Midland University’s newly created DRIVE Symposium is giving students the opportunity to learn, research, and present their findings to an audience.
The first-ever DRIVE Symposium was held on Nov. 21st, with more than 100 students participating, representing a variety of classes.
For the past 12 years, the Fall and Spring Research Fairs have been a means for students to showcase their research projects. Dr. Megan Nielsen, Dean for the Luther College of Arts & Sciences, said the goal has been to find a way for more students to have opportunities to present their research, without the pressure of being judged.
“The DRIVE Symposium was created with the goal of providing a more inclusive event for students across a range of majors and academic levels to highlight their work,” Nielsen said. “The Research Fair has really grown, which has been great, but it’s outgrown its space with the judges and the audience. Thus, we talked about opportunities where we could involve more students at more levels and with more projects. There are no judges, so ideally, some of these students will get practice presenting and then can participate in the Research & Critical Thinking Fair as a senior.”
The DRIVE framework is designed to develop skills, create experiences, and prepare students to set their path to success. The DRIVE framework is built on five key attributes – Digital Fluency, Research & Critical Thinking, Innovation, Vocation & Leadership, and Engagement & Expression.
“The DRIVE Symposium allows for a more intentional way to represent all the letters in DRIVE and show how it’s being utilized in so many of our classes,” Nielsen said. “It’s allowed all levels of students to participate, and for many of them, this will be their first time presenting. It’s also allowed them to become more aware of what DRIVE represents and how their projects are related to DRIVE.”
Lily Falcone, a sophomore Psychology major, took part in the Research Fair as part of the Howard Hanson Honors Program her freshman year and was a presenter during the DRIVE Symposium as well. “I was excited to be part of a new event,” she said. “Having participated in the Research Fair a year ago, I felt as though this was not as stressful and felt much more prepared this time around.”
The Symposium and the DRIVE framework aim to help students develop critical thinking skills and prepare them to communicate with others, regardless of their vocation.
“No matter what job you are involved in, communication skills and the ability to articulate and share your ideas with an audience is important,” Nielsen said. “Beyond that, it helps highlight what they have learned in the classroom. The students I listened to were proud of what they had learned and found.”
With more presentations ahead in her college and someday professional career, Falcone believes the experience gained from the DRIVE Symposium will be invaluable. “I really enjoyed the topic and research aspect of the symposium. This will help my peers and me become more confident when researching more topics in our career fields.”
Nielsen said the goal is to host a symposium each semester, aiming for continued growth. “We got lots of positive feedback from the first symposium, and I think the experience went even better than we could have guessed,” she said. “Goals for down the road would include being able to involve more classes and get more audience participation.”
