Story by Destinee Marking, Contributing writer

The Murray State Faculty Development Center (FDC)  will host three sessions this semester as part of its Love of Learning Brown Bag Lunch Research Series.

The first session, titled Competency-Based Education (CBE), will take place Feb. 21.

The speakers at the first session will be Teresa Clark, assistant professor of education, and Landon Clark, assistant professor of human development and leadership.

Teresa Clark is trained to assess competency and direct a competency assessment center.

Clark explained competency-based education programs can award students with college credits or certain certificates if they reach high enough competency standards without having to take additional classes.

“It’s really innovative in that it separates learning from seat time students spend in class and takes into account learning that they have acquired outside the classroom,” she said.

Clark said she and Landon Clark will speak about the history and background of CBE  and universities that offer such programs, and they will explain a study they conducted regarding such programs at different stages.

“The Love of Learning Brown Bag Lunch Research Series is in line with the Faculty Development Center’s mission to provide ongoing discussions about pedagogy and instructional design,” said Firm Faith Watson, director of the Faculty Development Center.

The series has been a “lunch-and-learn” program for Murray State faculty for over a decade and started being hosted by the FDC in 2015.

Watson said the program was recently renamed by the interim Summer/Fall 2016 Faculty Development Center director, Melony Shemberger.

“I renamed the series to the ‘Love of Learning’ Brown Bag Lunch Research Series to emphasize the purpose of the sessions — to share a love of learning,” Shemberger said. “A ‘love of learning’ is what faculty members have.”

The sessions encourage faculty members to communicate about research interests and what is currently being studied by one another.

A second session will be held March 14 followed by a third session on April 11.

All sessions unless stated otherwise are held in the Faculty Development Center Room 107 C Applied Science Building.

Faculty members interested in attending any sessions throughout the semester can register here.