Month: October 2025

Michigan Tech’s Essential Education Minors – Options that Fit Your Interests

Published October 22, 2025

Michigan Tech’s Essential Education Minors allow students to earn a credential completely within the structure of Essential Education. These are specific minors that are created to satisfy the spirit of Essential Education by introducing students to multiple disciplinary perspectives, as a complement to their major.

Explore three of the nine Essential Education Minors below. Which compliments your major and peaks your interests?

Human-Centered Design

The Human-Centered Design (HCD) minor at Michigan Tech prepares students to see the world through the lens of people – understanding not just how technologies and systems work, but how they truly impact the individuals and communities who use them. Rooted in internationally recognized design standards (ISO 9241-210:2019 and ANSI/HFES 400-2021), this minor emphasizes designing for usability, accessibility, and positive user experiences while also considering broader social and environmental impacts.

What makes this minor unique is its emphasis on ethical, sustainable, and community-focused approaches. Students will explore how design decisions shape daily life, from the interfaces we interact with to the systems we rely on. For example, you might work on designing a community space for inclusivity, creating safer and more intuitive healthcare technologies, or developing a digital tool that helps reduce energy use. Every project challenges you to think holistically – balancing technical feasibility, user needs, and long-term societal impact.

By completing the HCD minor, you’ll graduate with a versatile skill set that makes you stand out in todays job market. Industries from engineering to healthcare, computing to business, are seeking professionals who can integrate human-centered thinking into their work. This minor shows that you’re not just solving problems – you’re solving the right problems in what’s that make life easier.

Economics and Society

The Economics and Society Minor is designed for students who want to understand how economic forces shape communities, businesses, and public policy. Unlike a traditional economics minor, this program is deeply interdisciplinary – students explore core economics alongside courses in social sciences, humanities, communication, mathematics, and more. With 19 credits, the program integrates seamlessly with the Essential Education framework while giving students flexible pathways tailored to their own interests.

What makes this minor unique is the emphasis on real-world application. Students can pair foundational courses like Principals of Economics and Microeconomic theory with special topics such as Environmental Economics, Game Theory, or Energy Economics. Beyond economics, students dive into courses such as Environmental Communication, Indigenous Natural Resource Management, or Social Inequality. This combination ensures that graduates don’t just learn theory – they practice connecting economics to societies most pressing questions, whether climate change, financial decision-making, or cultural perspectives on development.

Sustainability Studies

This interdisciplinary minor allows students to:

Build a foundational understanding of sustainability topics through multiple lenses
Customize their learning with courses across departments and colleges
Strengthen their ability to think crucially about sustainability issues in a global context

At Michigan Tech, we believe sustainability education should be:

Accessible to students in all disciplines
Rooted in real-world, experiential learning
Inclusive of diverse perspectives and lived experiences

Whether through coursework, minors, living-learning communities, or hands-on projects, our sustainability programs are designed to meet students where they are – and help them grow into leaders ready to shape a sustainable future for all.

List of Michigan Tech’s Essential Education Minors

AI Ethics
Creativity and Expression
Economics and Society
Entrepreneurship
Human-Centered Design
Leadership
Population Health
Public Policy and Law
Sustainability Studies

To learn more about these minors, visit Michigan Tech’s Essential Education Newsblog . In the coming weeks we will continue to provide highlights of these minors from the academic teams and departments/colleges that developed them.

To learn more about what course choices you have for each of Michigan Tech’s Essential Education Minors, follow this link. Take a moment to design your own Essential Education Minor within the available themes that compliments your own major and personal interests.

Building Towards Better Courses: Ongoing Improvement to Strengthen Learning in Essential Education

Published October 15, 2025

By Stephen Patchin

Last week’s article introduced the Essential Abilities (EA) continuous improvement process—a faculty-guided approach to enhance student learning through intentional course planning, EA assessment, and reflection. At its center are two core course-level activities:

Completing the Planning Tool at the start of each semester to identify targeted EAs, align assignments, and request support
EA Reporting, a reflective process at the semester’s end that documents student outcomes, improvements made, and plans for continued course enhancement

Why This Matters

This is more than a compliance task—it’s a collaborative initiative focused on improving teaching and student learning. By intentionally connecting planning, assessment, and reflection, the process:

Creates a sustainable, collaborative improvement cycle
Supports meaningful student progress toward Essential Abilities
Ensures faculty insight and expertise guide course- and program-level decisions

Looking Ahead: The 3-Year Improvement Cycle (Starting Fall 2026)

Starting in Fall 2026, all Essential Ed instructors will follow a 3-Year Improvement Cycle designed to balance meaningful engagement with manageable workload.

source — https://mtu.instructure.com/courses/1545959/pages/ace-ongoing-improvement-approach-for-essential-ed-program

The cycle includes:

Year 1: Submit Planning Tool for each course at semester start; full EA Reports for 1–2 courses at semester end
Year 2: Submit Planning Tool for each course at semester start; either a short update or one full EA Report per semester
Year 3: Submit only Planning Tool for each course at semester start; focus on reflection, peer learning, or course improvements without end-of-semester reports

Submitted reports will be reviewed over the summer by compensated peer reviewers, who will:

Provide individualized feedback to instructors
Identify cross-course themes and support needs
Share findings with the Essential Ed Steering Committee to inform program development, faculty support, and recognition initiatives

Ongoing Essential Ed team support helps maintain this balance throughout the cycle, and the feedback loop strengthens both teaching practice and the Essential Ed program.

How This Approach Supports Ongoing Improvement

At the course level, this approach helps instructors by providing clear structures for intentional course design, ongoing adjustments, and reflective teaching. By aligning course goals with Essential Abilities (EAs) from the start, addressing challenges in real time, and reflecting on what worked, instructors can continuously improve their teaching methods. This process not only supports student learning but also fosters a collaborative environment where effective practices are recognized and shared.

Core Function	What It Does
Promotes Intentional Design	Aligns course goals with Essential Abilities from the start
Adjusting in Real-Time	Helps instructors address student needs with timely adjustments.
Fosters Reflective Teaching	Encourages review of what worked—and what could improve
Supports Recognition	Surfaces effective practices through peer feedback
Closes the Loop	Links planning to results, enabling meaningful course adjustments

At the program-level, this process highlights effective teaching practices, offering instructors the chance to share successes and be recognized, which leads to improvements in teaching methods, support systems, and the overall structure and effectiveness of program delivery.

This Year’s Soft Launch (Fall 2025 – Spring 2026)

EA Reporting is piloting during 2025–26, focused on first-year courses taught alongside or following the Essential Ed Seminar, where students first encounter the Essential Abilities. Participating courses include:

Composition
Foundations
Lower-level Math and Science List courses

Instructors in these courses will complete an end-of-semester EA Report—using the provided template—to reflect on Essential Abilities integration, student outcomes, and areas for improvement.

If unsure whether your course is included, contact essentialed@mtu.edu.

For full details on the EA Report and preparation guidance, see What’s in the EA Report below or visit the Instructor EA Reporting page in the Canvas Resource Hub.

What’s in the EA Report?

Whether part of the soft launch or preparing for full rollout in 2026, the EA Report offers a structured way to reflect on your course’s support for student learning through Essential Abilities.

Soft launch participants will:

Document course learning objectives and their alignment with Essential Abilities
Describe assignments and connection to HuskyFolio
Explain assessment methods
Report student performance (% meeting/exceeding expectations)
Reflect on successes and improvement areas
Submit two anonymized student work samples (one at Developing level, one at Beginning or Proficient level depending on course level)

Submit all materials via the Canvas upload form.

EA Reporting: What You Can Do Now

Whether you’re submitting this year or preparing for 2026, here’s how to get ready:

Review the EA Report template and upload form
Revisit your EA plan—are assignments clearly aligned with your selected abilities?
Explore the Canvas Resource Hub for sample rubrics, assignments, and performance criteria
Evaluate your data plan—will it give you actionable insights?
Reach out to your Course List Team for support at any stage

You are Helping Shape This Work

This pilot and the feedback collected will directly influence how EA Reporting evolves into a collaborative, manageable, and student-centered system.

Need Help?

Contact:

essentialed@mtu.edu
Your Course List Team (specific to your course type) – Refer to Need assistance? in the Canvas Resource Hub

Thanks for being part of this thoughtful rollout. We’re excited to build this together—one course at a time!

Author: Jeannie DeClerck – Office of Assessment for Curricular Effectiveness

Ongoing Improvement in Essential Education Courses: A Mid-Semester Guide for Instructors

Published October 8, 2025

By Stephen Patchin

At the core of the Essential Education program is a commitment to continuous improvement of student learning through the Essential Abilities (EA) assessment process. This faculty-driven system provides both structure and flexibility, helping instructors intentionally design, assess, and enhance their courses each semester through two main components: the Planning Tool and EA-Assessment Reporting.

The Planning Tool, completed at the start of each semester, helps instructors identify supported Essential Abilities, confirm course alignment, and request support or offer feedback.
EA-Assessment Reporting, at the end of the semester, prompts instructors to reflect on how these abilities were integrated, evaluate student performance, and plan improvements for future courses.

To balance ongoing engagement with workload, Essential Ed faculty follow a 3-Year Improvement Cycle. Instructors complete the Planning Tool every semester throughout the cycle. Meanwhile, their end-of-semester responsibilities gradually shift—from detailed assessment reporting and improvement planning toward sharing updates and focusing more on professional development—supporting continuous improvement while managing workload.

Week 7: Mid-Semester Check-In: How’s Your Essential Abilities Plan Holding Up?

As we settle into the rhythm of the semester, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the work many of you did back at the start — completing the Essential Abilities (EA) Planning Tool.

Though it was brief (approximately 15 minutes), that step helped lay the groundwork for more intentional teaching by:

Clarifying which Essential Abilities your course supports
Encouraging alignment between assignments and Essential Abilities
Creating a space to flag support needs or raise questions

Now, with classes in full swing, you may already be seeing the benefit of that early intentionality — whether it’s clearer assignment design, more focused student feedback, or simply a stronger sense of direction. A quick self-check now can help ensure that things stay on track—or give you space to course-correct, if needed.

Quick Check — Which best describes your experience so far?

Students have submitted assignments showing Essential Abilities, and I’m satisfied with my plan, and I’m satisfied with how my plan is unfolding.
Students haven’t submitted yet, but I’m confident in my plan.
I’m beginning to think my original plan may not work as expected and might need revising.

If you relate to the third point or feel unsure, reach out to your Course List Team for help you revisiting your plan, realigning assignments, or troubleshooting challenges. Also, visit the Essential Ed Resource Hub for Instructors in Canvas, which offers updated tools to support you—whether you’re revising your plan mid-semester or preparing for reporting. It includes support contacts, editable rubrics, a setup guide with a growing number of examples from fellow instructors.

Why This Matters Now

This fall marks the soft launch of the Essential Abilities assessment process. Selected courses—typically those taken by first-year students—are participating in the phased launch of EA Reporting. Instructors teaching 1xxx- and 2xxx-level courses on the Foundations, Math, and Science lists are asked to complete an EA Report at semester’s end.

Early planning makes the process smoother and more meaningful because you will have already:

Identified which Essential Abilities you’re focusing on
Aligned those abilities with your assignments or activities
Set clear expectations for how students demonstrate those abilities

If you’re not required to report this semester, it’s still a good time to reflect on how your EA goals are unfolding. Taking a few notes now will be especially helpful later, when EA Reporting is fully launched and you teach the course again.

The EA Report is essentially a check-in: Did things go as planned? What worked well? What might you adjust next time? We’ll share more about the reporting process next week—including who will need to complete a report this term.

By Jean Straw DeClerck, Office of Assessment for Curricular Effectiveness

Michigan Tech’s Essential Education Steering Committee Guides the function and continuous improvement of the program

Published October 1, 2025

By Stephen Patchin

Essential Education Steering Committee

As educators, it is our responsibility to ensure that our students are prepared to enter and succeed in this changing world – to have the skills to become culturally-responsive leaders who are civically engaged. This line of thinking is at the heart of Essential Education, a core component of the Tech Forward vision.

To make this vision become a reality, Essential Education will be guided by the Essential Education Steering Committee (EESC). The EESC will conduct the following activities:

Planning of the annual Essential Education Symposium
Review new Essential Education course proposals, suggesting any needed changes, approving changes
Provide oversight of assessment and resulting actions to ensure continuous improvement and effectiveness of the Essential Ed curriculum
Provide feedback to Essential Ed instructors and units regarding curricular needs and possible modifications

Steering Committee Membership: Representatives from staff and faculty, including 6 course-list leaders:

Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education (chair)
Essential Ed Project Manager
Assessment Manager
Director, Husky Folio
Registrar’s Office representative
Student Affairs representative
2-3 at-large members selected to ensure that there is faculty representation from each college of the university
6, course list team leaders (see below)

The Essential Ed oversight structure is intended to encourage and support a community of educators focused on student achievement of programmatic learning outcomes (which for Essential Ed are the Essential Abilities). Since the course-list types serve different functions within the curriculum and have different expectations, support is structured around groupings of course lists: course-list teams and leaders (who also sit on the Essential Ed Steering Committee). Note: This differs from the previous approach structured around undergraduate student learning goals (USLGs).

Role of Essential Educations Course List Teams

3-6 members who are from units teaching or supporting courses on the associated Essential Ed course lists
Helps compile/disseminate findings and recommendations; develop online resources; help train faculty; make proposed-course recommendations to assist Steering Committee, plan/attend Essential Education Symposium
Provides Essential Ed faculty support for their units — to provide assistance or referral on topics including pedagogy, Essential Ability evidence/assignment design, ePortfolio, as well as Essential Ed checklist completion and assessment reporting
Participate in professional development, especially the summer assessment activities (strongly encouraged)hort description:

Different from previous goal committee structure:

Not applicable to degree program outcome assessment.
Considerable faculty support duties
Fewer members but additional faculty can be recruited for specific tasks
Reviews course proposals and makes recommendations to Steering Committee

To view who staffs the Essential Education Steering Committee and Course List Teams, visit Michigan Tech’s Essential Education News Blog. Next week, learn about the role of continuous improvement in the ongoing improvement and increased effectiveness of Michigan Tech’s Essential Education Tech Forward initiative.

Michigan Tech Essential Education Steering Committee

Essential Education Steering Committee
Member	Department	Role	Course List Team
Marika Seigel	APUE	Chair
Steve Patchin	APUE – Project Mgr	Member
Jean DeClerck	APUE – Assessment Mgr	Member
AJ Hamlin	Eng Fund, Director Husky Folio	Member
Darren Bausano	Registrars Office	Member
Cassandra Reed-Vandam	APUE – E3 Manager	Member
Anna McClatchy	Student Affairs	Member
Travis Wakeham	BL & APUE	Member
Yu Cai	College of Computing	Member
Valroiee Gagnon	CFRES	Member
Audra Morse	CoE	Member
Steven Holloway	CoB	Member	Foundations & SHAPE
Richelle Winkler	SS	Member	Experience & 1 credit minor portfolio Course
Holly Hassel	HU	Member	Composition & Communication Intensive
Crystal McLeod	Ctr Student Mental Health & Wellness	Member	Seminar + Activities for Wellbeing & Success
Mike Maxwell	VPA	Member	Arts & Culture + Intercultural Competencies
Mike Meyer	Physics	Member	Math + Science + STEM

Michigan Tech Essential Education Course List Teams

2025-26 Essential Education Course List Teams
Course List Team	Member	Dept	Role
Foundations & Shape	Steven Holloway	CoB	Lead
	Steve Walton	SS	Co-Lead
	Laura Fiss	Pavlis/HU	Member
Experience + 1-credit minor portfolio course	Richelle Winkler	SS	Lead
	Cassandra Reed-VanDam	APUE	Co-Lead
	Laura Rouleau	SS	Co-Lead
	Danielle Meirow	SLI	Member
	Estella Mira Barrenda	HU	Member
Composition + Communication Intensive	Holly Hassel	HU	Lead
	Jennifer Nish	HU	Co-Lead
	Paul Sanders	MAT	Member
	Jonathan Robins	SS	Member
	Nich Radcliffe	VPA	Member
Seminar + Activities for Wellbeing & Success	Crystal McLeod	Ctr Student Mental Health/Wellbeing	Lead
	AJ Hamlin	Eng Fund	Co-Lead
	Veronica Horning	SA	Member
	Melissa Michaelson	Career Services	Member
	Craig Pelizzaro	KIP	Member
	Christopher Plummer	VPA	Member
Arts & Culture + Intercultural Compentency	Mike Maxwell	VPA	Lead
	Destaney Sauls	PHF	Co-Lead
	Matt Seigel	HU	Member
Math + Science + STEM	Mike Meyer	Physics	Lead
	Teresa Woods	Math	Co-Lead
	Brigette Morin	BL,CSA	Member
	Tim VanWagner	CC	Member
	Andrew Galerneau	Chem	Member
	Chad Walber	MAE	Member
	Matt Laird	CEGE	Member

Essential Education important Fall Dates for course proposal submission

Published October 1, 2025

By Stephen Patchin

Reminder of important Fall Essential Ed course proposal dates.

– Oct 15 (Wed): White binder course proposals complete & posted to department summary sheet
– Oct 17 (Fri): Proposals for Essential Ed courses due to Essential Ed Steering Committee via Google form
– Oct 27 (Mon): White binder proposals/changes reviewed by Deans & sent to Registrar’s Office for processing
– Nov 21 (Fri): Degree audit changes due to Registrar’s Office
– Dec 5 (Fri): Essential Education Steering Committee review of proposals complete; list of approved changes forwarded to Registrar.s Office

The Course Proposal Form is live for courses you would like to propose and submit before the deadline. Stay tuned for next Thursdays Tech Today article regarding the role of Essential Educations Steering Committee and Course List Teams. Did you miss a Thursday Michigan Tech Essential Ed Update? Find it at Michigan Techs Essential Ed Newsblog.