By Zoee McDow

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University’s Rebecca Oldham, an assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science, will serve as MT Engage Faculty Fellow this academic year.

Oldham, who serves as a member of the MT Engage Advisory Board, will be educating colleagues about Microsoft Sway, a software platform for creating and sharing interactive class materials, presentations, projects and more, according to Microsoft’s website.

By fall 2026, Sway will replace MTSU’s learning management system, D2L, as the e-portfolio tool MT Engage uses that allows students to reflect on their learning by documenting their ongoing growth.

Faculty are encouraged to familiarize themselves with Sway’s capabilities, and Oldham, who has used Sway since arriving at MTSU, has created a valuable resource for faculty making the transition. 

Oldham created a Sway toolkit for faculty complete with a presentation template and instructions for teaching students how to make a Sway presentation. Oldham believes these new Sway e-portfolios will be easier to create and be more beneficial to students.

“The (D2L) e-portfolio that we were using, one of the main disadvantages is that employers couldn’t see it,” she said. “We’re putting on there all the cool stuff we’re doing, but the people we really want to see it the most can’t access it.”

Oldham hosted the first of two in-person Sway trainings for faculty this semester at Walker Library on Sept. 12, with a second set for 10:10 to 11:10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 21, in James E. Walker Library, Room 272. For those unable to attend, a Zoom recording of the workshop will be available.

Launched in 2016 as part of the university’s second Quality Enhancement Plan and now a permanent part of university curriculum, MT Engage is designed to support students’ academic engagement in their courses through investing in faculty development and promoting high-impact teaching practices to better support students from all backgrounds.

In addition to being a requirement for students applying for an MT Engage Scholarship or graduation distinction, e-portfolio presentations are a common choice for faculty when developing their signature assignments. Oldham says signature assignments inviting student reflection can improve courses because they help students realize how much they have learned in a course, and why that learning matters. 

“One of the pillars of MT Engage is not just to do the work in class, but also to revisit … For students to say, ‘OK, I did this, but why does it matter? Why is this useful for me moving forward?’… It helps them connect the dots in a meaningful way between what they’re doing in the classroom and why it matters outside the classroom. Ultimately, the more we can get students to buy into their own learning, the better.” 

Community engagement as a teaching practice can be highly impactful for students, noted Julie Myatt, MT Engage director. The connection that students make between their community work and what they learn in class can help solidify the knowledge they gain in class, she added.

Community engagement is central to Oldham’s Violence in the Family course. Her signature assignment requires students to volunteer with organizations like the ones they hope to be a part of one day and write a reflection on the impact their work had. 

Students raise funds or sort food and clothes for local organizations. She said the students are always shocked about how much their work helps people in the community.

“They’re like, ‘I didn’t realize … I don’t need a lot of money. I don’t need a lot of know-how. Just giving a couple hours of my time can make a big difference to a real person in my community,’” she said.

The reflection they do in their signature assignment is very beneficial to students in her program, as they can see the type of impact they will have on people throughout their careers, said Oldham, whose students go on to work in a variety of fields, including early childhood education, elder care, or foster and adoption services. To find out more about MT Engage, go to https://www.mtsu.edu/mtengage or email  Julie Myatt, MT Engage director, at julie.myatt@mtsu.edu.