytechnic and Applied Learning Institue (MinnPoly)

In this talk, we discuss an “industry-sector” and “community-needs” approach to creating and implementing degree programs in interdisciplinary spaces. In some sense, this approach contrasts with the typical messaging given to students in which a program is presented with all the careers into which a student may then enter. Instead, beginning with a particular sector, we present to students all programs that feed into and engage with that sector. Similarly, we present to industry partners all degree programs and services available from the university and its partners through a single, coordinated front door.

Building off recent similar successes, MinnPoly is embracing this industry-sector and community needs approach that strongly supports integrated, interdisciplinary learning as well as evidence-based practices for student success that includes increased retention (including major switching), self-efficacy, career advancement, and diversity. In turn, industry and communities receive the workforce and economic support needed in a more comprehensive way.

About MinnPoly:

Led by Minnesota State University, Mankato (MSU), and in partnership with MinnState System community colleges and universities, the Minnesota Polytechnic and Applied Learning Institute (MinnPoly) will be the state’s first and only polytechnic.

MinnPoly will expand upon MSU, Mankato’s Iron Range Engineering/Bell program offered in partnership with Minnesota North, described by an MIT/Olin study as a top 5 emerging world leader in engineering education, that partners with community colleges to deliver a 2+2 engineering degree using industry-sponsored projects instead of traditional classroom learning. Recently, we launched a variation on that program in which students complete a one-semester academy followed by two years in the field working on engineering projects (and earning income) while having their competencies vetted against accreditation outcomes.

Such models provide new ways to partner with and break down the artificial barrier between, industry and academia while widening the STEM pipeline to serve the workforce needs of the state and support social mobility. MinnPoly seeks to scale these innovative models to a broader range of new and emerging disciplines. Moreover, MinnPoly’s facilitates and supports the development of technical programs and curricula embedded with a strong humanistic component that produces a strong self-directed learning mindset; cross-disciplinary research focused on sociotechnical problems that integrate community and industry needs; and increased diversity, equity, and inclusion in polytech disciplines supporting social justice/mobility sustained by broader perspectives of impacted individuals. As such, MinnPoly is a space for interdisciplinary coordination that provides a model that fully integrates our teaching, research, and service mission.
MinnPoly will represent a new way of engaging in academic/industry collaboration, while the network of institutions will be a model for access and workforce development nationwide. Its goals include expanding to serve the entire state through its partnership network and serving as a national model for workforce development, high-impact student-focused pedagogy, faculty training, and social mobility.