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A student’s educational experience is so much more than their coursework alone. That’s why the Spartan Experience Record (SER) documents the learning students acquire from out-of-classroom involvement — such as leadership programs, employment, research positions, and civic engagement opportunities —  all in one, unified resource. These experiences are MSU-sponsored and verified, fall under 10 categories, and connect to MSU’s learning outcomes.

With the Spartan Experience Record, students can outline all they’ve learned beyond the classroom, and discover new opportunities. And by submitting Experiences to be included in the Spartan Experience Record, faculty and staff ​​help us analyze engagement trends and build stronger, well-rounded educational opportunities at MSU.

Spartan Experience Record History

In Spring of 2016, a small group of academic staff members and student support administrators convened to determine the academic rationale for a co-curricular record at MSU. Under the leadership of former Provost, Dr. June Pierce Youatt, and with stewardship in the campus incubator, the Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology, this group defined the rationale and scoped the nature of the potential record. A human-centered design approach was taken to help the campus identify and realize values. Their work led to the creation of My Spartan Story and the Spartan Experience Record.

My Spartan Story formally transitioned to the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education in January 2020. It is the first project of its kind to be incubated in the Hub and then formally established as a new unit. My Spartan Story was in an early adoption phase throughout the 2019-2020 academic year and launched to the MSU community in fall 2020.

  • Fall 2020

    Student Launch

    My Spartan Story and the Spartan Experience Record are formally launched to all undergraduate students.

  • Spring 2019 - Spring 2020

    Soft Launch

    The My Spartan Story Team sought early adaptors to place their co-curricular experiences into the platform. Over 200 submissions were gathered during this time by faculty and staff all throughout the university, recognizing over 2,500 students.

  • August 2018

    Committees

    Throughout these processes, we engaged over 200 different students, faculty, and staff in the scoping, ideas, design, prototyping, implementation, and testing tasks.

    In August of 2018, two committees were charged to support the campus wide launch of the co-curricular record: the Steering Committee and the Advisory Committee.

  • Fall 2016 - Spring 2017

    Design

    Between fall 2016 and spring 2017, the Hub hosted a series of campus-wide design exercises.

Building this new culture around a co-curricular record has consisted of a diverse, community-wide effort which was enabled by clear values, vision, leadership, and support across the campus.

Contact Us

Find out more about the Spartan Experience Record platform and learn how to become a partner by contacting us. If you have any questions, please contact us at mystory@msu.edu.

Contact Us