Pedagogy and Professional Development

Impact through State-wide Collaboration, "Mississippi Cotton: Weaving Futures 2015"

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Abstract

"Mississippi Cotton: Weaving Futures 2015" was a collaborative project based on a joint partnership of three universities with merchandising programs in Mississippi. The goals of the project were to (1) inspire students to pursue careers in the textile and apparel industry through greater access to resources and (2) create a network among merchandising programs to connect students and faculty with industry through experiential learning (Kolb, 2014). In order to achieve the first goal, faculty members in the partnering universities organized and developed a total of three daylong events on each campus where students from all of the institutions participated and interacted with each other. Each institution's event reflected the strength of their program, careers of interest to their students, and relationships with industry partners, surrounding community colleges and high schools near their campus. As a result of faculty collaboration through email, video conferences, and face-to-face meetings, the second goal was achieved. This paper reports the collaboration’s impact on student learning and industry relations by pre- and post-test, event surveys and reflection papers by participating students.

How to Cite:

Lee, J., Yaoyuneyong, G., Burgess, B. & Haynes, J., (2016) “Impact through State-wide Collaboration, "Mississippi Cotton: Weaving Futures 2015"”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 73(1).