2008 Woodie Awards
Inaugural Graduate ResearchShowcase creates forum for master's projects
David Abbott, News Editor
Issue date: 3/22/06 Section: News
The master's programs at SSU can seem mysterious and evasive to people not intimately involved in them, but on Wednesday Mar. 29, from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at the Cooperage, anyone in the campus community interested in getting a glimpse of educational possibilities beyond a baccalaureate degree will have the opportunity to check out the work of several SSU grads at the inaugural Graduate Research Showcase.
The fully-catered event will feature students from five of the 14 master's programs, who will give oral presentations and multi-media productions of their finished projects.
"It will be just like a conference, except the food will be better," Dr. John Kornfeld, director of education, said.
Organizers of the event hope to gain exposure to programs of which many in the campus community may not even be aware.
According to Kornfled, some people fit their projects into their jobs, while others see it as a final goal of their formal education.
"Some degrees are more focused on scholarship, such as English and biology," he said. "Other projects more directly focus on careers, such as nursing."
Graduate student Linda Aldrich is one student who used her project in order to enhance her career. She graduated in May 2005 with a Master's in education with an emphasis in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning.
As an instructor in the Equine Science Department at Santa Rosa Junior College, she found that some of her students had difficulty transferring the knowledge they acquired from books into riding practices.
Aldrich completed a comprehensive literature review on the constructivist theory of learning that emphasized an engaged learning environment, and the use of video as a visual and reflective aide. The result of her research was the Riding Inquiry Designed for Engagement (RIDE) Curriculum Project.
"I created [a curriculum that] includes both an instructional riding video and an instructional lesson plan outline to assist fellow equestrian educators in the implementation of this curriculum," she said.
The fully-catered event will feature students from five of the 14 master's programs, who will give oral presentations and multi-media productions of their finished projects.
"It will be just like a conference, except the food will be better," Dr. John Kornfeld, director of education, said.
Organizers of the event hope to gain exposure to programs of which many in the campus community may not even be aware.
According to Kornfled, some people fit their projects into their jobs, while others see it as a final goal of their formal education.
"Some degrees are more focused on scholarship, such as English and biology," he said. "Other projects more directly focus on careers, such as nursing."
Graduate student Linda Aldrich is one student who used her project in order to enhance her career. She graduated in May 2005 with a Master's in education with an emphasis in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning.
As an instructor in the Equine Science Department at Santa Rosa Junior College, she found that some of her students had difficulty transferring the knowledge they acquired from books into riding practices.
Aldrich completed a comprehensive literature review on the constructivist theory of learning that emphasized an engaged learning environment, and the use of video as a visual and reflective aide. The result of her research was the Riding Inquiry Designed for Engagement (RIDE) Curriculum Project.
"I created [a curriculum that] includes both an instructional riding video and an instructional lesson plan outline to assist fellow equestrian educators in the implementation of this curriculum," she said.