Education

9 SUPPLEMENT TO THE FREE PRESS • SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2024 EDUCATION GUIDE CANADIAN MENNONITE UNIVERSITY Academic Excellence Small university Big opportunities Apply now for Fall 2024 cmu.ca/admissions Arts • Science • Business • Music • Social Work that this is something that is designed in some cases, especially with certain apps, to steal their attention and what are some of the strategies are they can use to gain some of that attention back." Another tool that can be used to teach the re- sponsible use of phones and tablets is any kind of tracking system built into the device's software, says Roberts. These tools can be used to provide children with a finite amount of screen time each day before they are locked out of different aspects of the device. Perhaps the easiest but most effective way for parents to encourage youngsters to use their de - vices in a responsible manner is to model the kind of behaviour they want their children to adopt, Roberts says. "As adults, that's one thing we want to be cog- nizant of is the biggest influence we can have on children is the modelling of behaviour and mod- elling that behaviour in terms of responsible use. We want to model that behaviour of active and passive screen time and make sure kids under- stand we have control over our attention to make sure these devices don't take over all the time," he explains. "Those constant bings can be very addicting and can be very appealing to check right away. When a notification comes through for a message or social media post we want to rush and check it and respond instantly. Working towards not re - sponding to those immediately or actively using the settings on our devices to mitigate that so we can be fully present is very important." While setting rules or limits can be important in teaching young people how to responsibly use devices, Roberts says its also important for par- ents to address the importance of digital health and safety with young learners. That includes how slouching in front of a screen for hours can impact a young person's posture, how holding a screen close to their face for eight or more hours a day can effect their vision, and how to communicate digitally in a safe and responsi - ble manner. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 Experts say it's important for parents to have an ongoing dialogue with children about how to responsibly use digital devices like cell phones and tablets as part of the educational process. Music is one of five key areas of study offered at Canadian Mennonite University. SUPPLIED PHOTO BY JIM TIMLICK C anadian Mennonite Univer- sity has been part of Manito- ba's educational landscape for nearly a quarter century yet the school is one of the province's best kept secrets. In fact, it might come as a surprise to some that as many as 750 students walk through uni- versity's doors in a typical year. Seventy-five per cent of that student body is made up of individ- uals from communities in Manitoba while the remaining 25 per cent are students from across Canada and from more than 30 different coun- tries around the world. Most impressive is the fact that many of those students go on to become business and commu- nity leaders after graduating. "Our academic program builds leaders who go out and change things in their communities and in their workplaces," says CMU vice-president external Sandy Koop Harder. "We hear from our alumni about how they emerge from our programs as thoughtful, em - pathic decision-makers that are equipped to tackle big problems. They have the practical know-how and skills to do that in all areas in their communities." CMU offers five areas of study including the arts, science, music, business and social work. One of the more unique aspects of the aca - demic offerings at CMU is that the majority of classes are taught by tenured or tenure-tracked professors who are actively engaged in research. That means that most under-graduate stu- dents have an opportunity to actively participate in research in a variety of different disciplines. For example, a recent biology class got to take part in a study that examined environmental samples to see if there were antibiotic com - pounds in them that could defeat or target anti- biotic resistant bacteria. "That's a real difference here. You're not just writing a paper for your professor, but you are thinking about somebody out there and students can see that their education is real and they're beginning to make a difference," says vice-presi - dent of academics Jonathan Dueck. Something else that makes CMU's approach to learning different from other schools' is its focus on interdisciplinary learning to promote as Koop Harder puts it "cross program pollination." That means students who are enrolled in social work study along side students from other disciplines such as science or business. "This is to enhance learning and also to think more broadly about outcomes for students and building good citizens," Koop Harder adds. Every CMU undergraduate student must also complete a work integrated experiential learn - ing placement as part of their degree require- ment. To date, CMU students have completed work placements at more than 500 organizations across the globe. CMU will write a new chapter this fall when it welcomes the first cohort of students into its so - cial work program. The four-year BSW program has been pre-accredited by the Canadian Associ- ation of Social Work Education (CASWE). As part of its preparations for introducing the program, CMU staff consulted with Indigenous partners and asked them to share their knowl- edge as well as personal experiences with social work and any concern or desires they might have about such a program. "They told us to think about family unification and reunification as opposed to family sepa - ration and that's something we've done," says Dueck. "We will continue learning from Indige- nous leaders as we go along." Canadian Mennonite University campus SUPPLIED PHOTO Building future leaders The majority of classes at CMU are taught by tenured or tenure-tracked professors who are actively engaged in research. SUPPLIED PHOTO

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