Sharing and Learning at Hibbing Community College

Yes, it was “duty day” at Hibbing Community College on February 16; and I was enthusiastic about facilitating two sessions for faculty on (1) Clicking in the Classroom and (2) Active Learning: Fostering Engagement. But I really had to focus on pedagogy in order to stop thinking about the fact that Hibbing CC was one of the first junior colleges in the United States—founded in 1916—AND that Hibbing, MN, is the home town of Bob Dylan. Am I easily impressed? Considering that I love learning and music, I guess I am.

It was a great day with faculty eager to improve learning for their students. In addition to the four sessions I presented on two topics, there were workshops on Podcasting, PowerPoint, D2L, FERPA, Sympodium, Culture in the Classroom, and Sustainability. Faculty and staff shared and explored more ideas about instructional methods and techniques. It was a rewarding time, even though I didn’t get to see Bob Dylan’s house.

Those committed to and interested in more about sustainability should check out the discipline workshop Sharing Approaches to Sustainability from Across the Curriculum to be held on March 25-26 at Lake Superior College in Duluth.

For more details, click here or copy and paste the link into your browser:  http://www.ctl.mnscu.edu/facdev/user_event-list.php?eventtype=discipline_workshop

Many thanks to Sandy Gustafson, Michael Raich, and other team members for helping to organize this great day at Hibbing Community College.

Conferences for Student Scholars

We got a question today about whether any of our colleges and universities hosts anything like the Minnesota Private Colleges Council's Scholars at the Capitol day.

Well, yes, they do! Now would be a good time to add one or more of these events to your calendar. It's always a pleasure to spend time with students who are working on their own and with faculty on creative, scholarly projects that will take them to grad school and/or entrepreneurial futures.

I believe each of the state universities has such a conference; below are links to those at all but Metropolitan State. If someone knows of such an event at Metro, please post it here in comments, or let me know and I'll amend this post.

• St. Cloud State University will host their 13th Annual Student Research Colloquium in April, 2010. You can review online proceedings from past conferences.

• Bemidji State University will hold their 11th Student Scholarship & Creative Achievement Conference in April.

• MSU Moorhead's Student Academic Conference, also in its 11th year (here's a history), will be in April.

• Minnesota State University, Mankato's 10th Undergraduate Research Conference will be in February, 2010.

• Southwest Minnesota State University just had their 4th Annual Undergraduate Research Conference in December.

• Winona State University has had two Annual Student-Faculty Research Celebration Symposia, but I couldn't find a standing Web page for the event. Here's a link to the 2008 symposium.

Among the two-year colleges, I know that Inver Hills and Lake Superior hold faculty-student conferences each year, too. But no Web sites, as far as I know. (Update, please, those of you who ARE in the know!)

Listen Up! Southeast Tech's Instrument Repair Programs

Ok, so we didn't get down there ourselves recently, but MPR published this nice piece on the violin repair program at Minnesota State College - Southeast Tech, Red Wing. Really great pictures.

CTL has had a number of interactions with the faculty in the band instrument repair program, and given a grant or two to the instrument repair faculty in recent years. These are teachers who, like those in so many of our programs, are respected professionals on the national and international scene, engaged teachers, and critical, deliberate educators.

Good to see them featured on Minnesota Public Radio--and on the Web site. Red Wing has three programs in instrument repair: band, guitar, and violin. Check 'em out!

Leadership: Key Skills

One of the sessions I attended at NCSPOD asked an interesting question. What are the 10 key skills required of academic leaders?

Granted that ten's an arbitrary number, try asking yourself to identify what skills you really expect in someone who's assuming a leadership role at your college or university. One of the first challenges that arose in the session was distinguishing between leadership and management, and what the relationship is between those two domains of skill and knowledge. (We decided that a leader has to have both sets, absolutely.)

It's easy enough to do a Web search for lists of these key characteristics, but what was most useful to me in this session was first to compose my own list. The session leaders suggested that the exercise of generating these lists, done as a group, makes a great workshop for hiring committees, advisory groups, etc. I'd have to agree: what sounds like a pretty simple task elicits many different opinions and assumptions, and without such a discussion those remain implicit--and possibly clashing with one another.

Campus Visit to Fond du Lac

I had the pleasure of meeting with 14 faculty members in a teaching circle on October 7, at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet. These energetic faculty and I discussed the topic of classroom management. Through the discussion they identified the most important factors challenging them in their face-to-face and online courses. Together we examined a variety of solutions. The answers always seem to come from one another, as it is nice to hear what works in other courses and disciplines. It is also great to know that as faculty, we are not alone in the challenges that students provide. Our discussion needed more than the hour to cover the wide variety of ideas to meet those challenges.

CTL Leader Patricia Grace, CAO Anna Fellegy, and I met to discuss the focus of the work taking place on campus and how CTL could support their efforts. Fond du Lac is working on two major areas in which CTL can play a role. The first is assessment. This fall they are working intensely to complete their redesign of the following:
- program goals and outcomes
- development of 4 competency areas
- general education rubrics for the competency areas
- a 3-5 year assessment plan
As we discussed Webinars, I told them that CTL was interested in developing some assessment Webinars, based loosely on the credentialing course I was teaching again this spring. They volunteered to test-drive the workshops in person before they were presented online this spring.

Another area of focus that they requested help from CTL in was in the area of D2L as and tool and online pedagogy. They would appreciate in basic instruction showing how to use D2L, intermediate instruction that takes them to the next level of the tools, and advanced pedagogical instruction in using it to set up groups, especially in hybrid courses. Anna also expressed an interest in having some faculty development in the area of setting up classrooms for instruction which focus on both the facilities and the classroom environment. This would include managing technologies in the classroom.

In all, I had a very productive day as I got to SEE the working of teaching and learning on the Fond du Lac campus!

Economics Discipline Workshop

My undergraduate degree is in Business, and I remember being "somewhat" interested in my economics courses. BUT, when I attended the CTL Economics Discipline Workshop, I wasn't "somewhat" interested; I was excited! The workshop was held last Friday, October 9, at Normandale Community College. Three sessions were presented about:

• Successful Macroeconomics Instruction Using Non-Textbook Resources
  Presenter: Adrienne Dinneen, Lake Superior College
• Tips and Tricks for Online Learning Management Systems
  Presenters: Brooks Herrboldt and Erin Daly, Normandale Community College
• Effective Assessment in Online Environments
  Presenter: Dave Switzer, St. Cloud State University

This was a workshop presented by educators who know their discipline and who are willing to share tips and ideas in order to help others provide excellent teaching and learning; and they did a great job doing so. Many thanks to the planners Jessie Martinez, Rochester Community & Technical College; Brooks Herrboldt, Normandale Community College; and Nathan Hampton, St. Cloud State University.

Stay tuned, as this discipline group plans to introduce other avenues to facilitate the sharing--maybe a session at the RSP/ITeach Conference on February 26-27.

STEM Equity Pipeline/MN New Look

About 50 secondary and postsecondary faculty and administrators are attending this workshop on October 12 at the Eisenhower Community Center in Hopkins, MN, where we're learning how to look at statewide enrollment data for programs preparing individuals for careers that are nontraditional for women and men. We're hoping to gain insight into gender gaps in students' enrollment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs. CTL staff Brenda Lyseng, Zala Fashant and Yvonne Shafer are also attending the workshop, which is part of the STEM Equity Pipeline Project that is a collaborative effort between State Teams and an Extension Services Group of leading researchers and practitioners in gender equity and STEM education. Staff members from the Minnesota Department of Education are also in attendance.

To make efficient use of national presenters and resources, the STEM Equity Pipeline group is facilitating the workshop along with the organization MN New Look that is focused on program improvement for nontraditional careers. For more information about the STEM Equity Pipeline Project, click on this link: http://www.stemequitypipeline.org/ .