Program Research
In an effort to continually add to the scholarship generated by our work in the Bailey Scholars Program, we are continually engaging in research. Below are current research endeavors. Please feel free to contact us if you are interested in learning more.
The 2007 Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars Program Faculty Survey By Carole Robinson
The 2007 Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars Program Faculty Survey, conducted by Dr. Carole Robinson, Principle Investigator, and Mr. Glenn Sterner, will be a qualitative, interpretivist, and narrative inquiry into the experiences and interactions of former and current faculty members who have participated or are now participating in the Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars Program. Through narrative inquiry, we hope to elicit responses from faculty members that will further our understanding of the impacts of connected and emergent learning experiences on the lives and practices of faculty members, and to expand the knowledge base of the impacts of connected, active, and service learning in higher education through faculty participation
Former and current faculty members may voluntarily participate in open-ended interviews (face-to-face, by e-mail, or by telephone), pending IRB approval of the study. If you are a former or current faculty member in the Bailey Scholars Program, and wish to participate, please contact Dr. Carole Robinson, by phone at 517-432-0732, at 517- 881-2180 (cell), by e-mail, carolero@msu.edu; or Mr. Glenn Sterner by phone at 517-432-0735 or by e-mail, sternerg@msu.edu.
The 2006 Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars Program Alumni Survey by Carole Robinson
"Bailey was my best experience at MSU."
The 2006 Liberty Hyde Bailey Alumni Survey, conducted by Dr. Carole Robinson, Principle Investigator, and Heather VanDenBerg, Nineteen alums graciously volunteered to share their experiences in Bailey with us. Through this exploration, we hoped to discover the impacts, inspirations, and applications of students’ experiences in Bailey on their post-graduate world. We asked alums to reflect on any meaningful experiences in Bailey, how they were or were not able to apply the Bailey approach, and how Bailey compared to other approaches at MSU.
Alums responded that the Bailey space was safe and nurturing, and supported individualized learning, growth, and being. In Bailey, alums found a space for stretch learning, community, diversity of ideas and perspectives, creativity, and critical thinking facilitated by loosely-structured classes and experiences based on self-directed, connected, and learner-centered learning—classes that, "allowed me the freedom to explore what I chose, rather than what I was told to learn." Bailey also inspired several alums not only to stay in school, but to continue their education in graduate programs. Alums also reported that they gained social skills in Bailey that helped them in all aspects of their lives.
Any frustrations? In their Bailey classes, alums shared that they had to practice being patient and to listen to others’ opinions, a valuable skill that they now apply in their workplace. A frustration for one alum was that his experiences in Bailey revealed a truth: learning in Bailey only emphasized what education on a general level, was not!
Bailey served as a venue for alternative ways to learn within the program and as glue that "tied things together" at MSU and beyond.